BR  1720  .C8  B4  1897 
Benson,  Edward  White,  182  9- 

1896. 
Cyprian:  his  life,  his 


CYPRIAN 

HIS  LIFE  .  HIS  TIMES  .  HIS  WORK 


CYPRIAN 


HIS  LIFE  .  HIS  TIMES  .  HIS  WORK 


EDWARD  WHITE   BENSON,   D.  D.,   D.  C.  L 

SOMETIME    ARCHBISHOP    OF    CANTERBURY 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION 
By  THE  Right  Rev.  HENRY   C.   POTTER,    D.  D.,  LL  D.,  D.  C.  L. 

BISHOP   OF   NEW    YORK 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1897 


Authorized  Edition. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 

A  few  days  before  my  father  left  Addington  for  Ireland,  in 
the  September  of  last  year  (1896),  he  called  me  into  his  library, 
and  handed  me  the  proof  of  the  preface  of  his  Cyprian — the 
book  that  is  here  presented — asking  me  to  criticise  anything  tfiat 
struck  m.e  in  it. 

The  following  day  I  brought  him  a  paper  of  minute  sugges- 
tio?is.  He  went  through  them  with  the  utmost  patience,  accepting 
some,  and  caref idly  justifying  the  rejection  of  ot/iers.  When  he 
had  finished,  lie  said,  "  You  seetn  to  find  m.y  style  very  obscure!'^ 
[smiling)  "you  are  not  the  only  person  who  does."  I  ventured 
to  say  that  I  thought  he  ivas  too  careful  to  avoid  the  obvious : 
" No"  he  said,  "  it's  not  that :  I  only  wish  to  say  the  obvious 
thing  without  tJie  customary  periphrases : — it  all  comes  of  hours 
and  hours  spent  with  intense  enjoyment  over  Thucydides,  weigh- 
ing t lie  force  of  every  adjective  and  every  particle!'  I  went  on 
to  ask  whether  the  Cyprian  was  really  finished,  and  reminded 
him.  of  how  more  thaji  fifteen  years  before,  when  he  was  at 
Truro,  he  had  come  out  of  his  study  one  evening,  and  announced 
that  his  Cyprian  was  "  practically  finished"  "  Yes"  he  said,  "  it 
is  all  done:  only  a  few  corrections  and  verifications  to  make!' 
I  asked  whether  he  was  not  glad  it  was  done :  "  /  ought  to  be  ;  " 
— he  said,  a?id  began  turning  over  some  of  the  proofs  on  the 
table :  then  he  looked  up  with  a  smile :  "  but  I  am  not  really 
glad —  my  only  amusement  will  be  gone!* 

A  nd  this  was  literally  true :  my  father  was  less  capable  of 
"  amusing  himself!*  of  resting,  than  any  one  I  have  ever  known : 


iv  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

his  holidays  were  merely  a  change  from  one  intense  kind  of 
work  to  another:  if  he  was  in  a  place  of  artistic  or  antiquarian 
interest,  he  worked  at  pictures  and  churches,  as  though  it  were 
the  business  of  his  life :  he  stored  his  mind  with  precise  and 
graphic  impressions.  In  scenes  of  natural  beauty,  he  studied 
detail  like  an  artist.  At  home,  when  at  work,  at  Lambeth  and 
Addington,  he  had  a  ^^  Cyprian"  table,  where  his  books  and 
papers  lay  often  untouched  for  weeks  together:  late  at  night, 
early  in  the  morning,  when  all  his  official  work  had  been  done 
with  the  minute  precision  so  characteristic  of  him,  he  stole  an 
hour  from,  sleep  for  his  beloved  book :  but  I  have  the  authority 
of  tJte  Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  was  with  him  constantly 
at  all  times  and  places,  for  saying  that  not  only  did  he 
never  let  his  literary  work  interfere  with  his  official  work,  or 
constitute  a  reason  for  avoiding  a  piece  of  business,  or  deferring 
an  engagement — bict  that  he  regarded  it  in  the  strictest  sense  as 
a  recreation  only. 

Thirty  years  ago,  when  he  was  Headtnaster  of  Wellington 
College,  he  found  that  his  professional  work  was  so  absorbing 
that  he  felt  himself  in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  study,  of  erudi- 
tion, of  antiquity,  and  resolved,  on  the  suggestion  of  his  dear 
friend  Bishop  Lightfoot,  to  undertake  some  definite  work,  zvhich 
might  provide  both  a  contrast  to  and  an  illustration  of  modern 
tendencies  ajid  recent  probletns. 

Year  after  year,  at  L  incoln,  at  Truro,  at  Canterbury,  these 
patient  pages  have  grown :  sometimes  weeks  would  be  consumed 
in  the  elucidation  of  some  minute  technical  point :  he  even  under- 
took, a  few  years  ago,  a  joufney  to  North  Africa  to  study  his 
topography:  of  late  he  has  often  sig/ied  for  "six  weeks  of 
unbroken  leisure  ! — /  could  finish  my  book."  The  first  hundred 
and  fifty  pages  were  put  into  print  so  long  ago  that  when  he 
had  reached  the  end,  they  required  to  be  entirely  revised  and 


PREFATORY  NOTE.  V 

rewrittett.  But  at  last  it  was  finished,  attd  he  took  the  whole 
book  with  him  to  Ireland,  most  of  it  in  proof  and  part  of  it  in 
MS.,  in  order  to  endeavour  to  see  the  end. 

Two  significant  efttries  in  his  Diary  in  the  last  year  of  his 
life  may  here,  I  think,  with  advantage  be  quoted,  to  sliow  how 
his  hopes  were  bound  up  in  the  book,  with  how  definite  a  purpose 
of  self-education  it  liad  been  pla?med  and  carried  out,  and  hozv 
ardently  he  desired  tJiat  it  should  serve  true  and  high  ends. 

Friday,  March  6,  1896. 

Finishing  what  I  really  think  is  the  end  of  my  Cyprian : — the 
examination  of  the  Lists  of  Bisliops  who  attended  Councils  under 
Cyprian.  The  test  of  genuineness  which  they  offer  was  one  of  the  first 
things  that  struck  me.  J  then  wrote  otd  at  (sic)  the  Lists  and  criticized 
them.  This  can  certainly  not  have  been  later  (if  so  late)  than  1865, 
and  I  have  to-day  sent  that  originally  written  list  and  notes,  with  fresh 
notes  made  to-day  to  the  University  Press.  So  that  fny  ^ copy'  is  at 
least  30  years  apart  in  its  work. 

I  pray  God  bless  this  Cyprian  to  the  good  of  His  Church.  If  He 
bless  it  not,  I  have  spent  half  my  life  in  building  hay  and  stubble,  and 
the  fire  must  consume  it.     But  please  God,  may  it  last. 

Sunday,  March  22,  1896. 

Have  now  practically  finished  a  big  book,  unless  I  add  a  few  of 
the  Greek  comments.  If  it  ever  sees  the  light,  jnany  will  think  it  a  very 
odd  book.  Folk  are  edified  in  such  different  ways.  But  it  has  edified 
me,  which  is  what  I  began  it  for. 

To  empluisize  the  event,  or  "  to  adorn  a  tale "  would  be  out 
of  place  here  :  I  have  merely  tried  to  indicate  tJie  history  of  the 
book,  and  the  significant  fact  that  tJie  completion  of  his  ojily 
literary  enterprise  coincided  so  strangely  and  so  majestically  with 
the  tertninatiofi  of  his  earthly  energies. 

ARTHUR  CHRISTOPHER  BENSON. 
Jan.  I,  1897. 


EDITORIAL    NOTE. 


Among  the  last  proofs  which  my  father  corrected  was 
found  a  memorandum  to  write  an  Appendix  dealing  with 
the  Rev.  E.  W.  Watson's  valuable  Essay  on  the  Style  and 
Language  of  S.  Cyprian  in  the  '  Studia  Biblica  et  Eccle- 
siastica,'  vol.  IV.  (Oxford,  1896).  In  all  other  respects. the 
book  had  been  completed. 

Mr  Watson  has  since  most  kindly  verified  some  compli- 
cated references  from  two  important  codices  in  the  Bodleian. 

I  must  here  also  be  allowed  to  record  my  sincerest 
gratitude  to  my  father's  dear  and  honoured  friend,  M.  Alexis 
Larpent,  who  gave  him  invaluable  assistance  in  verifying 
references  and  suggesting  corrections,  compiled  the  index, 
and  in  conjunction  with  my  brother,  Mr  E.  F.  Benson, 
corrected  the  final  proofs. 

A.    C.    B. 


Feb.  12,  i{ 


INTRODUCTION   TO   THE  AMERICAN 
EDITION. 


This  volume  may  seem  to  have  a  very  slender  inter- 
est to  readers  of  this  generation.  It  deals  with  the  life, 
times,  and  work  of  one  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  and,  with 
the  general  student  and  with  many  theologians  also,  the 
authority  or  even  interest  of  the  Fathers  has  come  to  be 
something  dismissed,  sometimes,  with  a  smile. 

That  such  an  estimate  is  often  the  result  of  ignorance, 
the  testimony  of  a  living  theologian,  whose  rare  gifts  and 
ample  learning  command  universal  recognition,  abun- 
dantly indicates.  Says  Canon  Gore,  in  his  Dissertations 
on  Subjects  connected  with  the  Incarnation :  "  I  should 
be  utterly  misrepresenting  my  own  feeling  if  I  allowed 
myself  to  be  understood  as  disparaging  in  any  way  the 
Fathers  as  theologians.  ...  I  do  not  believe  that,  taken 
on  the  whole,  so  much,  whether  of  theological  or  moral 
illumination,  is  to  be  gained  from  any  study  outside  Holy 
Scripture  as  is  to  be  gained  from  the  great  theologians 
who  are  called,  and  legitimately  called,  the  '  Fathers.' "  * 

Such  a  judgment  prepares  us  to  understand  the  inter- 
est of  the  author  of  this  volume  in  the  life  and  work  of 
Cyprian.  That  interest,  as  these  pages  will  show,  he 
believed  to  be  abundantly  justified  by  the  way  in  which, 
to  use  his  own  words,  "  a  powerful  and  fascinating  per- 

*  Dissertations,  etc.,  p.  214. 
vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

sonality  dealt  masterfully  with  lasting  problems  in  the 
Church,"  and  left  behind  him  a  theory  of  the  Church's 
life  which  is  still  "  a  living  theory,"  with  power  to  speak 
to  the  perplexities  and  to  rebuke  the  errors  of  our  own 
generation. 

In  this,  undoubtedly,  lay  a  large  element  of  the  at- 
tractiveness of  the  teaching  and  the  episcopal  adminis- 
tration of  Cyprian  to  Archbishop  Benson.  He  beheld 
Christendom  vexed  by  questions  which  were  not  new 
when  Cyprian  came  to  Carthage,  and  which  are  as  vital 
in  their  interest  and  as  far  reaching  in  their  importance 
now  as  then.  The  great  question  of  Christian  unity,  to 
a  deep  and  anxious  interest  in  which  the  Christian  world 
is  more  than  ever  keenly  awake  to-day,  was  a  question 
which  Cyprian  treated  with  a  large  vision  and  in  a 
temper  of  generous  comprehension  which  in  some 
aspects  of  them  may  well  surprise  the  modern  student ; 
while  with  the  papal  claims  of  his  own  time  he  dealt 
with  a  vigour  and  conclusiveness  which  compelled  the 
Roman  advocates  of  those  claims  in  later  generations,  as 
Archbishop  Benson  has  shown  with  masterly  and  crush- 
ing conclusiveness,  to  mutilate  and  interpolate  the  orig- 
inal text  of  Cyprian  with  unscrupulous  hand,  if  so  they 
might  pervert  its  plain  meaning. 

If  there  were  no  other  features  of  interest  in  this  vol- 
ume these  two  would  make  it  of  lasting  importance  to 
thoughtful  minds  to-day.  Christendom  has  no  graver 
responsibility  than  for  its  divisions — no  more  urgent 
duty  than  to  strive  to  heal  them.  And  all  friends  of  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  the  truth  have  no  more  serious  con- 
cern than  to  watch  and  to  resist  those  unwarranted 
claims  and  pretensions  which  offer  to  Christendom  a  false 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

unity  upon  a  false  basis.  To  these,  and  to  those  every- 
where who  are  the  friends  of  sound  learning  and  of  a 
searching-  and  candid  inquiry  in  matters  of  faith  and 
order,  this  volume  will  come  as  a  rare  boon. 

To  those  who  knew  him  and  his  great  career  its 
author  will  be  revealed  in  its  pages  in  some  of  his  most 
engaging  characteristics.  His  wide  and  various  learning; 
his  close  observation ;  his  quaint  and  often  picturesque 
style  ;  his  amazing  precision  and  thoroughness  in  the 
minutest  research ;  his  courage  when  it  was  called  for; 
and  his  rare  charm  and  grace  of  mind  and  of  temper, 
touching  all  that  he  does  with  a  fine  lustre  of  its  own — 
these  characteristics  those  who  know  and  loved  him  will 
recognise  and  welcome  in  this  volume  as  though,  some- 
how, he  had  come  back  to  them. 

H.  C.  P. 


DUOBUS  MARTINIS 

ANIM^  PATERN^ 
SPEI  MATURESCENTI 

IN  PACE 


B. 


PREFACE. 


It  is  a  long  time  since  I  fixed  on  the  Life  and  Work  of 
Cyprian  for  a  special  study.  The  reason,  I  think,  was  first 
this. 

In    times   which,   like    ours,   were    both    extraordinarily 

picturesque  and  extraordinarily  crowded  with  business,  a 
powerful  and  fascinating  personality  appeared  to  me  to  have 
done  most  to  turn  the  Pagan  to  the  Christian  temper,  to 
have  dealt  masterfully  with  lasting  problems  in  the  Church, 
to  have  left  behind  him  a  living  'Theory' — so  living  that 
the  ecclesia  principalis  has  never  ceased  to  fret  over  it  and 
retouch  it.     In  short  he  appeared  to  be  among  us. 

He  was  tempted  into  the  noble  and  alas !  too  fruitful 
error  of  arraying  the  Visible  Church  in  attributes  of  the 
Church  Invisible.  But  he  said  and  shewed  how  men  might 
gravely  dissent  without  one  wound  to  peace.  He  spoke  a 
watch-word  of  comprehension  which,  for  lack  of  the  charity 
which  possessed  him,  we  do  not  receive  in  the  churches, 
although  it  must  needs  precede  the  Unity  we  dream  of 

I  hope  that  in  this  study  I  have  not  ever  been  un- 
mindful of  the  present,  and  yet  have  not  committed  what 
I  hold  to  be  a  grievous  fault  in  a  historian,  the  reading  of 
the  present  into  the  past.  I  have  tried  to  sketch  what  I  saw. 
It  is  only  thus  that  the  past  can  be  read  into  the  present — 
the  '  Lesson  of  History '  learnt. 

b2 


X  PREFACE. 

That  we  have  some  need  of  the  Lesson  of  the  Cyprianic 
times  I  feel  sure.  Sure  that  it  might  have  saved  us  some 
of  our  losses. 

Still  I  was  not  overcareful  to  point  the  morals  in  places 
where  it  could  escape  no  thoughtful  reader  wherein  they 
lie,  or  what  they  are.  Such  simpler  morals  are  of  infinite 
value  to  a  student  who  draws  them  out  for  himself.  Not  of 
much  value  to  one  who  should  read  them  over  and  think 
that  he  had  always  thought  them. 

As  I  have  dared  to  take  the  reader  into  confidence  by 
placing  two  names,  sacred  to  me,  on  a  leaf  of  this  book,  I 
may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  explain  why  work  so  long  ago 
commenced  is  so  late  committed  to  the  reader's  indulgence. 
At  school  under  Prince  Lee  the  very  name  of  Cyprian  had 
attraction  for  me.  At  Trinity  Lightfoot  and  I  read  the 
De  Unitate  together  on  Sunday  evenings  in  my  Freshman's 
term.  At  Wellington,  at  Lincoln,  at  Truro,  at  Lambeth, 
even  at  this  Addington — cara  ubi  tot  cava — minutes  only  of 
the  day,  often  of  the  week,  have  been  all  that  what  I  am  not 
ashamed  to  call  a  life  of  labour  has  left  me.  Therefore  I 
feel  that  if  my  love  for  the  man  has  surpassed  my  ability 
to  know  him,  I  may  humbly  ask  that  some  excuse  may  be 
allowed  me. 

If  the  earlier  part  of  this  Life  is  somewhat  thin,  that  is 
because  I  thought  it  not  worth  while  to  bring  up  its  primiticE 
to  the  same  level  and  same  fulness  as  those  days  of  Cyprian 
when  the  real  problems  of  Church  and  World  were  upon 
him  and  he  wrestling  with  them. 

The  Texts  of  the  Latin  Versions  witnessed  to  in  his 
writings  are  too  special  and  too  large  a  work  to  be  included 
here. 

The  smaller  type  is  for  student-studies  not  essential  to 


PREFACE.  xi 

the  main  course  of  story  or  comment,  although  they  often 
shew  the  source  of  the  text.  Some  nevertheless  I  commend 
to  the  general  reader  who  will  soon  see  whether  or  no  they 
have  interest  for  him. 

To  Prof.  Lanciani  I  owe  the  map  which  illustrates  the 
chapter  on  Xystus.  The  two  others  are  compiled.  They  of 
course  owe  their  accuracy  to  M.  Charles  Tissot  and  to  the 
grand  Archaeological  Atlas  of  Tunisie  which  is  being  pub- 
lished by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and  Beaux-Arts. 

I  must  express  my  gratitude  to  my  friend  M.  Larpent 
for  his  minute  and  learned  assistance  to  me  while  seeing 
the  work  through  the  Press,  and  to  the  University  Press 
itself  and  the  Publishers  for  their  patience. 


EdW:  CaNTUAR: 


Addington. 
September,    1896. 


Page 
xxi — xxiii 


XXV — xxxvii 


CONTENTS. 

Chronology  of  the  Times  and  Writings  of  Cyprian 

INTRODUCTION. 

Carthage  and  her  Society 

CHAPTER   I. 
The  Last  of  the  Long  Peace. 

Section 

I.     Cyprian's  Preparation  in  Heathendom ^ 

n.     Cyprian's  Preparation  under  the  Church 7 

'  That  Idols  are  not  Gods  ' ^° 

III.  Lay-work '^ 

'To  DoNATUs' ['The  Graceof  God']        .        .        •        •  '3 

IV.  Cyprian  Deacon ' 

IQ 

V.     Presbyterate ^ 

VI.     Helps  to  Laymen's  Scripture  Studies '^^ 

'To  QuiRiNus' ['Testimonies'] " 

VII.     Cyprian  made  Pope  of  Carthage '^5 

Cyprian's  Title  of  Papa' "9 

VIII.     Cyprian's  view  of  the  Authority  and  the  Design  of  the  Episcopate  .  31 

IX.     Divergence  of  Cyprian's  from  Modem  Views  .        •         •         •         •  35 

X.     A  Bishop's  Work  uphill ^^ 

XI.     Discipline— Clerical  and  Lay ^^ 

Of  Clerics  not  to  be  '  Tutores ' +7 

Of  Christians  not  to  train  for  the  Stage           .         •         •         •  5^ 

XII.     The  Eighteen  Months  continued.     Virginal  Life  in  Carthage           .  51 

Xm.    Literary  Character  of  the  Book 'Of  THE  Dress  OF  Virgins'       .  57 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   II. 
The  Decian  Persecution. 

Section  Page 

I.    The  Roman  Theory  of  Persecution 60 

II.     The  Outbreak  of  the  Decian  Persecution — Rome    ....  64 

Of  Genuineness  in  Nomenclature      ......  72 

On  Etecusa  and  Numeria         ...                  ...  74 

III.  The  Persecution  at  Carthage.— I.    The'Stantes            •        •         •  75 

^.    The  '  Lapsi'     ....  79 

On  the  Form  and  Contents  of  the  Libelli .....  82 

IV.  The  Retirement  of  Cyprian 84 

V.     Interference  of  the  Church  of  Rome 87 

VI.    The  Lapsed  and  the  Martyrs 89 

VII.    The  Cyprianic  Scheme  for  Restorative  Discipline   ....  95 

On  the  ^  Proof '  of  Roman  Confession  which  is  derived  f-om 

these  events   ..........  98 

VIII.     The  adopted  policy  was  Carthaginian,  not  Roman          ...  99 
On  the  Thirteen  Epistles  of  which  Cyprian  sent  copies  to  the 

Romans        ..........  102 

IX.     Diocesan  Disquietudes    .         .         .         .  •         ■        .         .106 

X.     Declaration  of  Parties — Novatus  and  Felicissimus  .  .         .108 

Budinarius  and  Sarcinatrix 117 

XI.     Growth  of  the  Opposition  at  Rome — The  Confessors  and  Novatian  n8 

CHAPTER   III. 

Sequel  of  the  Persecution. 

I.    Cyprian's  '  FiRST  Council  of  Carthage  ' : 

Question  I.    The  Title  of  Cornelius 129 

Question  2.    Decision  on  Felicissimus  .  .         .131 

Question  3.    Novatianism 134 

Four  different  Pictures  from  the  year  ^ijO          .         .         .  148 
Of  Cyprian  before  his  own  Presbyters        .                  .         .148 

Of  Cyprian  before  the  Roman  Presbyters            .         .         .  150 
Of  Felicissimus  as  a  more  faithful  representative  of  the 

Church 153 

Of  the  Evanescence  of  Novatus  under  Ritsckfs  Analysis    .  154 

Question  4.    The  Decision  on  the  Lapsed        .                 .  156 

II.     Advance  of  Novatianism — Return  of  the  Confessors                         -  159 
III.     Continued  Action  against  Novatianism — Roman  Council  of  A.D.  251, 

Antiochene  of  A.D.  252        ........  163 

Difficulties    in    identifying    Hippolytus,    through   whom 

Dionysius  wrote  to  the  Romans,  with  Hippolytus  ofPortus  169 

Why  is  Dionysius^  Epistle  to  the  Romans  called  5taKoviK-q  ?  171 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Section  Page 

IV.     Constitutional  Results  of  the  First  Council i?^ 

V.     Corollaries :— Puritanism :     Saint-Merit:    Flight    from    Suffering. 

The  'De  Lapsis' i74 

MaVs  supposed  Fragment  of  Cyprian 179 


CHAPTER    IV. 
Cyprian  *of  the  Unity  of  the  Catholic  Church.' 

I.     Time  and  Substance  of  the  Treatise 180 

II.     Two  Questions  on  Cyprianic  Unity,     i.    Was  it  a  theory  of  Convic- 
tion or  of  Policy?     2.    Does  it  involve  Roman  Unity?         .         .  186 
Catena  of  Cyprianic  passages   on  the   Unity  signified  in  the 

Charge  to  Peter i97 

III.     The  Appeal  of  the  modern  Church  of  Rome  to  Cyprian  on  '  The 

Unity  of  the  Catholic  Church  ' — by  way  of  Intei-polation   .         .  200 
//ozu  to  make  the  best  of  the  Forgeries  now          .         .         .         .219 

Note  on  the  Citation  from  Pelagius  II. 220 

CHAPTER   V. 

The  Harvest  of  the  New  Legislation. 

I.    The  softening  of  the  Penances— 'The  Second  Council'      .        .      222 

II.     The  Effect  on  Felicissimus  and  his  Party 225 

III.  The  Legacy  of  Clerical  Appeals  under  the  Law  of  the  Lapsed  — 
'The  Third  and  Fourth  Councils.'  Episcopal  Cases.  The 
Spanish  Appeal  against  Rome 230 

CHAPTER   VI. 
Expansion  of  Human  Feeling  and  Energy. 

I.     The  Church  in  relation  to  Physical  Suffering : 

1.  Within  itself.— The  Berber  Raid 236 

Of  Genuineness  Geographical      .         .         ■         •         .239 

2.  The  Church  in  relation  to  Heathen  Suffering. — The  Plague       240 

3.  The  Theory.— Unconditional  Altruism.     'Of  Work  AND 
Almsdeeds' 246 

II.     Resentment.— '  To  Demetrian  ' 249 

Of  the  Style  of  the  Demetrian 256 

III.     The  Interpretation  of  Sorrows 256 

'On  the  Mortality' 260 

'To  Fortunatus'  ['Exhortation  TO  Martyrdom']         .  264 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

Section  Page 

IV.    Intelligent  Devotion. — *  On  the  Lord's  Prayer  '        .        .        .  267 
Table  shewing  the   Verbal  Debts  to  Teriullian  in   CypriarCs 

Treatise  De  Dominica  Oratione    .         .         .         .         .         -275 

On  the  Characteristics  and  Genuineness  of  the  De  Dominica 

Oratione       ..........  280 

Compaq  ison  ehuidating  the  Dates     ......  287 

V.     Ritual— I.    The  Mixed  Cup 289 

2.    The  Age  of  Baptism 295 

Objection  to  Council  III.  on  account  of  its  Antipelagianism       .  297 


CHAPTER   VII. 
The  Roman  Chair. 

I.    The  End  of  Cornelius 298 

II.    The  Sitting  of  Lucius 304 

III.     Stephanus.     The  Church  not  identified  with  or  represented  by 

Rome 307 

1.  The  Spanish  Appeal 311 

2.  The  Gaulish  Appeal 314 

Intercalary. 
Presbyters  as  Members  of  Administration 323 


CHAPTER   VIIL 

The  Baptismal  Question 331 

I.     I.     The  Tradition  of  Africa     .....:..  335 

2.    The  Tradition  of  Asia  Minor  East 339 

II.     I.     Position  of  the  Leaders — Cyprian  and  Stephen  .         .         .  343 

Dates  (Council  of  Iconium  and  other)        ....  347 

2.     Acts  and  Documents 349 

Fifth  Council,  First  on  Baptism 349 

Sixth  Council,  Second  on  Baptism 351 

Did  Stephen  excommunicate  the  Bishops  of  the  East  1        .         .  354 

Dionysius  the  Great 354 

That  the7-e  is  no  reason  to  suppose  letters  are  missing  from 

the  Correspondence  with  Stephen     .....  360 

That  the  Epistle  to  Potnpey  (Ep.  74)  and  Stephett's  Epistle 

quoted  therein  are  earlier  than  the  Third  Council   .         .  361 
That  Ep.  72  to  Stephen  is  rightly  put  down  to  the  Second 

Council,  not  the  Third  .......  362 

That  Quietus  of  Bui-uc  who  spoke  in  the  Seventh  Council 

is  Quintus  the  Alauretaiiian,  Recipient  of  Yj^.  11    .         .  363 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

Section  Page 

Seventh  Council,  Third  on  Baptism       ....  364 

Firmilian  and  his  Letter 372 

On  the  Genuineness  of  the  Epistle  of  Firmilian          .         .  377 

Quotations  of  Scripture  in  Firmilian         .         .         .         .386 

Basil  and  the  Letter  of  Firmilian      .         .         .         .         .388 

The  Nameless  Author  '  on  Rebaptism ' 390 

III.  The  Arguments 399 

Cyprian's,     i.    Objective 401 

2.  Subjective 405 

Baptism  in  the  Name  of  Christ  alone         ....  406 

3.  Historical 408 

4.  Biblical 411 

Stephen's  Arguments 413 

C«  M^ /brr(f  ^  6"/'(f/A^«'j  Nihil  innovetur  nisi   .        .        .421 

IV.  Ecclesiastical  Results. 

I.    The  Unbroken  Unity 423 

1.    The  Baptismal  Councils  failed  doctrinally — and  why  424 
3.    The  Catholic  and  the  Ultramontane  Estimate  of 

Cyprian 432 


CHAPTER   IX. 
Expansion  of  Christian  Feeling  and  Energy  (resumed). 

The  Secret  of  Conduct 437 

X.    'Of  THE  Good  OF  Patience' 437 

2.    'Of  Jealousy  AND  Envy' 448 

CHAPTER   X. 
The  Persecution  of  Valerian. 

I.     I.    The  Edict  and  its  occasions       .......  456 

Macrian.   The 'Uprising  of  Nations  ' 457 

On  Kephron  and  the  Lands  of  Kolluthion          .         .         .  463 

2.  Treatment  of  Cyprian 464 

3.  Numidian  Bishop-Confessors 471 

4.  'To  Fortunatus'  ['Of  Encouragement  to  Confessor- 

ship']         474 

5.  Rome.     Accession  of  Xystus  and  his  immunity         .         .        .  475 
II.     I.    The  Rescript 477 

2.  Rome.    The  Exclusion  from  the  Cemeteries   .        .        .        .481 

3.  Memorials  of  Xystus  and  his  Martyrdom 487 


xviii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Page 

The  Birthday 493 

Where  was  Cyprian  Martyr  buried  ? 509 

Where  was  Cyprian  tried  and  executed ? f,iz 

The  Dress  0/ Cyprian 513 

The  Soldiers  and  Officers  named  in  the  Trial 516 

Of  the  Massa  Candida 517 

Acta  Proconsularia 518 


CHAPTER   XII. 
Aftermath. 


APPENDICES. 


A.  'Principalis    Ecclesia,'   Note    on  the   meaning  of  Principalis 

(p.  192) 537 

B.  Additional  note  on  Libelli  and  two  extant  specimens  of  them  (pp. 

81—84) 541 

C.  The  Intrigue  about  yizxiMSAw^ 'ityiX.      ViscontPs  Letter  (i).  111)        .       544 

D.  The  Intrigue  about  the  Benedictine  Text.     Additional  note  on  du 

Mabaret  (p.  ■213) 546 

E.  Text   of  the    Interpolation    in    De    Unitate    c.    iv.    with    new 

collations     ...........       547 

F.  On  points  in  the  Chronology  ^Valerian's  Reign  (pp.  456  sqq.)       .       552 

G.  On  the  nameless  Epistle  Ad  Novatianum  and  the  attribution  of  it  to 

Xystus  (p.  476) 557 

H.     Exatninatioft  of  the  Lists  of  the  Bishops  attending  the  Councils. 

{Genuineness.     Seniority) 565 

I,  K.    The  Cities  from  which  the  Bishops  came  to  the  Seventh  Council 

on  the  First  of  September,  A. D.  256 573 

L.     On  S.  Cyprian's  Day  in  Kalendars.     And  how  it  came  to  be  in 

England  on  the  26th  instead  of  the  14th  of  September         .         .       610 


CONTENTS.  XIX 


MAPS. 


Page 
The  Cemeteries  on  the  Appian  Way  near  Rome 481 

Carthage  (Environs  of) 509 

Proconsular  Africa  and  Numidia  to  illustrate  the  writings  of  Cyprian  .         .       573 


WOODCUTS. 

Loculus  of  Fabian 66 

Loculus  of  Cornelius 124 

Loculus  of  Maximus 163 

Coins  of  Cornelia  Salonina 300 

Ninth  Century  figures  of  Cyprian  and  Cornelius  from  the  Cemetery  of 

Callistus       ............  302 

Loculus  of  Lucius 306 

Well  of  the  Legend  of  Stephen's  baptizing  in  Cemetery  of  Domitilla          .  332 


List  of  Books  quoted 621 

Index 626 


ERRATA. 

p.     48.     Insteac/ 0/ CsedVms,  read  Cxcilia.nus. 

p.   120.     n.  4,   read  Privatus  of  Lambaese  had  Five   adherents,... Five  Bishops 

attended  Cornelius  at  the  reconciliation  of  Maximus. 
p.  160.     Read,   the  Bishop  Evaristus,  who  had  been  probably  one  of  Novatian's 

consecrators. 


CHRONOLOGY 


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INTRODUCTION. 


CARTHAGE   AND    HER   SOCIETY. 

A  SAILING  vessel  running  before  a  fair  wind  from  Ostia,  could  reach 
Carthage  on  the  second  day.  Yet  to  the  Roman  Africa  never  lost  the 
sense  of  distance  and  weirdness.  His  business  transactions  with  it  were 
enormous.  It  is  all  strewn  with  relics  of  his  factories,  yet  his  scientific 
notes  on  it  were  as  weird  as  the  tales  of  its  wild  men.  Its  lion  under- 
stood what  was  said  to  him.  Its  python  checked  his  legion.  New  species 
of  creatures  were  continually  produced  there.  His  armies  trod  floors  of 
salt  over  bottomless  pits.  He  quarried  Atlas,  his  precious  tables  were 
made  of  its  wood,  yet  it  was  the  mountain  '  of  fable,'  the  inexhaustible, 
inexplorable  mountain.  Even  in  the  sixth  century  his  description  of  Mt 
Aures  is  merely  fantastic.  He  never  shook  off  his  feeling  about  the  city 
which  had  wrestled  with  him  for  the  empire  of  the  earth,  and  had  been  so 
foully  thrown.  He  still  heard  with  awe  that,  where  other  nations  called 
on  their  gods,  the  African  breathed  only  the  name  of '  Africa '  before  a 
new  enterprise. 

Into  this  region  opened  two  glorious  gates,  the  valley  of  Egypt  and  this 
other.  Through  these  two  must  pass  and  repass  all  that  the  Mediter- 
ranean fetched  and  carried  to  or  from  the  infinite  Soudan.  Through  this 
alone  went  all  that  they  lent  or  borrowed  from  the  antient  and  resourceful 
civilizations  which  lay  between  Sahara  and  the  sea,  and  all  the  human 
hosts  which  served  and  violated  the  multitudinous  interests  there  in- 
volved. 

For  its  coast  from  the  Nile  to  the  Atlantic  lay  thus.  First  a  low- 
land of  dunes,  whose  sands  invaded  the  sea  in  two  vast  Syrtes,  swept  by 
the  hurricanes  from  the  Sahara  over  the  rocky  rim,  and  swirling  in  shoals 
and  quicksands  and  shifting  banks,  along  ever-shifting  currents.  Then 
down  upon  these,  slope  after  slope,  fell  the  buttress  ends  of  two  Alpine 
chains  which,  barring  breaks  and  rents,  rolled  out  their  snowy  ridges  side 
by  side  to  the  Atlantic  :  the  northern  chain,  a  vast  rampart  cresting 
along  over  the  iron-bound  coast  which  it  made ;  the  southern  falling  by 

C2 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

plateau  after  plateau  till  it  plunged  its  roots  in  Sahara,  and  flung  its 
torrents  into  leagues  of  salt  lakes.  Between  the  twin  giant  ridges,  some- 
times linked  together  by  cross  fells  and  yokes  of  lower  height,  were  high 
plains  and  hollows  full  of  mountain  basins  and  small  streams,  so  that 
there  were  endless  rich  sheets  of  land  and  fertile  slopes,  and  sometimes  a 
succession  of  fat  plains,  as  on  the  Medjerda,  as  well  as  oases  of  bewilder- 
ing fertility  out  in  the  deserts.  Horses  and  cattle,  cereals,  the  heaviest 
wheat  and  largest  yield  then  known,  minerals,  unique  marbles,  palm 
groves  southward  and  olive  woods  northward,  and  mountains  of  cedars 
stocked  and  stored  the  land.  The  yield  of  oil  was  prodigious,  and  a  third 
of  all  the  corn  consumed  in  Rome  and  Italy  was  grown  here. 

These  three  lines,  the  northern  slopes,  the  southern  terraces,  and  the 
vast  central  lap,  were  thick  from  immemorial  time  with  native  villages, 
most  of  which  grew  into  towns  of  which  scarcely  one  was  insignificant  in 
its  possession  of  some  source  of  well-being. 

It  was  on  the  brow  of  the  seaward  head,  between  highlands  and  low- 
lands, where  the  ends  of  the  two  chains  brought  the  westering  shore  to  a 
sudden  stop  and  turned  it  north, — it  was  in  that  gate,  commanding  the 
mouth  of  the  Medjerda  valley,  that  Carthage  had  long  since  sat  herself  down, 
Italiam  contra,  and  looked  straight  north  to  Rome.  So  dangerously  near 
it  was,  that  Cato  shewed  the  senators  a  fresh  fig  pulled  two  days  before 
in  Carthage,  as  a  token  that  both  could  not  exist. 

*  *  * 

The  end  of  her  power  had  been  the  beginning  for  her  of  unequalled 
wealth.  When  her  warships  had  been  towed  out  to  sea  and  fired  she 
became  a  neutral,  free  of  the  seas,  while  war  kept  out  of  commerce  all  the 
maritime  peoples  of  the  East  for  half  a  century. 

But  that  prosperous  interval  stifled  the  spirit  of  a  state  for  which 
Hannibal  had  not  been  ambitious  enough,  when  he  sketched  an  honour- 
able peace  and  Africa  for  a  safe  dominion.  The  pursuit  of  gain  thinned 
their  troops  and  filled  them  up  with  mercenaries.  The  fifty  years  over, 
they  had  nothing  but  the  wish  for  peace  and  a  readiness  to  give  and  keep 
any  required  guarantees,  to  oppose  to  the  stolid  animosity  of  Cato  and 
the  craft  of  Masinissa.  It  would  have  been  a  sore  exchange  for  mankind 
if  semi-orientals  scrambling  into  democracy  through  constitutional  decay 
had  prevailed.  But  the  Roman  policy,  inspired  by  both  fear  and  greed, 
its  secret  instigation  of  the  barbarian,  its  simulation  of  impartiality,  has 
been  called  by  the  calmest  of  historians  '  diabolic'  It  flared  out  in  the 
atrocities  of  the  siege  and  the  capture.  Through  seventeen  days  the  city, 
which  lately  contained  700,000  people,  burnt  as  '  one  funeral  pyre.'  Then 
the  plough  was  foolishly  dragged  about  her  vitrified  walls. 

*  *  * 

A  quarter  of  a  century,  and  her  history  began  again  through  Caius 
Gracchus,  but  in  a  dreary  fashion.  She  loomed  too  large  still  to  be  left 
to  Phoenician  boatmen  and  Libyan  mapalia.     The  capital  was  suddenly 


CARTHAGE  AND   HER  SOCIETY.  XXVll 

repeopled  and  the  lands  allotted  to  Roman  colonists,  old  soldiers, 
speculating  farmers,  and  hosts  of  slave  labourers.  But  still  jealousy 
would  permit  no  real  development.  They  had  to  protect  themselves. 
There  was  no  military  station.  The  walls  were  never  restored,  and 
something  forbade  the  inhabiting  of  the  precinct,  so  that  'the  ruins  of 
Carthage,'  in  which  Marius  was  seen  sitting,  were  half  a  mile  perhaps 
from  bazaars  and  basilicas. 

But  all  was  changed  once  more  when  great  men  and  statesmen,  a 
Julius  and  an  Octavius,  undertook  the  thing.  Then  began  a  real  policy, 
selfish  enough,  but  a  policy  which  enriched  vast  classes,  created  a 
yeomanry,  found  a  subsistence  for  every  peasant,  and  fed  Italy.  Car- 
thage first,  and  then  the  old  towns  began  to  receive  privileges  as  municipia 
and  colonies,  sometimes  titulary,  but  often  with  many  settlers  capable  of 
Romanizing  the  thick  and  thickening  population.  They  slid  quietly 
from  the  administration  of  Sufetes,  'Judges,'  to  that  of  Duumvirs  and 
Decurions.  After  Trajan's  time  nearly  all  towns  had  received  honours 
and  privileges,  and  took  occasion  to  glorify  themselves  with  little  muni- 
cipal buildings  and  large  market-places,  above  all  with  amphitheatres. 
Many  temples  and  basilicas  and  arches,  though  not  perfectly  pure  in 
taste,  were  great  and  stately,  as  they  consecrated  themselves  in  marble  to 
their  own  Severus,  to  his  Julia,  Geta  and  Caracalla. 

Wealthy  villas,  surrounded  themselves  with  dependents  and  with 
industries,  had  to  be  taken  into  account  in  the  communal  system  like 
small  towns,  and  were  less  easily  dealt  with. 

The  Roman  farmer  of  Africa  has  left  his  mark.  His  Moorish  suc- 
cessors, though  for  civil  and  religious  purposes  using  the  Arabic  Kalendar, 
name  the  months  of  their  agricultural  operations  from  his  Latin.  He  was 
proverbial  for  two  points.  His  daughters  worked  as  well  as  his  sons,  and 
his  own  implement  was  the  Oculus  Domini.  He  worked  and  made 
everyone  work.  Pliny  saw  him  or  his  native  tenant  in  Byzacium  yoking 
an  old  woman  with  an  ass,  a  practice  not  dropped  until  of  late.  He 
held  his  land  usually  upon  a  military  tenure. 

The  brilliant  Third  Legion  executed  works  of  immense  magnitude  and 
of  admirable  utility,  while  from  its  soldier  towns  it  fenced  civilization  off 
from  the  Berber  hordes.  A  few  of  their  clans  were  more  or  less  ticketed 
and  enrolled,  but  all  were  subjects  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  generally  rebels 
but  subjects. 

The  whole  civil  and  military  organization,  from  the  Proconsul's  Staff 
and  Office  downwards,  was  without  a  break,  absolutely  continuous,  in- 
telligible, minute  and  instant.  We  know  it  from  their  innumerable 
monuments  as  precisely  as  we  know  that  of  counties,  parishes  and 
boroughs. 

Yet  a  fearful  shadow  dogged  all  this  national  genius  and  individual 
vigour,  the  inherent  vice  of  the  Roman  spirit,  the  scornful  inhumanity 
with  which  uncivilized  populations  were  unhelped  and  repelled.     It  was 


XXVlll  INTRODUCTION. 

this,   with  its  ever-growing  train  of  consequences,  this  and   not  the 
Vandals,  which  wrought  the  last  wreck. 


Of  material  Carthage  we  have  less  solid  knowledge  than  of  any  great 
city.  Carthage  has  been  learnedly  rebuilt  in  the  air,  its  temples  and 
streets  mapped  and  named  by  departments,  but  all  are  as  visionary  as 
mirage.  Archaeology  has  spoiled  Carthage  for  museums  as  Arabs  did 
for  harems,  and  Italian  Republics  for  cathedrals.  Until  science  and 
system  explore  what  lies  interred  under  cloisters  we  can  know  little  of 
a  city  whose  two  effacements  were  not  more  wonderful  than  itself  in 
its  majesty.  When  Cyprian  was  there  in  the  height  of  his  repute,  Car- 
thage is  reported  by  Herodian  to  have  been  in  population  and  wealth 
the  equal  of  Alexandria  and  second  only  to  Rome.  Its  beauty  matched 
its  rank. 

The  first  few  steps  in  it  to-day  are  enough  to  shew  us  that  these  Arab 
quarters  were  laid  out  by  no  Arab  hand.  Two  streets  of  great  length 
through  its  largest  dimensions,  intersect  at  right  angles,  and  pass  out  of 
the  city  northward  and  westward  as  imperial  roads.  For  the  outer  city 
and  environs  they  form  base  lines  each  way  for  many  other  streets  set 
out  at  right  angles,  and  frequently  interlaced  again  with  convenient 
diagonals.  In  the  inner  city,  with  its  winding  edge  and  cliff,  its  heights 
and  steeps,  the  streets  still  made  a  singular  symmetry  of  squares  and 
triangles,  so  that  space  was  rapidly  traversed  and  every  awkward  plot 
made  serviceable.  Most  of  this  literal  geometry  was  Roman,  but  in  the 
older  citadel-region  and  religious  quarters  there  are  traces  perhaps  of 
those  streets  with  which,  earliest  of  all  world-cities  (it  was  believed), 
Carthage  was  laid  out  in  regular  plan.  In  another  feature  this  Inner 
City  resembled  modern  sea-ports  and  was  unlike  ancient  ones.  The 
harbour  was  excavated  in  regular  basins,  outer  and  inner.  The  outer 
oblong,  for  vessels  of  commerce,  the  inner,  called  Cothon,  fitted  for  220 
full-sized  triremes.  This  ran  round,  or  nearly  round,  a  circular  island, 
from  which  the  Punic  admiral's  quarters  had  commanded  the  lake  of 
Tunis  and  the  sea.  All  was  constructed  at  the  one  corner  which  gave  a 
straight  shore,  south  and  north,  for  quays  and  a  short  end  southward 
and  sheltered  for  the  harbour  mouth.  Everywhere  there  was  a  genius 
for  adaptation  visible.  At  the  intersection  of  the  two  great  streets  are 
the  extraordinary  reservoirs,  Roman  too,  but  on  Punic  lines.  The  sub- 
structure of  the  citadel — a  unique  contrivance  (except  so  far  as  it 
resembles  the  sub-structure  of  the  Temple) — is  a  nest  of  chambers 
where  water  was  purified  and  stood  in  vast  volume.  Of  the  triple  wall 
of  the  inner  city,  itself  containing  stabling  and  barracks,  without 
believing  all  that  is  in  Appian,  we  may  believe  wonders. 

At  the  heart  of  the  isosceles  triangle  which,  as  we  can  perceive,  the 
city  shaped  out,  rose  three  hundred  feet  high,  the  famous  Bozrah — climbed 


CARTHAGE  AND  HER   SOCIETY.  XXIX 

by  three  streets  of  rapid  gradient — the  Byrsa  of  the  legend,  and  of  the 
most  'truthful  and  moving'  of  all  siege  narratives  save  one. 

On  the  crown  of  it  had  been  in  all  Punic  time  the  tutelary  temple 
of  Eschmoun,  heavily  pillared  and  yellow  stuccoed,  replaced  perhaps 
in  the  times  we  are  busy  with,  by  the  Corinthian  or  Ionic  temple, 
of  whose  columns  a  few  fragments  remain.  Now  it  is  the  chapel 
of  the  saint  and  king  who  died  on  the  shore  below  in  the  arms  of 
Joinville.  Here  were  the  Basilicas,  where  Cyprian  pleaded,  the  great 
Library  he  used,  the  Senate  House,  the  Praetorium  facing  the  sea — 
and  all  the  home  of  a  State. 

Close  by  the  inner  side  of  the  harbour  rises  a  miniature  Byrsa,  on 
which  perhaps  Caelestis  had  her  shrine — Ashtaroth,  the  'abomination  of 
the  Sidonians,'  and  the  despair  of  Virgil,  after  whom  Gracchus  tried  to 
re-name  the  town  Junonia. 

The  fragments  which  thickly  strew  the  ground  are  all  Roman.  The 
Punic  city  lies  below  them  under  a  deep  layer  of  calcined  earth  and  wood 
ash.  Nothing  of  it  presses  on  our  eyes  but  the  enormous  tufa  blocks 
marked  with  fire,  the  bases  of  the  ramparts.  Within  their  northernmost 
reach  but  seemingly  beyond  all  old  dwellings  is  the  city  of  the  dead, 
little  hills  and  dells  of  limestone,  Djebel  Khaoui,  where  lie  hundreds  of 
thousands.  Their  places  have  been  sunken,  burrowed,  and  scooped, 
tenanted,  re-tenanted  and  desecrated  again.  Thousands  of  dull  monu- 
ments teach  us  nothing  but  names.  These  date  onward  from  the  second 
Phoenician  epoch.  Their  forefathers  had  buried  in  the  Inner  Town.  The 
ponderous  sepulchres  of  the  oldest  Phoenician  lords  are  in  the  sides  of 
Bozrah.  Tertullian  had  shuddered  at  what  he  saw  disclosed  when  the 
Odeon  was  excavated.  Here  are  Christian  emblems,  and  here  are  be- 
headed skeletons  with  their  heads  laid  carefully  upon  their  laps.  And 
who  are  these  ? 

Within  the  ramparts  partly,  but  for  miles  outside  them,  stretched  the 
woods  and  gardens  of  the  Roman  peers,  an  extent  of  '  Horti '  unmatched 
at  Rome,  and  across  them  from  the  western  hills  strode  the  colossal 
aqueduct. 

If  we  did  not  know  that  the  marble  wealth  of  its  structures,  so 
conveniently  stratified  for  a  second  quarrying,  had  tempted  not  only 
anti-Christian  Tunis,  but  supremely  Christian  Pisa,  we  should  gaze  with 
blank  eyes  upon  the  blank  spaces  where  such  marvels  have  been.  Of 
Amphitheatre  and  Circus  no  trace  but  immense  shallow  troughs  in  the 
soil.  Of  Theatre,  Odeon,  Forum  itself,  scarce  a  sign.  The  Christian 
Fathers  did  not  prophesy  in  vain,  when  they  declared  that  these,  the 
most  prominent,  most  imposing  institutions  of  that  age,  were  dissolving 
the  primary  institutes  of  society  and  nature — respect  for  Life,  for  Virtue, 
for  Government,  and  for  Justice  itself.  About  the  Amphitheatre  Tertullian 
refuses  to  reason  with  Christians.  He  can  consider  it  an  open  question 
only  for  men  still  heathen.     In  the  Circus  mere  madness  is  king,  no 


XXX  INTRODUCTION. 

authority  acknowledged.  Cyprian  tells  them  this  Theatre  is  the  apo- 
theosis of  sin,  this  Forum  the  living  spirit  of  Falseness.  It  is  a  strange 
note  of  our  city  that  all  these  have  been  not  ruined  but  annihilated. 

Faintly  then  we  may  picture  to  ourselves  a  material  something  not 
wholly  unlike  what  Carthage  was.  Scarcely  any  city  yields  so  many 
scenes.  The  streets  gathering  themselves  in  unique  symmetry  to  the  feet 
of  sudden  steeps  and  many-tinted  marble  heights,  or  opening  full  on  the 
glistening  quays  and  the  breathless  harbour:  graceful  hills  about  it 
crowned  with  shrines  and  villas,  great  levels  spreading  in  chase  or 
garden;  low  'difficult  hills'  with  'artificial  passages,'  which  yoked  the 
neck  of  its  foreland ;  the  vast  lake  where  navies  of  commerce  and  of 
pleasure  rode  close  to  the  streets,  severed  by  a  thread  from  the  open 
sea;  mountain  crests  in  snow  watching  from  the  distances;  through  all 
and  over  all  the  keen  light  and  intense  blue  of  Africa. 


More  to  us  than  the  splendours  of  the  place  is  the  population,  its 
habits  and  temper. 

One  of  its  unlikenesses  to  other  capitals  was  the  way  in  which  it  was 
made  and  kept  a  city  of  Peace,  luxurious  but  not  idle  Peace.  The  policy 
of  its  re-peopling  did  not  suffer  it  to  be  a  military  centre.  A  third  of  the 
Third  Legion  was  always  quartered,  not  at  Carthage,  but  wherever  the 
Proconsul  was,  and  the  brilliance  of  his  court  was  unsurpassed. 

When  Carthage  called  the  Gordians  to  the  Empire,  ten  years  before 
Cyprian  became  a  Christian,  the  military  ceremonial  of  Rome  was 
punctiliously  represented  there,  but  Maximin  taunted  the  city  which 
would  make  Emperors,  with  being  kept  in  order  by  a  handful  of  lictors, 
having  no  weapons  but  hunting-spears,  and  no  drill  but  the  dance.  The 
population  of  the  rich  territory  outside  was  not  more  martial.  They 
poured  in  armed  only  with  hatchets  and  country  sticks.  It  was  the  more 
striking  because  their  neighbour  Numidia  was  a  land  of  forts  and  camps, 
and,  thanks  to  its  marvellous  old  Masinissa,  famous  for  its  native  javelin 
men,  who  rode  without  bit  or  bridle  and  'steered'  their  barbs,  the  costliest 
in  the  world,  with  cord  and  switch. 

Three  of  the  finest  of  earth's  races  lived  together  in  its  circuit.  The 
Roman,  as  he  is  best  known,  so  is  he  also  least  patient  of  a  rapid  touch. 
We  need  say  here  no  more  than  that  of  all  the  vast  institutions  and 
organizations  of  power,  rule,  pleasure,  corruption  which  we  may  touch  on, 
he  was  the  creator.  The  Romans  of  Carthage  did  not  see  themselves,  as 
at  home,  sending  out,  as  from  a  source,  all  the  legislative,  administrative 
and  executive  powers,  and  receiving  the  appeals  and  prayers  of  all  nations, 
nor  yet,  as  in  other  capitals,  few  in  number  but  sovereign  through  military 
peace  and  unswerving  law.  At  Carthage  the  commerce,  wealth  and  social 
influence  of  their  preponderating  numbers  were  shared  by  Punic  families 
Latinized  since  the  last  colonizations.    If  the  native  race  largely  supplied 


CARTHAGE  AND  HER  SOCIETY.  XXXI 

them  with  slaves,  it  had  also  an  independent  population  within  the  city 
naturally  recruiting  itself  from  the  clans. 

The  Berber — by  this,  its  northern  name,  we  may  call  the  earliest  uni- 
versal stock  of  the  continent  whom  the  antients  knew  by  many  names — 
the  Berber  may  be  studied  now  as  well  as  at  any  of  his  unrecorded  eras. 
He  is  unchanged.  He  is  nearly  half  the  population.  In  large  districts 
he  talks  'Libyan'  still,  which  his  masteis  never  allowed  on  coin  or  docu- 
ment, and  seldom  indeed  could  speak.  He  is  no  child  of  Shem  like  the 
Arab  he  lives  with.  His  notions  are  of  equality  among  men,  honour  for 
women,  village  communities  (in  the  hill-tops  if  possible),  neighbourly 
federation.  He  is  tall,  strong,  supple,  healthful,  often  'like  a  bronze'  for 
form  and  colour,  often  fair  and  blue  eyed.  We  do  not  know  whether  he 
came  in  by  Gibraltar.  Before  our  times  he  had  learnt  enough  of  Roman 
manners  along  the  seaboard.  How  the  Roman  used  him  and  what  he 
made  of  him  in  the  interior  we  shall  tell  by  and  bye.  Of  his  third 
century  relations  to  Christianity  we  know  nothing  at  all.  In  his  time  he 
has  learnt  the  Phoenician,  Roman,  and  Christian  religions,  and  he  retains 
little  spots  of  each.  All  that  was  important  in  them  he  dropped  before 
Islam.     He  saw  all  other  races  in  and  will  see  them  out. 

The  administration  of  law  was  perforce  rigorous.  The  complicated 
agrarian  and  military  conditions  under  which  land  was  incessantly  being 
acquired,  leased,  sub-let,  and  transferred  by  Roman  farmers  ;  antient 
freeholders  and  tenants  being  generally  maintained  in  their  rights,  and 
an  elaborate  corvee  system  worked  with  an  eye  indeed  to  the  benefit  of 
Italian  proprietors,  yet  with  a  tendency  to  keep  peasant-life  tolerable, 
and  not  to  aggravate  traditional  service — all  this  developed  highly  in 
'Africa,  nurse  of  pleaders,'  some  branches  of  legal  skill.  Inscriptions 
witness  to  the  care  with  which  peasant  farmers  had  their  cases  heard, 
and  the  awards  recorded  monumentally  for  future  information  and 
security. 

The  moving  part  of  the  population  consisted,  not,  as  with  us,  of  people 
making  their  way  up  to  the  metropolis  to  be  lost  in  it,  but  of  families  and 
masters,  often  veteran  soldiers,  halting  on  their  way  up  the  country,  and 
often  increasing  their  Uttle  capital  by  the  ingenious  use  of  opportunities 
which  a  seaport  offered  in  the  way  of  new  arrivals,  commodities  accessible, 
and  industries  in  requisition.  But  finally  they  were  in  quest  of  rich 
rewarding  plots  of  soil,  as  near  as  might  be  to  the  countless  little  towns 
which  were  growing  out  of  villages  and  Punic  stations  in  the  plateaux 
and  slopes  of  Atlas.  After  a  while  they  and  their  factors  again  crowded 
the  quays  with  their  produce,  and  employed  a  conflux  of  foreign  sailors, 
porters,  dock-labourers,  to  which  the  'Rhuppapai'  of  the  Piraeus  was  a 
small  orderly  company. 

Meantime  the  ultimately  ruinous  transfers  of  land  were  proceeding,  by 
which  the  superior  ownership  was  concentrating  itself  under  fewer  and 
fewer  titles.     Farms  were  therefore  ranging  themselves  more  and  more 


XXXll  INTRODUCTION. 

round  the  bright  towns,  rich  in  every  natural  advantage  of  water  and 
wood  and  quarry,  while  enormous  tracts  of  land  were  being  afforested. 

All  this  implied  an  immense  class  of  lawyers  and  agents,  of  architects 
and  engineers,  builders  of  aqueducts  and  road  makers,  with  Colleges  of 
Surveyors  who  had  never  found  it  convenient  to  drop  the  augural  system 
•which  gave  a  Divine  sanction  to  their  mensuration.  Their  verdicts  must 
be  no  more  disputed  than  those  of  the  magistrates,  who  similarly  sup- 
ported their  excellent  character  for  justice  by  conjuring  tricks,  by  retaining 
priestly  functions,  by  a  grave  acting  of  religious  sentiments  which  few  of 
them  entertained.  If  there  was  one  thing  they  disliked,  it  was  having  to 
punish  opinions  which  at  first  seemed  to  them  only  eccentric.  Yet  the 
Christians  turned  even  this  into  a  grave  necessity. 


How  could  there  be  many  races  without  many  gods?  Yet  these 
Christians  would  have  but  one  God,  and  Him  a  new  one.  How  could 
so  many  races  have  unity  or  coherence  without  the  cultus  of  the  one 
Emperor? 

Before  his  bust  in  the  standard  of  the  legion,  before  his  image  in  the 
shrine  of  the  domestic  cloister,  incense  went  up  continually.  He  might  be 
vile,  but  he  was  the  Unity  of  Man.  His  numen  was  an  earthly  Provi- 
dence— practically  more  useful  than  a  heavenly  one — so  useful  that  after 
a  temporary  interruption  by  Christian  Emperors  the  same  cultus  revived 
and  still  flourishes  on  the  same  earthly  centre. 

Among  Celts  and  Africans  schools  of  Latin  were  a  necessity.  They 
naturally  became  schools  of  Rhetoric.  Spain,  Gaul  and  Africa  were  each 
famous,  and  Augustine  admits  no  rival  to  Carthage  except  Rome,  for 
Professors  of  Oratory  and  of  all  the  knowledge  which  oratory  demands. 
Fronto,  with  his  'gravity,'  glorified  as  'the  Orator'  and  canonized  by 
Aurelius'  lavish  friendship,  was  of  Cirta.  But  as  of  old  it  was  remarked 
that  Africa  had  produced  '  no  astronomer,'  so  to  the  last  she  reared  no 
philosopher. 

Augustine,  who  owed  so  much  to  its  schools,  cannot  be  said  to  speak 
of  Carthage  with  affection.  Its  '  riot  of  flagitious  loves '  which  swept  away 
even  '  the  more  sedate,'  its  stage  dancing  and  scenic  shame,  and  scarcely 
less  the  falsity  of  its  rhetorical  training  and  the  objects  to  be  effected  by 
that  training,  made  Carthage  a  blot  on  his  memory.  He  speaks  with  yet 
further  horror  of  street  scenes  in  which  he  never  took  part,  the  abominable 
^versiones,  which  seem  to  have  perpetuated  the  tradition  of  those  Punic 
riots  in  which,  as  at  Alexandria,  Polybius  says  the  youths  took  as  much 
part  as  the  men. 

But  in  general  her  citizens  were  as  'enamoured '  of  Carthage  as  Pericles 
-wished  his  countrymen  to  be  of  Athens.  The  feeling  is  not  ill  represented 
by  Apuleius,  himself  'a  half  Gaetulian,  half  Numidian'  from  Madaura. 
He  speaks  of  her  schools,  her  commerce  and  her  religion  as  the  never 


CARTHAGE  AND   HER  SOCIETY.  XXXUl 

worn  out  boast  of  her  alumnus.     Devotion  to  her  as  the  one  lasting 
rivalry  between  two  distinguished  friends  of  his  own. 

Cyprian  himself,  confessing  to  the  full  the  stains  upon  his  own  grave  C 
professional  life,  yet  exclaims  as  to  Carthage  itself,  '  Where  better,  where   j 
gladlier  might  I  be  than  in  the  place  where  God  willed  me  to  believe  and  t 
I  grow  ? '  {credere  et  crescere). 

♦  #  ♦ 

Of  the  Phoenician  population  of  Carthage  there  has  been  much  to 
imagine,  little  to  know.  Scant  record  but  an  enduring  type.  More  than 
sixteen  centuries  before  Christ  they  had  stepped  hither,  point  by  point 
along  the  Mediterranean  coasts  on  their  way  to  Spain  and  outward. 
Here  an  island,  there  a  foreland  or  a  peninsula  had  served  their  turn  and 
made  them  masters  or  controllers  of  the  moving  currents  of  wealth.  But 
this  was  far  their  noblest  settlement.  About  the  eighth  century  it  may 
have  been  reorganized,  receiving  the  name  which  appears  on  coin  and 
monument,  Kart  Hadasat,  the  New  City  which  Cato  tried  to  pronounce 
in  his  'Carthada.'  They  checked  the  advance  of  Cyrene,  planting 
along  the  edge  of  the  Lesser  Syrtis,  as  far  on  as  the  Greater,  a  chain 
of  advanced  posts,  whose  collective  name  of  Emporia  stamps  the  spirit 
of  their  foundation  and  indicates  their  wealth.  Where  there  were 
lagoons  they  rejoiced,  and  made  them  serviceable  with  quay  and  aqueduct 
and  causey.  These  towns  they  lost  and  won  again  and  again  in  conflict 
with  native  princes.  They  cared  nothing  for  the  peoples  among  whom 
they  fared,  and  nothing  for  their  broad  lands.  They  paid  tribute  readily 
to  the  inland  tribes,  until  the  day  came  when  it  could  be  repudiated.  A 
hard  unsympathetic  spirit  marked  their  rule.  They  amalgamated  no 
tribes,  allied  no  governments,  conciliated  no  loyalty.  Their  nearest 
neighbour,  Utica,  whose  interests  seemed  identical  with  those  of  Carthage, 
was  first  to  turn  on  her  when  her  stress  came. 

They  had  brought  a  rich  material  dowry  to  their  new  country: — purple 
murex  which  on  the  seabanks  of  the  Isle  of  Meninx  became  a  source  of 
untold  wealth  ;  olive,  vine,  artichoke,  pomegranate,  the  date-palm  which 
soon  possessed  the  land.  The  first  of  all  treatises  of  gardening  was 
Mago's.  They  imbedded  the  city  in  gardens.  That  they  did  not  intro- 
duce deer  or  boar  is  just  a  token  of  how  little  to  them  was  the  inland. 
But  they  almost  adored  the  native  horse,  and  stamped  him  on  their  coins 
with  perfect  appreciation  of  his  points. 

They  also  brought  with  them  worships  which  had  the  fascinations  of 
orgy,  cruelty  and  secrecy,  worships  ever  deadliest  to  the  religion  of  revela- 
tion. The  Romans  favoured  or  adopted  the  service  of  the  'Daemon'  or 
'Genius  of  the  Carthaginians,'  Baal  or  '  Heracles  '  or  Eschmoun  ;  as  well  as 
of  Astarte,  Tanit,  the  '  Juno '  or  Virgo  Caelestis,  of  whose  observances  there 
are  not  wanting  traces  in  the  Moslem  villages  of  to-day.  But  everywhere 
there  is  the  commercial  touch.  Amongst  the  most  important  of  our  Punic 
inscriptions  are  two  tariffs  which  tabulate  for  Carthage  and  Marseilles 


XXxiv  INTRODUCTION. 

the  fees  and  perquisites  of  sacrifices  and  the  price  of  victims.  Of  two 
Punic  words  in  Augustine,  one  is  'Mammon,'  which  he  renders  'Lucre,' 
and  he  quotes  one  proverb,  'The  Plague  asks  a  coin:  give  two  to  be  rid 
of  him.'  Commerce  was  their  aristocratic  Hfe,  seacraft  and  ship-building 
their  ancestral  pride.  'Thy  benches  of  ivory;  fine  linen  with  broidered 
work  of  Egypt  thy  sail;. ..wise  men  thy  calkers';  so  Ezekiel  touches  in 
the  Tyrian  galley,  such  a  ship  as  sailed  with  its  annual  freight  of  '  First- 
fruits'  from  the  daughter  Carthage.  A  gainful  people,  high  and  low, 
intriguing  and  bribing  for  office,  says  Polybius,  with  a  bribery  which 
at  Rome  in  his  time  would  have  been  penal  and  capital ;  ambitious 
with  a  passion  which  Hannibal  himself  failed  to  gratify. 

The  character  of  the  race  was  permanent  like  its  physiognomy ;  in 
both  they  were  Che7iani,  as  they  called  themselves  to  the  last,  genuine 
Canaanites. 

When  the  last  Colonia  settled  'within  the  vestiges  of  great  Carthage,' 
there  were  some  thousands  of  Chenani  lingering  there,  safer  than  among 
Libyan  nomads.  They  were  not  ejected.  There  was  nothing  to  hinder 
the  redevelopment  of  their  antient  tastes,  but  everything  to  promote  them. 
The  Romans  who  had  been  so  scared  when  the  jackals  pulled  up  the 
boundary  rods  were  only  too  glad  to  adore  and  to  endow  the  gods  in 
possession. 

It  is  not  hard,  then,  to  understand  how  under  the  Empire  the  rich  and 
able  Chenani  prospered,  and  how  their  craftsmen,  labourers  and  sailors 
found  more  employment  than  ever  on  the  quays,  harbour  and  lake,  where 
rode  fleets  of  all  nations.  The  memory  of  their  past  was  written  in  colossal 
characters  all  round  them,  and  would  have  tended  to  keep  a  less  supple 
people  separate  in  the  pride  both  of  achievement  and  of  suffering,  and 
probably  in  a  distinct  quarter  of  the  city.  But  of  this  we  hear  nothing. 
And  although  some  great  Punic  families  probably  withdrew  gradually  to 
their  remoter  estates,  as  the  Mahomedan  gentry  now  slip  away  from 
Algiers  even  against  the  wish  of  the  French,  yet  at  any  rate  in  Carthage 
strong  interests  promoted  fusion. 

It  is  more  hard  to  say  what  hold  Christianity  took  on  them.  The 
copious  Augustine,  who  flashes  into  every  corner,  finds  it  needful  to  call 
attention  to  only  two  Punic  words,  even  incidentally.  The  second  was 
Messiah.  We  must  not  assume  from  this  that  the  language  had  receded 
in  the  two  previous  centuries,  for  Cyprian  and  TertuUian  mention  none. 
The  two  Sacraments  were  known  among  them  by  beautiful  names, 
meaning  Salus  and  Vita,  which  Augustine  supposes  must  have  come  to 
them  through  some  original  Apostolic  channel  of  their  own.  Yet  in  the 
Cyprianic  documents,  flowing  over  with  sacramental  language,  there  is  but 
one  doubtful  allusion,  'Laver  of  Health,'  and  that  is  in  the  retranslation 
from  Firmilian. 

For  official  use  Punic  had  been  soon  disallowed,  and  in  Carthage  the 
Phoenicians  soon  became  bilingual,  but  the  Romans  never.     In  the  more 


CARTHAGE  AND   HER  SOCIETY.  XXXV 

primitive  towns  alone  Punic  was  talked  by  the  lower  orders,  and  was 
patriotically  kept  up  by  higher  circles,  together  with  a  little  shocking 
Greek,  and  no  Latin  to  speak  of.  That  was  the  case  in  Tripolis.  Forty 
miles  from  Hippo  it  was  necessary  in  the  fourth  century  to  place  a  Punic- 
speaking  Bishop  in  the  town  of  Fussala,  and  the  saintly  Valerius  took 
Augustine  for  his  coadjutor  because  it  was  impossible  for  him  as  a  Greek 
to  teach  effectively.  ,  Phoenician  then  was  a  living  tongue,  and  it  had,  we 
know,  an  eloquence  of  its  own.  Severus  was  'very  prompt  with  it'  Its 
old  literature  was  read,  and  'the  learned  found  much  wisdom  in  it.' 

There  was  a  free  use  by  the  population  of  an  incorrect  Latin,  of  which 
we  have  examples  in  the  Letters  of  Celerinus  and  Lucian,  and  relics  in 
many  forms.  The  anti-Donatist  'Psalm'  or  Ballad,  made  to  be  sung  about 
by  the  idiotce,  was  in  Latin.  It  was  scoffingly  said  that  if  Donatism  were 
the  only  genuine  Christianity,  as  it  claimed  to  be,  only  two  of  the  Pente- 
costal tongues  were  worth  anything,  for  it  talked  only  Punic  and  Latin. 
There  is  no  trace  of  a  Phoenician  Christian  Literature.  Of  a  hundred 
and  forty  or  fifty  names  of  Bishops  in  the  Cyprianic  papers,  not  more 
than  a  dozen  maybe  non-Latin,  but  apparently  not  more  than  one  may  be 
Punic.  All  the  facts  look  one  way,  and  they  scarcely  could  be  what  they 
are  if  Christianity  at  the  time  we  speak  of  had  taken  hold  of  the  Phcenician 
nationality  in  either  its  lower  or  its  cultivated  strata.  The  Latin  Christian 
speech  which  there  developed  was  due  to  the  fact  that  while  the  Church 
in  Rome  was  still  a  Greek  Church,  a  Church  of  foreigners,  the  most 
advanced  classes  in  Carthage,  of  Roman  origin  and  Latin  tongue,  were 
the  most  Christian.  And  when  the  jurists  and  the  rhetoricians  were 
touched,  they  were  the  very  men  qualified  to  form  with  accuracy  the  new 
vocabulary  of  the  new  subject,  and  not  to  be  deterred  by  the  necessity  for 
fresh  combinations  of  words  when  they  set  out  to  express  truth  with 
strength.  The  languid  literature,  for  such  it  had  been,  was  regenerated. 
*  *  * 

Their  'Africa' — for  the  Roman  of  Carthage  was  as  proud  of  that  name, 
which  had  somehow  come  in  with  him  and  was  unknown  to  the  Greeks, 
as  the  Londoner  is  of 'England' — had  begun  to  glory  in  having  saturated 
itself  with  all  the  religions,  all  the  pleasures,  'of  the  Greeks.'  What  that 
meant  for  morals  moralists  tell.  Salvian  groans  that  the  city  itself  was 
so  little  purified  by  Christianity  till  the  strong,  pure  Vandals  came  in. 
It  is  enough  for  us  to  say  that,  for  the  masses,  the  standard,  much 
more  the  discipline,  of  morals  went  down  before  the  flood,  unstemmed  by 
the  pious  propitiation  of  'daemons,'  ever  multiplying,  swarming  on  every 
branch  of  life,  while  all  life  was  pervaded  by  a  sense  of  the  unreality  of 
God. 

Exceptions  were  eminent,  possibly  numerous.  The  monuments  shew 
that  the  old  chaste,  grave,  diligent  virtues  were  in  honour.  Of  the  many 
lecturers  in  philosophy  few,  perhaps,  were  not  in  some  small  degree 
effective  in  raising  the  moral  tone  of  their  best  disciples.     Some  worked 


XXXVl  INTRODUCTION. 

a  stern,  if  self-satisfied,  code.  But  when  the  best  was  done,  the  indi- 
vidual only  was  moved  or  raised,  and  the  individual  grew  daily  of  less 
and  less  account. 

The  one  thing  desirable,  the  one  thing  unattainable  by  any  known 
method,  was  a  re-casting  of  Society,  such  that  selfishness  should  be 
discounted  as  an  evil,  the  source  of  evil,  and  yet  the  individual  be  made 
of  full  account.  A  Society  faithful  to  the  Individual,  the  Individual 
devoted  to  the  Society. 

Meantime  there  had  been  growing  up  for  more  than  a  century  and 
a  half  in  every  grade  of  society  a  kind  of  Union,  or  rather  a  kind  of 
'People,'  for  this  was  what  they  meant  to  be,  although  not  in  any  sense 
a  nation.  They  were  uniformly  loyal  to  the  Government,  save  only  as 
to  the  one  article  of  bearing  arms  in  its  service.  But  averse,  even  ad- 
verse, to  almost  every  other  influence,  rule,  tone,  opinion,  habit  and  sacred 
observance  of  every  locality  in  which  they  were  found. 

It  was  understood  that  they  were  bound  together  in  a  federal  network, 
and  their  leading  officials  generally  well  known,  and  that  by  the  same 
official  titles  in  all  countries.  They  sought  the  individual  whom  they 
thought  likely  to  join  them.  They  cared  for  the  stranger.  If  he  became 
one  of  them,  they  made  him,  wherever  he  travelled  or  settled,  one  of 
a  circle  of  pledged  friends  with  vowed  teachers.  God  and  Life  and 
Death  were  not  the  same  things  to  them  as  to  any  others.  There  were 
daily,  and  sometimes  more  frequent  gatherings  of  their  local  groups.  In 
public  life  they  were  irreproachable  except  for  their  strange  conventions, 
betraying  their  new  associations  by  nothing  sometimes  but  a  deranged 
character.  Yet  the  least  moral  of  their  neighbours  had  more  than  doubts 
of  their  secret  licentiousness.  Few  knew  the  affiliations  of  their  tenets  or 
theories.  Historically  and  'scholastically'  they  were  bound  up  with  the 
Jews,  but  Judaic  hostility  to  them  was  unsleeping.  Admired  professors 
of  philosophy  considered  that,  with  more  or  less  clearness,  their  ethical 
notions  were  unaccountably  sound,  but  so  disfigured  by  being  adapted  to 
fit  such  hopeless  people,  and  their  evidently  philosophic  Founder  so  dis- 
guised behind  a  wild  story  and  a  sacrilegious  theory,  that  if  the  ethics  had 
no  practical  effect  on  them  this  could  not  be  wondered  at. 

Their  unpopularity  must  rest  on  some  deep  contradiction  to  human 
principle,  or  it  could  not  be  so  instructive  and  universal.  Social  harass, 
popular  outbreak,  magisterial  severity,  imperial  thunder  were  perpetually 
breaking  on  them,  and  were  less  than  unavailing;  in  fact  stimulated 
interest  in  them  and  adherence  to  them.  Until  lately  they  had  been 
a  non-descript  between  ethnics  and  Jews,  a  Tertium  Gejius  whom  'our 
recognized  tolerance '  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  tolerate.  Yet  people 
began  slowly  to  be  aware  that  the  singular  persons  whom  they  knew 
belonged  to  an  invisible  'majority.'  'We  are  men  of  yesterday,'  says 
TertuUian,  yet  they  were  'filling  cities,  islands,  castles,  boroughs,  council 
rooms, — even  camps, — the  tribes,  the  decuries — palace,  senate,  forum — 


CARTHAGE  AND   HER  SOCIETY.  XXXVll 

every  place  but  the  temples.'  They  had  come  in  so  insensibly  that  some 
of  them  still  plied  former  callings  inconsistent  with  their  principles. 
Now  and  then  some  were  seen  in  the  cunei  at  the  habitual  spectacles. 

Here  in  Africa — at  the  Gate  which  all  passed  through^there  was  no- 
doubt  such  another  hospice  on  the  quay  as  there  was  at  Portus.  There 
were  no  doubt  in  the  town  Basilicas  and  'Fabrics,'  such  as  Fabian  had,, 
and  built  at  the  same  time  in  Rome.  The  private  estate  of  their  well- 
known  chief  was  large  and  beautiful.  Then  all  along  both  ridges  of 
Atlas,  and  on  to  where  he  dipped  to  his  own  ocean,  there  was  not  a  town 
where  they  had  not  a  footing  and  a  constitution,  officers  and  an  inner 
circle ;  not  a  farm  where  they  did  not  claim  a  slave,  if  not  a  son.  Their 
officials,  'servants,'  'sub-servants'  and  'followers,'  flitted  to  and  fro  with 
missives  and  carried  monies  on  ships,  through  prison  doors,  among  bar- 
racks and  mines.  When  they  were  recognized  they  were  gone.  Their 
'Overseers' convened  themselves  for  deliberation  when  and  where  they 
pleased.  Their  public  death-scenes  from  time  to  time  were  to  their  sect 
a  kind  of  grave  festival. 

It  was  and  is  vain  to  try  to  ascertain  where  and  by  what  avenues  the 
flood  had  poured  in.  Cyprian  only  knew  that  the  'sacerdotal  unity,'  the 
one  order  of  bishops,  traced  to  the  'primal  church'  of  Rome.  Augustine 
only  thought  that  the  Punic  Sacraments,  called  by  names  not  borrowed  or 
rendered  from  the  Latin,  traced  to  some  other  Apostolic  source.  That  is 
all.  They  were  there  and  they  were  one.  The  Christians  had  in  fact 
come  into  possession  as  the  Phoenicians  themselves  had  come  into  pos- 
session of  harbours  and  marts,  not  like  the  noisy  Roman  colonies,  but 
without  violence  or  observation. 

It  is  with  a  few  years  of  this  People  that  we  are  now  to  concerri 
ourselves. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  LAST  OF  THE   LONG   PEACE. 


I. 

Cyprians  Preparation  in  Heathendom. 

Such  was  the  city  and  the  society  in  which,  possibly  after 
long  practice  as  an  advocate,  Thascius  Cyprianus  became  the 
most  eminent  master  of  forensic  eloquence^;  that  is  to  say 
the  leading  member  of  the  highest  of  the  professions  ^ 

Of  his  birthplace  or  family  we  know  nothing ;  both  his 
names^  are  almost  unique  in  the  nomenclature  of  antiquity. 


^  ...in  tantam  gloriam  venit  elo- 
quentise  ut  oratoriam  quoque  doceret 
Carthagini.  Hieron.  comm.  Jon.  c.  3. 
Cyprianus  primum  rhetor,  deinde  pres- 
byter, ad  extremum  Carthaginiensis 
episcopus  martyrio  coronatur.  Euseb. 
Chronicon  II.  Olymp.  258. 

...et  magnam  sibi  gloriam  ex  artis  ora- 
torias  professione  quasierat.  Lactant. 
Div.  Inst.  V.  I.  ...tantae  vocis  tuba 
quae  forensium  mendaciorum  certamina 
solebat  acuere...suam  et  aliorum  linguas 
docuerat  loqui  mendacium.  In  alia 
schola,  &c.     Aug.  Serm.  312,  c.  4  (4). 

^  On  the  high  rank  and  fortunes  at- 
tained by  many  advocates  and  rhetores 
from  and  after  the  second  century,  see 
L.  Friedlander,  Darstelliirtgen  axis  d. 
Sittengeschkhte  Roms,  B.  iii.  c.  4  §  r 
(1888 — 90,  vol.  I.  pp.  322 — 330)  and 
note  in  supplement. 

'  Thascius  Cyprianus  he  is  called 
by  the  proconsul  {Acta  Proc.  3,  4,  c(. 
Pontii  Vit.  Cypr.),  and  in  the  singular 
heading   of  £p.  66   he  styles  himself 

B.  i 


'  Cyprianus  qui  et  Thascius.'  After 
his  adoption,  according  to  Jerome 
(De  Viris  III.),  of  the  '  cognomentum ' 
of  the  presbyter  who  converted  him,  he 
became  Thascius  Csecilius  Cyprianus, 
and  in  his  proscription  (which  he  him- 
self quotes  Ep.  66)  is  called  Csecilius 
Cyprianus.  But  the  adoption  must  be 
doubtful,  since  every  MS.  and  ed.  Man. 
reads  '  Cseciliani '  as  the  presbyter's 
name  in  the  only  place  where  Pontius 
mentions  him  (c.  4),  and  Pontius  adds 
nothing  on  the  subject.  The  pleasant 
fancy  was  likely  to  occur  to  biographers. 
The  only  recurrence  of  the  prsenomen 
which  I  find  is  in  the  African  Kalendar, 
which  commemorates  a  'Tascius  Martyr' 
on  Sept.  I.  Its  rarity  no  doubt  leads  to 
the  misnomer  Tatius  ( Tassius,  Tarsus) 
Cyprianus  in  the  Decree  of  Cone.  Rom. 
I.  sttb  Gelas.,  Labbe  V.  c.  388. 

The  name  Cyprianus  occurs  later, 
among  African  Christians  possibly  called 
after  him — e.g.  one  of  the  Fathers  in  the 
Carthaginian  council  of  a.d.  416  (Aug. 


2  CYPRIAN 

and  when  he  speaks  affectionately  of  Carthage  as  the  happiest 
place  on  earth  to  him, — '  where  God  had  willed  that  he  should 
believe  and  grow  up  (in  the  faith)/  he  would  scarcely  have 
omitted  to  claim  a  native  interest  in  the  beloved  home,  had 
he  possessed  it\ 

All  that  to  us  is  represented  by  the  influence  of  the  press 
lay  in  an  ancient  capital  within  the  power  of  eloquence.  Far 
from  any  shade  of  unreality  resting  on  them  the  teachers  of 
^  oratory  were  courted  leaders  in  society.  The  publicity  of  life, 
the  majesty  of  national  audiences,  the  familiarity  of  the  culti- 
vated classes  with  the  teaching  of  the  schools,  required  the 
orator  to  be  not  only  perfect  in  the  graces  of  life,  but  to  be 
versed  in  ethical  science;  to  be  armed  with  solid  arguments 
as  well  as  to  be  facile  of  invention  ;  not  less  convincing 
than  attractive ;  in  short  to  be  a  wit  and  a  student,  a  poli- 
tician and  an  eclectic  philosopher. 

At  the  age  of  nearly  thirty  Cicero  was  still  placing  himself 
under  the  tuition  of  the  Rhodian  Molonl    Augustine's  fourth 

^■Pp-  175,  181)  is  so  named,  as  is  also  also  Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.  vol.  xiLn.  ii"]-] 

the  Deacon  who  carried  the  remarkable  Q.  TASGlvs  FORTVNATVS. 
correspondence   between    Jerome    and  From  the  connection  of  Cyprus  with 

Augustine  (Aug.   Epp.   71  et  sqq.) ;  a  Carthage  it  might  have  seemed  possible 

Presbyter,  to  whom  Jerome  writes  as  to  derive  Cyprianus  thence  if  Cyprius 

Presbyterorum  studiosissime,'  Ep.   140  had  been  an  ascertained  proper  name, 

('39)  (13)    01^    Psalm    89  (90);   and   a  but  scarcely  otherwise.     Pape  connects 

Donatist  Bishop  (Aug.  c.  litt.  Petil.  iii.  it    with    '  Copper.'      If   derived    from 

c.  34  (40)) ;  in   C.  Insc.  Gr.  iv.  8954  Cypris  it  would,  as  other  derivatives  of 

from  Bethlehem,  9203,  9412  'E.-i]tcpt]{a)-  divine  names,  ApoUonius,  Herculanus, 

vov;  in  C./nscrr.  LaU.vlu.  i.  4S1S,,  22gi  &c.,  be  more  common.     Names  given 

(a  Bishop  of  Bagai),  viii.  ii.  10539;  ^^^  ^^'^"^  ^^^^  goddess  come  generally  from 

in  Procopius  as  the  name  of  a '  Dux  fcede-  Aphrodite. 

ratorum  '  in  the  Vandal  and  Gothic  wars.  ^  The  birthplace  is  not  really  indi- 

Thus  Pape  properly  calls  it  a  late  name.  cated    by   the    passages    quoted    from 

The  origin  of  both  names  is  unknown.  Prudentius  Peristeph.  xiii.  3  '  est  pro- 

The  Mozarabic  Vesper  Hymn  for  his  prius  patriae  martyr,'  and  Suidas,  s.v. 

day  begins    'Urbis    magister   Tasci^,'  KapxriS<l}v...i^  rjs  wp/iaro,  even  suppos- 

ZjV.  Moz.  ed.  Migne  li.  c.   1201   (ed.  ing    their    authority   to    be    sufficient. 

Card.    Ximenes,    'Tuscise'),    but    this  Jerome's  'Cyprianus  Afer'  cannot  be 

cannot  be  identified  with  the  African  taken,  as  by  Fechtrup,  to  mean  neces- 

town  Thacia  (Tad.  Feut.),  Qaala  {Ptol.),  sarily  a  native  of  Africa, 
or  regarded  as  more  than  a  guess.     See  ^  Yox  the  third  time  Cic.  Brut.  91. 


I.  I.  AT  THE  AFRICAN   BAR.  3 

book  on  Christian  Doctrine  shews  us  that  five  centuries  and 
a  changed  religion  did  not  abate  the  value  placed  on  technical 
perfection.  No  statesman's  name  had  for  generations  com- 
manded such  reverence  as  was  paid  in  Cyprian's  times  to  the 
life  and  memory  of  Timesitheus  the  Rhetorician,  whose  daughter  Ob.  a.d. 
the  young  African  Emperor  had  espoused',  and  whose  honour 
and  universal  cultivation  and  experience  had  for  a  brief  interval 
restored  purity  to  the  court,  dignity  to  the  senate,  and  disci- 
pline to  the  camps  of  Rome. 

To  the  well-moulded  strength  of  Roman  eloquence  Africa; 
'  nurse  of  pleaders*,'  had  added  a  fervour  not  unlike  that  with 
which  Ireland  has  enriched  the  English  bar.  With  a  powerful 
memory',  and  a  methodic,  classificatory  mind,  Cyprian  had 
pursued  the  highest  literary  culture.  'What  gold,  what  silver,  /  ^ 
what  raiment  he  brought  with  him  out  of  Egypt ! '  exclaims  ' 
Augustine.  And  Jerome,  treating  the  conquest  of  the  literary 
world  by  Christianity  as  grander  than  any  triumph  over  mere 
power  or  luxury,  and  seeking  an  instance  of  the  true  *  Kings 
of  the  World,' — 'who  are  last  of  all  to  hear  the  word,  yet 
'  at  length,  like  the  Ninevite,  descend  from  their  thrones  to 
'  plebeian  levels,  lay  aside  the  radiance  of  their  eloquence,  put 
*  away  the  intoxicating  draught  of  words,  and  thenceforth 
'  content  themselves  with  the  majesty  of  Christian  thoughts ' 
— selects  the  great  Carthaginian  master*. 

^  Jul.  Capitol.  Gordiani  Tres  c.  23  Julius  Africanus  in  the  time  of  Nero 

'  causa  eloquentioe  dignum  parentela  sua  were   orators  whom   Quintilian   (x.    i, 

putavit. '  [The  incredible  name  il/?W//i«<j-  118)   compares    to    the   ancients;    the 

givenhimbyjulius.andthatof  7i'w^j«<r/fj  latter  he  describes  as  'concitatior  sed  in 

by  Zosimus  (i.  17,  i8)  are  both  mistakes.  cura  verborum  nimius.' 

His  wzxaQ-v/zsiaiaW  C.  Furius  Sabinius  ^  Memoriosa  mens,  Pont.  Vit.  5.    Cf. 

AquilaTimesitheus.  See  two  interesting  preface  to  Testim.  'quantum  mediocris 

Inscriptions  in  Orelli,  Inscrr.  Latt.  v.  memoria  suggerebat.' 

3,  pp.  103,  4,  nn.  5530,  I.     The  former  ^  Comm.inyon.c.  3.  So  Greg.  Naz. 

with    facsimile    and   full    comment    in  (9r,  xxiv.  6  ...T6rwj'X67W«' /cpdroy,  twj' re 

L.  Renier's  and  J.  B.  Monfalcon's  ed.  of  Kara  <pL\oiXo<piav  Kal  offoi  rrji  dXXrjj  rrai- 

J.  Spon  (Lyon  1857),  pp.  162,  3.]  5ei;<rewy,   Kal  toOtuv  6  /3oi;\ec  fi^poi'  wj 

*  Juv.  Sai.  vii.  148  'nutricula  causi-  /xdXKov  fxiv   t6  itoLklXov  ^  rb   dxpov  ep 

dicorum   Africa.'     Domitius  Afer  and  iKoan^  davfi-A^eadai.'  jxaWov  5i  rb  evSb- 


4  CYPRIAN. 

/  No  accessions,  indeed,  to  the  Christian  ranks  were  more 
important  than  the  conversions  of  the  great  lawyers.  Versed 
in  letters  and  in  modern  thought,  practised  in  the  sifting  of 
evidence,  cold  to  the  voice  of  enthusiasm,  moving  in  that 
circle  of  refined  habit  of  which  Minucius  gives  so  delicate  a 
picture  in  his  barrister's  holiday  at  Ostia,  accustomed  more- 
over to  see  Christians  at  the  worst  worldly  advantage,  they 
became  witnesses  and  disciples  at  once.  Nor  are  any  pheno- 
mena more  significant  of  the  hold  which  was  being  gained 
upon  the  Roman  world  than  first  the  conversion,  and  next 
the  superiority  to  contemporary  ethnic  writers,  in  genius  alike 
and  in  cultivation,  of  a  TertuUian,  a  Felix,  a  Cyprian. 

The  position  he  had  attained  might  alone  imply  that  at 
the  time  when  he  first  attracts  our  notice  Cyprian  had  passed 
middle  life\  His  wealth  was  affluent,  his  landed  property 
large,  his  gardens  in  Carthage  spacious  and  beautiful  ^  The 
home  of  which  he  speaks  to  Donatus  as  no  longer  fair  to  the 
purged  eye  is  sketched  apparently  from  his  own :  it  is  a  villa 
of  more  than  Pompeian  richness,  with  frescoed  walls,  gilded 
ceilings,  and  marble-lined  saloons*. 

Ki-fJiov   iv  iKd<TTC{)  TTJi  TTepl  w&vTa  TToKv-  calling  him  ( Or.  xxiv.  6)  to  riji  veoTTjTo^ 

fjM0las.     It  is  evident  that  Gregory  had  avOo^,  confuses  him  with  the  Oriental 

read  some  at  least  of  his  treatises  (and  Cyprian  who  was   somewhat   over    30 

see  also  c.  7).     There  is  no  ground  for  according  to  the  story, 
supposing  his  other  Cyprian  to   have  ^  Pont.  Vit.  2,  ad  Donat.,  i,  15. 

written  anything.  *  Ad  Don.  15.     Compare  Vitruv.  vi. 

^  Pearson  rightly  sets  aside  Baronius'  5    (8)    '  Forensibus    autem    et    disertis 

inference  from  the  Ad  Donatum  c.  3  (atria)  elegantiora  et.spatiosiora  ad  con- 

*senio,'   as   to   his   age,   and   observes  ventus  excipiundos.'  I  do  not  introduce 

that  Pontius  gives  no  hint  of  it.     This  to  the  text  Gregory's  6  TrXoiJry  irepKpa- 

would  be  strange  in  a  biographer,  and  V7)i  koL  Swaffrelg,  Trepi^XeTTTos  Kai  yivet 

although  supergresstis  vetustatis  cztatem  yvil)pL/jLos...<TvyK\^ov    ^ovXijs    fierovcrla 

Pont.  Vit.  2  may  mean  'surpassing  all  /cai  TrpoeSp/a  because  there  is  no  knowing 

antiquity,'  it  is  just  possible  that  in  his  whether  he  has  the  right  Cyprian  before 

superfine  style  he  may  parallel  veteribtis  him.    Or.  xxiv.  6.   The  end  of  Ad  Don. 

hy  vetustatis  and  senibus\>y atatem,  thus  c.  3  has  no  relation  to  his  own  position, 

implying  old  age.   Antiquity  is  not  part  'Fascibus  ilk  oblectatus...iyiV  stipatus 

of  the  antithesis,  and  he  is  contrasting  clientium  cuneis'  are  picturesque  illus- 

CjTJrian  with  those  who  had  heard  the  trations  simply, 
truth  all  their  lives.   Gregory  Nazianzen, 


I,  I.  HIS  PERSON  AND  PLACE.  5 

His  personal  address  was  conciliatory  yet  dignified,  his 
manner  affectionate,  his  expression  attractive  by  a  certain 
grave  joyousness.  His  dress,  quiet  yet  appropriate  to  his 
rank,  was  remarked  on  as  answering  to  his  calm  tone  of 
mind  \  He  never  thought  it  necessary  to  assume  the  philo- 
sopher's pall,  which  TertuUian  had  maintained  to  be  the 
true  dress  of  a  Christian,  for  to  him  the  bared  arm  and 
exposed  chest  seemed  rather  pretentious  than  plaint  Augus- 
tine, when  acknowledging  the  benefits  he  had  derived  through 
Cyprian's  intercessions,  dwells  especially  on  the  never-hard- 
ened tenderness  of  Jijg.xharact€r.  '  Gentle  he  was  when  he 
'had  yet  to  endure  amid  various  temptations  this  world's 
'  perils '.'  Even  to  the  last  his  friendship  was  claimed  by 
senator  and  knight,  by  the  oldest  heathen  houses,  and  the 
highest  ranks  of  the  province*. 

Yet  wealth  and  elegance,  cultivation  and  good  sense,  might 
have  left  him  the  mere  ornament  of  his  circle  or  perhaps  of 

^  Gravis  vultus  et  Isetus  nee  severitas  when  he   praises   in  him  rb   irepi   rrjv 

tristis   nee  eomitas  nimia...nec   cultus  ^o-^^a  0t\o(7o<^oi/)  it  is  one  of  his  count- 

dispar  a  vultu,  temperatus  et  ipse  de  less  mistakes  about  him. 
medio;    non   ilium  superbia  saecularis  ^  Serm.  ^12,  c.  i. 

inflaverat,   nee    tamen    prorsus   adfec-  ■•  Pont.   Vii.  14.    And  this  heathen 

tata  penuria  sordidarat.     Pont.  VtL  6.  respect  for  him  remained.     Greg.  Naz. 

Gregory  Nazianz.  surely  had  read  the  sa.ysTd  /j^v  6vo/jMTro\inrapaTrd(nKvirpM- 

passage  which  he  thus  beautifully  con-  vov   Kal  ov  XpuTTiavoh  /movou  dWa  Kai 

denses,  t6  irepl  rds  ivrev^as  v\l/7]\6v  re  ttju  ivavTiav  i)fMv  T€TayiJ^voii...Or.  xxiv. 

6/j.ov  Kal  (piXdu'dpuirov,  ws  laov  dir^x^'-''  ^7-     ^^  Peters,  p.  38,  solemnly  works 

evreXeias  Kal  avdadeias.     Or.  xxiv.  13.  out,  as  if  from  Lactantius,  that  a  niek- 

'^  De  Bono  Patientice  2  '  exserti  ae  se-  name  '  Coprianus '  was  effectually  used 

minudi  pectoris,'  &c.     That  is,  he  con-  at  Carthage  to  laugh  away  Cyprian's 

demns  the  mode  of  wearing  the  Pallium  influence.     All  that  Lactantius  says  is 

which  Justin  kept  and  which  TertuUian  Divin.  Instt.  v.  i  that  he  had  heard  an 

recommended  as  ascetic  and  Christian.  accomplished  man  break  this  sorry  jest, 

It  is  represented   in   the   Cemetery  of  say  fifty  years  at  least  later.     The  point 

Callistus   on    two  figures    of   teachers  of  it  was  that  'so  elegant  a  wit,  meant 

(de  Rossi,  R.  S.,  vol.  11.  p.  349,  Tav.  for  better  things,  had  devoted  itself  to 

^^-  7>  9)-     These  belong  to  the  middle  old  wives'  fables.'    Cf.  inter  copreas, 

of  the  second  century,  and  the  fashion  Suet.  Ti'd.  61.     Scurra  qui  ineopriatur, 

does  not  reappear.     If  Gregory  N^i-  G/oss.   Isidor.   ap.    M.   Martini   Lexic. 

anzen   means   that   Cyprian  wore    the  Philol.  (1698)  v.  11. 
pallium  (as  he  seems  to  do.  Or.  xxiv.  13, 


6  CYPRIAN  CALLED  FROM  THE  BAR. 

the  church,  but  for  his  instinctive  delight  in  concerting  action 
with  others  and  in  gathering  influential  men  about  him,  a 
finely  developed  tact  in  approaching  the  right  person  at  the 
suitable  moment,  and  a  real  laboriousness  in  keeping  people 
of  weight  informed  of  all  they  could  desire  to  know.  Such 
habits  may  belong  to  men  of  small  conceptions ;  if  they  are 
the  accompaniments  of  genius,  such  a  genius  moves  the 
world. 

The  peculiar  expressions  of  two  authorities,  one  of  whom 
from  local  opportunities,  the  other  from  the  character  of  his 
investigations,  may  have  seen  good  reasons  for  their  words, 
imply  that,  in  somewhat  more  than  the  common  function 
of  an  advocate,  he  had  concerned  himself  with  maintaining 
polytheism.  Whether  in  processes  touching  temple  endow- 
ments, or  in  procedures  against  Christians,  in  panegyrics,  or  in 
some  more  speculative  way,  cannot  now  be  determined,  but 
Jerome  distinctly  speaks  of  his  having  been  a  '  vindicator^  of 
idolatry,'  and  Augustine  dwells  on  '  the  garniture  of  that 
'noble  eloquence  whereby  the  crumbling  doctrines  of  daemons 
'  were  once  undeservedly  decorated,'  '  that  eloquence  wherein, 
'  as  from  some  precious  goblet,  he  once  drank  pledges  to 
'deadly  errors 2.' 

The  purport  of  the  Christian  rites  had  nevertheless  not 
escaped  his  earlier  observation  as  a  moralist.  Like  many  a 
noble  heathen  he  had  known  what  it  was  to  rebel  against 
sensual  habit.  The  power  of  Baptismal  Grace  had  been  men- 
tioned in  his  hearing  and  not  excited  his  derision.  Yet  the 
suppression  of  passion  and  surrender  of  indulgence  was  still 

^  Comni.  in  fon.  3  'adsertor  idolola-  n.  9286)  he  is  styled  (mu)LTis  exiliis 

trise,'  cf.  Optat.  i.  c.  9  '  adsertoribus  ec-  (saepe)    probatvs   et   fidei   catho- 

clesiae  Catholicje.'  So  Aug.  Cotif.  viii.  2  licae  adsertor  dignvs  inventvs. 

says  that  Victorinus  the  rhetorician  had  As  to  Cyprian  we  scarcely  dare  quote 

up  to  an  advanced  age  defended  with  Gregory  Nazianzen  for  such  a  fact.    But 

fanatic  eloquence   (ore   terricrepo)   the  his  dai.fj.6vuu  riv  d€pa.irevTT\s...K<d  Siwkttjs 

monstrous  foreign  gods.     In  an  inscrip-  iriKpoTaros  may  represent  the  same  tra- 

tion  of  A.D.  495  on  Donatus  Bishop  of  dition.     Or.  xxiv.  8. 
Tanaramusa  (C.  Inscrr.  Latt.  viii.  ii.  ^  s^rm.  '^\i,  c.  2  (2). 


I.  II.  CYPRIAN   THE  CATECHUMEN.  «       7 

an  incredible  dream  to  the  observer  of  human  nature^     At 
last,  with  closer  observation,  came  the  recognition  of  a  Divine  a.d.  146. 
Presence  in  the   world,  adequate  even  to  those  effects.     A  cWi.  C. 
presbyter  of  high  character  in  the  city,  Caecilian  by  name,  p^gg^^ 
was  permitted  to  crown  a  long  life  and  devoted  friendship  for  ^'^^^  •• 
Cyprian  by  imparting  to  him  the  Nova  Vita  of  the  world-. 

Cyprian  became  a  Catechumen  of  the  Church  of  Carthage, 
famous  already  for  her  'faith,  organization,  and  quietude^' 
The  head  of  the  society  was  Donatus*. 

II. 

Cyprians  Preparation  under  the  Church. 

The  period  of  Catechesis  would  naturally  engage  so  ener- 
getic a  convert  in  that  closeness  of  study  which  Pontius 
indicates,  and  which  his  enormous  classified  copiousness  of 
illustration  evinces  to  have  been  at  some  time  bestowed  by 
Cyprian  on  Scripture.  But,  qualified  as  his  mature  reason  may 
have  been  for  reflection,  the  habits  of  the  man  instantly  trans- 
lated thought  into  life.  His  work  never  became  speculative, 
scarcely  ever  was  purely  doctrinal.  He  read  to  practise'. 
His  friend  dwells  on  the  vividness  with  which  in  the  conver- 
sations of  these  and  the  subsequent  months  he  analysed  for 
himself  and  for  the  group  which  surrounded  him  lessons  of 
*  God-pleasing'  lives  to  which  his  new  readings  introduced  the 

^  Cum   in   tenebris...jacerem... vitse  the  Cascilius  Natalis  who  is  converted 

meae  nescius,  veritatis . . .  alienus . . . '  Qui  by  Octavius  in  Minucius  Felix, 

possibilis,' aiebam, 'tantaconversio?'...  ^  Novimus   Carthaginiensis  Ecclesiae 

desperatione  melionim  malls  meis...et  fidem,  novimus  institutionem,  noviraus 

favebam.     Ad  Don.  3,  4.  humilitatem.    Ep.  36.  3,  from  Roman 

2  ...viri  justi  et  laudabilis  memoriae  clergy   (Novatian).      Cf.    'in   operibus 

Caeciliani    et    setate    tunc    et    honore  fratrum'^//.  10. 5, 'antecessoribus' 15. 

presbjrteri,  qui  euni  ad  agnitionem  verae  i,  16.  i. 

divinitatis...«owyazw  ut  amicum  animse  ^  Ep.  59.  10. 

coaequalem  sed  tanquam  novae  vitse  pa-  '  Prudentius  well  touches  this  charac- 

rentem.    Pont.  z;?V.  4.    DomMarancon-  teristic,  '  FiV^f  y«j/?V/aOT  Christi  pene- 

jectures  without  any  ground  that  he  is  trare  dogma  nostrum.'    Per.  xiii.  32. 


8  CYPRIAN   THE  CATECHUMEN. 

man  of  the  world.  He  gives  us  the  very  words*  of  one  vivid 
relic  of  Cyprian's  talk.  It  is  about  Job,  and  though  the 
wording  differs  throughout,  the  thoughts  are  almost  identical 
with  his  later  reflections  on  the  character  which  appear  in  the 
book  Of  Patience. 

How  deep-dyed  a  stain  rested  on  society  is  seen  in  the 
singularity  which  was  attached  to  the  fact  that  from  the 
moment  of  his  entrance  into  the  ranks  of  the  Catechumens, 
and  '  before  the  insight  of  the  second  birth,'  the  new  convert 
devoted  himself  to  perfect  chastity^  What  he  felt  to  be  the 
moral  obligation  of  his  position  is  no  doubt  expressed  in  one 
of  the  headings  of  his  '  Testimonies,'  soon  afterwards  compiled 
— 'that  a  Catechumen  ought  to  sin  no  more.'  This  is  however 
singularly  deduced  from  a  false  reading  of  St  Paul  *  Let  us  do 
evil  while goodis coming — whose  damnation  is  justl' 

Thus  early*  also  he  reverted  to  the  primitive  examples  of 
liberality,  and  in  seeking  to  palliate  the  incurable  pauperism 
of  his  time  parted  with  his  property,  whole  farms  apparently 
at  once^  and  distributed  all  the  proceeds. 

^  Observe  the  direct  tenses,  and  the  St  Paul's,  Acts  ix.  26. 
introduction  of  dicebat.  Pont.  Vit.  3.  '  The  text  here  is  interesting.  '  Dis- 
Compare  De  B.  Pat.  18.  Observe  also  tractis  rebus  suis  ad  indigentium  multo- 
how  a  forger  of  either  of  these  pieces  rum  pacem  sustinendam,  tola  prope 
would  have  copied  words  from  the  pretia  dispensans,  &c.'  is  Hartel's  read- 
genuine  one — while  two  independent  ing  in  Pont.  Vit.  c.  2.  But  'pacem ' 
forgers  could  never  have  so  coincided  in  in  this  material  sense  (and  not  meaning 
thought  and  tone.  The  one  word  of  '  freedom  from  persecution ')  is  intoler- 
coincidence  is  the  calling  of  God's  able.  The  reading  of  Bodl.  MS.  i.  (ms. 
commendation  a  'blessing'  {benedictio  Bodl.  Laud.  Misc.  fol.  192)  'indigen- 
— benediceret).  tiam  multorum  pauperum  '  is  not  only 

2  This  alone  shews  how  the  xa/^ei'-  good  sense,  but  also  accounts  for  '  pa- 
vio.1.  and  dypvirvlai  attributed  to  him  by  cem  '  through  an  intermediate  abbre- 
Greg.  Naz,  are  in  a  false  key,  and  do  not  viation  pm. 

belong  to  tAis  Cyprian.     Or.  xxiv.  13.  Yor pretia  most  editions  have  pretio, 

3  '  Faciamus  mala  dum  veniunt  bona :  but  pro  proelia  preda  is  the  reading  of 
quorum  damnatio  justa  est,'  Rom.  iii.  8  Cod.  T,  the  favourite  of  Hartel.  The 
ap.  Test.  iii.  98.  corrupt  proelia  preda    indicates   more 

4  '  Rudis  fidei  et  cui  nondum  forsitan  than  the  word  pretia  only,  and  Fell's 
crederetur,'  Pont.  Vit.  2,  i.e.  whilst  his  'tota  pmdia  pretio  dispensans'  is  too 
conversion  was  probably  distrusted,  like  harsh.     Dr  Hort  once  suggested  to  me 


I.  II.  HIS  FIRST  EXERCISE.  9 

Two  works  of  Carthaginian  authorship  had  probably  been, 
in  the  hands  of  his  friend  Caecilian,  instrumental  to  his  con- 
version,— the  Octavius  of  Minucius  Felix,  and  the  Apolo- 
geticum  of  Tertullian.  Tertullian's  passionate  genius  was  the 
first  to  grapple  with  the  amazing  difficulty  of  making  the 
speech  of  the  Roman  a  vehicle  for  Theology.  That  his  style 
was  hard,  dark,  granitic  is  no  wonder.  Cyprian  henceforth 
was  his  devoted  yet  discriminating  disciple.  He  daily  called 
for  some  manuscript  of  his  in  the  famous  phrase  '  Give  me 
The  MasterV 

His  first  labour  probably  was,  with  the  condensation  and 
the  lucid  arrangement  of  a  pleader,  retaining  as  far  as  possible 
the  words  of  his  originals,  yet  avoiding  whatever  was  dis- 
pleasingly  rugged  or  ambiguous,  to  produce  for  those  who 
had  witnessed  his  activity  in  the  opposite  camp,  a  telling 
little  resume  of  Minucius'  anti-polytheistic  arguments^  and 
of  Tertullian's  magnificent  presentment  of  the  Person  of 
Christ. 

It  came  out,  we  know  not  when,   as   a   Thesis   headed 


* pretia  prcsdiorum,''  and   Dr  Westcott  venalium.'     And  Augustine,   Ep.   185, 

^  iota prope pradia.^  ix.     36,    quotes    Acts    iv.    32    as    *et 

Bodl.  MS.  I.  originally  read  '  tota  pro  nemo  dicebat  aliquid  proprium.'     See 

plurima  pretia,'  but  has  been  corrected  P.  Sabatier,  Bibll.  SS.Latt.  Verss.  Antt. 

into  propria,  by  changing  the  tall  /  of  I.e.     Cyprian    de   unit.    26    has    '  fun- 

the  original  abbreviation //Jrt  into  a  tall  dos...in  usus  indigetitium  pretia.''     De 

r  in  shape  like  others.     This  MS.  which  op.  et  el.  25  ' prcedia...dispensandam... 

was  full  of  errors  was  corrected  through-  distracto.' 

out  by  a  contemporary  hand,  and  we  ^  '  Da  Magistrum.'    Hieron.  de  Virr. 

have  here  perhaps  the  right   reading,  ///.  53. 

♦tota  propria  pretia.'    Quite  a  Pontian  2  ^  simple  juxtaposition  of  passages 

way  of  expressing  that  as  in  Acts  v.  4  shews  the  Octavius  to  be  the  original, 

the  prices  'after  it  was  sold  were  his  and  Jerome  in  his  de   Virr.  III.  to  be 

own.'  right  in  naming  Minucius  earlier  than 

The   passage    is    evidently  a    remi-  Cyprian.    Divisions  i  and  2  of  the  tract 

niscence   of  Acts  iv.  34  which  in  the  are  compiled  from  Minucius  20 — 27,  18, 

Versio  Latina  Antiqua  ran  'Nee  enim  32.     The  3rd  from  Tertullian  Apol.  21 

indigens  aliquis  erat  in  eis.     Quotquot  — 23.    Cyprian  had  also  read  [Quod  Id. 

enim  possessores  pradiorum  aut  domo-  9)  the  De  Testimonio  Anima. 
rum  erant  vendentes  adferebant  pretia 


lO  CYPRIAN   THE   CATECHUMEN. 

'  That  Idols  are  not  Gods^'  It  is  the  work  of  a  learner, 
not  of  a  teacher'. 

A  little  later  he  challenges  the  world's  Life :  this  was  his 
review  of  the  world's  Creeds. 

I.  Thepopular  Divinities  can,  he  argues,  be  identified  with 
historical  benefactors.  Their  variety,  the  survival  of  local 
tradition  about  them,  the  inferiority  of  one  national  group  to 
another,  the  occasional  suppression  of  one  group  by  another, 
sufficiently  demonstrate  this.  The  indigenous  Roman  group 
was  one  of  the  least  prominent  or  least  respectable.  Who 
could  credit  Picus  or  Tiberinus,  Pavor  or  Cloacina  with  the 
rise  of  Rome }  To  native  deities  the  greatness  of  the  Empire 
owed  nothing.  After  lodging  this  shaft,  he  accepts  the  theory, 
— supported  by  a  consensus,  as  he  says,  of  the  master  minds  of 
antiquity, — of  the  operation  of  wandering  and  impure  spirits. 
Their  presence  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  many  phe- 
nomena of  vaticination  and  possession  upon  which  the  super- 
stitious fabric  of  worship  has  been  raised  to  obstruct  the 
rational  service  of  God.  Their  office  is  to  '  confound  true  with 
false, — deceiving  and  being  deceived.'  He  then  confidently 
challenges  their  votaries  to  be  present  at  a  Christian  Exor- 
cism. He  speaks  of  extraordinary  scenes — the  confessions, 
the  lamentations,  the  departure  of  these  spirits — as  familiar 
events  ^ 

^  For  the  title  'quod  Idola  dii  non  ing  (historiarum  omnium  scientia)  did 
sint,'  kept  in  all  the  manuscripts,  and  not  know  how  simple  a  compilation 
confirmed  by  Jerome  Ep.  70  (84).  5  ad  it  was.  For  instance,  it  betrays  no  fur- 
Magnum,  and  by  Cyp.  Ep.  ad  Fortunat.  ther  acquaintance  than  comes  through 
opening  with  the  same  words,  nearly  all  Minucius  (c.  21)  with  Euhemerus  the 
editions  have  substituted  'De  Idolorum  Rationalist,  whose  'lepd  'Ava^pa^^, 
Vanitate,'  so  destroying  the  modest  translated  by  Ennius,  was  exactly  to 
character  of  a  simple  thesis.  There  is  Cyprian's  purpose, 
no  shadow  of  ground  for  Peters'  treat-  *  I  am  not  sure  that  Cyprian  means 
ment  of  this  and  the  Letter  to  Donatus  to  say  that  he  had  been  an  eyewitness, 
as  together  forming  an  Apologia  although,  if  not,  he  should  have  written 
proper.  still  more  guardedly.    He  however  only 

^  Pontius  omits  it  from  the  list  of  his  says  'videas '  Quod  Id.  c.  7  ;  and  again 

works.    Jerome  (/.^.)  praising  its  learn-  ad    Denietrian.    15    'videbis.'      'Sub 


I.  II. 


'THAT  IDOLS  ARE  NOT  GODS.' 


II 


2.  In  contrast  with  all  this  confusion  rises  the  majestic 
truth  of  the  Unity  of  God.  He  attempts  no  proof  of  this ; 
only  illustrates  it,  and  not  felicitously,  from  analogy  and  from 
traces  of  it  in  the  universal  consciousness. 

3.  Now  comes  in  the  impressive  history  of  Judaism  and 
the  exact  correspondence  of  its  greatnelsTand  its  dispersion, 
with  predictions  which  had  linked  its  destiny  to  obedience. 
Those  same  predictions  had  anticipated  a  universal  nation  in 
union  with  God  incarnate.  The  appearance  of  Christ,  the 
misinterpretation  of  His  work  and  Person,  the  testimony  to 
His  Resurrection,  are  facts  before  the  world.  The  illumi- 
nation of  the  individual  by  Faith  in  Him,  and  the  coming 
elevation  of  the  Race  of  Man,  are  beginning  to  fulfil 
themselves.  He  concludes,  for  perhaps  the  first  tim^ 
in    the    Christian    argument,  by    putting    in    evidence    the 


manu  nostra,'  'a  nobis'  are  not  con- 
clusive. They  are  taken  from  Minucius 
c.  27.  Besides,  the  very  strong  language 
of  Cyprian  'videas  illos  nostra  voce  et 
oratione  majestatis  occultas  flagris  csedi, 
igne  torreri,  incremento  pcense  propa- 
gantis  extendi,  ejulare,  gemere,  depre- 
cari '  looks  like  a  mere  amplification  of 
Minucius'  'quoties  a  nobis  et  tormentis 
verborum,  orationis  ince7idiis  de  corpori- 
bus  exiguntur,'  who  is  more  special  also 
in  that  he  speaks  of  Saturn,  Serapis, 
Jupiter  being  thus  expelled.  Cjqjrian 
repeats  his  own  words  in  ad  Don.  5. 
In  a  strange  passage  Ep.  69.  15,  though 
exorcism  is  not  always  successful,  bap- 
tism 'must  be  held'  to  overpower  the 
Devil  (diabolus).  Personal  testimony 
to  the  phenomena  is  hard  to  find, 
though  appeals  to  the  knowledge  of 
readers,  even  pagans,  are  numerous. 
Ep.  i.  ad  Virgines,  under  the  name  of  5. 
Clement  of  Rome,  c.  12  [Wetstein,  Nov. 
T.  Gr.  t.  II.,  see  Bp.  Lightfoot,  Ap. 
Fathers,  pt.  i  (Clement),  vol.  i.  p.  407, 
(1890)]  recognises  in  the  second  century 


both  the  reality  of  exorcism  and  the  vain 
attempts  at  it.  [Cf.  Recognit.  Clement. 
iv.  20.]  A  large  collection  of  passages 
is  in  Dissert,  i.,  in  H.  Hurler's  SS. 
Pair.  Opuscula,  vol.  I.  St  Ambrose, 
Ep.  22.  9,  has  'cognovistis  imo  vidistis,^ 
which  he  ought  not  to  have  written,  as 
Tertullian  ought  not  to  have  written 
Apol.  c.  23,  except  they  had  been  spec- 
tators themselves  also.  However  Greg. 
Naz.  Carm.  Ii.  ii.  7,  80 — 83,  says  of 
himself, 
...KoL   yap    eyu  Xpiffrov    \axos   oOvofJui 

aeirrbv 
ToWaKi  IJ.OVVOV  ieiirov  6  5'  ux^to  TTjXodi 

dal/xuv 
rpO^wv,  dcrxo-Xouv  re,  )3owc  (rd^vos   t\f/i- 

fliSoVTOS. 

Damascius'  Life  of  Isidore,  Phot.  Bibl. 
242;  551  H  (ed.  Bekker).  Theosebius 
adjures  a  daemon,  '  setting  before  it  the 
sun's  rays  and  the  God  of  the  Hebrews.' 
The  daemon  was  driven  off,  exclaiming 
that  it  'reverenced  the  gods,  and  was 
ashamed  before  him  too.' 


12  CYPRIAN   THE   CATECHUMEN. 

continuous   sufferings  of    believers   in   attestation    of   their 
credibility^ 

The  brilliant  little  pamphlet'  cannot  but  have  had  an 
effect,  none  the  weaker  because  the  reasonings  were  not  new. 
It  was  even  more  remarkable  that  language  which  had  been 
half  a  century  before  the  world  should  have  been  taken 
up,  pointed,  edged,  polished  by  the  famous  Thascius.  The 
destructive  details  of  the  argument  had  indeed  long  fer- 
mented. Polytheism  had  halted,  unable  either  to  remove 
them  or  repair  them.  The  very  attempts  made  to  tinge  the 
legends  with  Christian  morality  pointed  the  fatal  contrasts 
From  before  Cicero's  day  until  now  the  thoughtful  Roman 
had  looked  on  religion  with  the  same  sad  eye.  Like  Cicero, 
Cyprian  must  have  long  contemned  Acca  and  Flora  and  the 
Bald  Venus,  yet  underneath  all  had  recognised  a  supernatural 
basis.  Like  him  he  had  from  time  to  time  distrusted  the 
most  refined  pleasures  :  like  him  had  despaired  of  society. 
And  even  now,  though  the  Person  of  Christ  had  risen  before 
him  as  the  Regenerator,  he  could  not  yet  grasp  the  concep- 
tion that  the  Faith  would  effect  the  reconstruction  of  society 
or  the  amelioration  of  governments.  A  pure  society  within 
society,  and  eternal  salvation  for  its  holy  members,  is  all 
that  he  yet  hopes  for.  He  deliberately  excludes  providence 
from  history.  Nations  rise  and  fall  by  some  external  inde- 
cipherable law  of  change,  without  conscience  and  without 
reward"*. 

^  Ac  ne  esset  probatio  minus  solida...  justly  notes  in  it  are  brevitas  and  splen- 

dolor  qui  veritatis  testis  est,  admovetur,  dor. 

&c.     Qtiod  Id.  15.     This  remark  and  ^  See    Mohler   (ap.    Peters,   p.   61), 

the  homethrust  at  the  inadequacy  of  the  Kirchengesch.,  pp.  583  ff. 
Roman  gods  originate  (so  far  as  I  know)  •»  Quod  Id.  5  '  regna  non  merito  acci- 

with  our  author.  dunt  sed  sorte  variantur.' 

^  The  qualities  which  Jerome  (/.  c.) 


I.  III.  PAGAN   LIFE.  13 

III. 

Lay-  Work. 

We  may  perhaps  assume  that  Cyprian  received  baptism  a.d.  -246. 
at  the  time  most  usual  in  Africa,  the  season  of  Easter'.  Day^ 

In  the  autumn   holidays  next  ensuing,  and  in  his  own  -^P"^  '9- 
gardens,  he  places  the  time  and  scene  of  a  monologue — a  brief 
Christian    Tusculan — addressed  to    a    fellow-neophyte^   and 
brother  rhetorician,  Donatus.     The  subject  was  one  in  which 
Cicero  would  have  gloried, — THE  GRACE  OF  GOD^. 

He  paints  the  scene  with  a  fulness  of  colour  which  will  ask 
further  criticism,  but  with  the  tenderness  of  one  who  feels 
that  a  higher  call  is  robbing  it  of  its  charm.  From  the  busy 
thoughtless  sounds  of  the  slave-household  they  retire  to  a 
'viny  cloister,'  and  here  Cyprian  pours  forth  the  freshest 
intensest  expressions  of  relief  from  the  old  passionate  thraldom, 
and  of  joyous  restfulness  in  Christ.  We  discern  what  Cyprian 
will  be  ;  there  is  no  spiritual  analysis ;  there  is  no  subtlety  of 
doctrine ;  but  there  is  the  deep  avowal  *  whereas  I  was  blind 
now  I  see.'  There  is  the  modest  claim  to  have  the  evidence  of 
new  life  examined ;  the  confident  assertion  of  a  power  above 
the  powers  of  darkness. 

Behind  the  two  friends  lies  the  awful  background  of  a  fast 
corrupting  society,  surrendering  itself  to  unblushing  evils, 
private  and  public.  They  pass  '  Life '  in  review.  Lowest  in 
the  scale  lie  the  Criminal  classes — whole  sections  defiant  of 
law,  threateningly  aggressive  upon  society.  War  is  incessant, 
aimless  war.     The  arena  is  visibly  deadening  humanity.    The 

^  Tert.  de  Baptismo  c.  19.  which  is  the  prologue  to  his  translation 

^  Ad  Don.  c.  15  'Tu  tantum,  quem  of  Origen's  Homilies  on  Numbers,  with 

jam  spiritalibus  castris  militia  caelestis  '  Ut  verbis  tibi,  frater,    beati  martyris 

signavit.'  loquar  :  Bene  admones,   Donate  caris- 

^  The  Mss.  up  to  the  eleventh  cen-  sime.'     The  title  De  gratia  Dei  is  Bp. 

tury  give   no   title.      In   that  century  Fell's  invention  from  Pontius'  allusion 

'£/w^^/aa£/Z>o«aA/»»' began  to  be  used.  'Quis  emolumentum  gratiae  per  fidem 

Rufinus  begins  his  letter  to   Ursacius,  proficientis  ostenderet  ? '    Pont.  Vit.  7. 


14  CYPRIAN   BAPTIZED. 

theatre  with  its  unnatural  subjects  and  impure  spectacles  is 
the  divinisation  of  lust. 

In  fixing  upon  the,-arefta  as  a  degradation  in  comparison 
of  whldi  "slaveryTthat  *  abyss  of  misery,'  may  be  passed  in 
silence,  Cyprian  is  true  to  nature.  The  delight  in  blood  has 
become  a  systematized  passion.  He  marks  'the  simplicity, 
'  the  manly  health  and  grace,  of  the  youths  trained  to  mutual 
'  murder  under  the  eyes  of  their  own  fathers;  the  brother  waits 
'his  turn  in  the  den,  above  which  sits  the  expectant  sister; 

*  the  mother  pays  a  higher  price  for  the  ticket  to  witness  her 

*  child's  deathwound  on  a  gala  day,  and  there  is  not  the  faintest 
'sense  of  guilt  on  any  conscience\'  In  thus  regarding  the 
unknown  individual  man  and  the  affections  which  ought  to 
centre  on  him  as  a  precious  thing,  the  Christian  idea  restores 
something  to  the  world  which  civilisation  had  taught  an 
Antonine,  an  Aurelius  to  ignore.  The  appalling  proportions 
of  the  crime  to  which  every  city  dedicated  its  grandest  building, 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  when  Cyprian  became 
bishop,  within  two  years  from  this  time,  the  Emperors  Philip 
had  just  celebrated  'The  New  Age^,'  on  the  completion  of 
Rome's  first  thousand  years,  by  the  combats  of  that  thousand 
pair  of  gladiators,  whom  the  gentle  Gordian  had  provided  to 
adorn  his  own  triumph. 

Meantime  the  horrors  of  priv^te4icentioiisness^from  which 
the  veil  is  from  time  to  time  rent  by  some  cause  cilebre  in 
which  the  very  evidence  is  criminal,  the  corruption  and 
inhuman  procedures  of  the  judicature,  the  degrading  com- 
petition for  official  rank,  and  the  trembling  insecurity  of 
military  dominion,  stamp  the  decline  of  public  and  domestic 
morality'. 

Were    those    the    dreams    of    despondency    and    world- 

1  Ad  Don.   7.     The   indignation   of  to  the  3rd  consulship  of  the  elder  Philip, 

'the  Master'  had  already  boiled  over  in  Euseb.  (Chronic.  II.)  dates  it  wrongly 

the  De  Spectaculis.  A.D.  247.     Clinton,  Fast.  Rom.   i.  pp. 

3  A.D.  248.  The  coins  fix  the  'mil-  264 — 5,  Jul.  Capitol.  Gord.  Tres  c.  33. 
liarium  saeculum'  or  'novum  sseculum'  '  Ad  Don.  9 — 13. 


I.  III.  THE  GRACE  OF  BAPTISM.  IS 

weariness  ?  The  answer  is  not  to  be  gained  by  collecting- 
scandalous  anecdotes.  But,  apart  from  the  end  to  which  all 
was  tending,  we  might  conclude  Cyprian's  generalisations  to 
be  just  from  his  treatment  of  the  courts  of  law.  A  successful 
experienced  man  here  speaks  in  terms  to  provoke  reply,  if 
reply  were  possible,  on  a  subject  on  which  declamation  would 
defeat  itself,  and  his  shades  are  as  dark  as  elsewhere \  On 
other  points  we  can  compare  the  language  of  the  satirists,  but 
it  is  since  the  age  of  Juvenal  that  the  tide  of  corruption  has 
engulfed  the  judgment  seat.  False  glitter,  intrigues,  assassi- 
nations which  swarmed  about  the  persons  of  numerous  petty 
kings  and  kingly  magistrates,  fill  the  outline  which  is  traced 
by  the  violent  deaths  upon  the  world's  throne,  within  the  last 
ten  years,  of  eight  Emperors,  unshielded  by  either  the  highest 
philosophic  virtue  or  the  lowest  animal  ferocity^ 

Yet  wider  still  the  sketch  of  Cyprian  ranges  as  with 
statesmanlike  instinct  he  marks  the  no  less  fatal  symptoms  of 
political  dissolution,  presented  by  vast  accumulations  of  locked- 
up  capital,  by  the  abnormal  growth  of  grazing  land^  and 
the  gradual  elimination  of  the  independent  labouring  class*. 
Lastly, — and  at  Carthage  it  was  probably  more  complete 
than  at  Rome — there  was  the  disruption  of  the  client-bond 
and  the  disowning  of  obligation  between  rich  and  poor. 

What  then  is  the  moral,  or  what  the  remedy }  There  is 
but  one  ;  one  calm,  one  freedom.  All  that  the  individual  can 
do  is  to  seek  deliverance  from  this  world's  *  whirlpools,'  to 
approach  the  '  Gift  of  God,'  and  be  '  greater  than  the  world  ' : 
to  become  'a  home  of  God''  and  entertain  the  indwelliner 
Spirit®, — not  indeed  in  ascetic  retirement,  for  the  hermit-life 

^  Ad  Don.  lo.  *  De    confinio    pauperibus  exclusis. 

2  A.D.  235,  Alex.  Severus.    a.d.  238  Ad  Don.  12. 

Gordianus  I.,  II.,  Maximinus,  Maximus,  *  Ad  Don.    15,  mark  the  expression 

Pupienus,  Balbinus.     A.D.  244  Gordia-  'a'ow«»/...quamDominus  insedit /^w/// 

nus  III.  vice.' 

*  Continuantes   saltibus  saltus.     Ad  *  Rettberg's  ignorance  of   scripture 

Don.  12.  language  betrays  his  penetration  into 


1 6  CYPRIAN   BAPTIZED. 

has  not  yet  presented  itself  as  the  sole  remaining  refuge, — but 
through  inner  purity,  in  sweet  domestic  life,  in  a  round  of 
prayer  and  study\  Such  is  the  moral  of  the  scene  with 
which  the  holiday  evening  closes, — the  sober  banquet,  the 
sweet  chant,  the  memory  stored  with  Psalms. 
/  All  this  needed  expansion  into  fuller  richer  life :  yet  it 
/  was  something  when  the  fortunate  man  of  the  world  began 
even  thus  to  live.  The  conditions  of  the  new  problem  are 
stated,  though  their  connection  is  not  yet  perceived.  On  one 
side  the  needs  of  modern  life,  on  the  other  his  own  spiritual 
experience  thus  far  as  a  pagan.     '  I  seconded  my  own  be- 

*  setting  vices;  I  despaired  of  improvement ;  I  looked  on  my 
'  faults   as  natural  and    home-born ;    I  even  favoured  them. 

*  But  so  soon  as  the  stain  of  my  former  life  was  wiped 
'  away  by  help  of  the  birth-giving  wave,  and  a  calm  pure  light 

*  from  above  flooded  my  purged  breast ;  so  soon  as  I  drank  of 

*  the  spirit  from  heaven  and  was  restored  to  new  manhood  by 

*  a  second  nativity;  then,  marvellously,  doubts  began  to  clear  ; 

*  secrets  revealed  themselves ;  the  dark  grew  light ;  seeming 
'  difficulties  gave  way ;   supposed  impossibilities  vanished ;  I 

*  was  able  to  recognise  that  what  was  born  after  the  flesh  and 
'  lived  under  the  rule  of  sin,  was  of  the  earth  earthy,  while  that 
'  which  was  animated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  began  to  belong  to 

*  God  I'  These  mighty  experiences  of  his  Baptism  support 
rather  than  invalidate  his  biographer's  account  of  the  Charity 
and  Purity  of  his  devoted  preparation  for  it.  Pontius  had 
known  no  parallel,  he  tells  us,  of  such  early  fruits  of  Faith, 
but  to  Faith  he  expressly  attributes  them,  and  so  to  the  Grace 
of  God,  '  although  the  second  birth  had  not  yet  illuminated 
the  novice  with  the  whole  splendour  of  the  light  divined' 

perceiving  this  '  tone  of  mystical  union  '^  Ad  Don.  4. 

with  God'  to  ^  be  grounded  on  a  pan-  '^  'Pro  fidei  festinatione,'  *  nondum 

thdstic  view,^  and  to  be  found  only  'in  secunda  nati vitas  novum  hominem splen- 

these  excited  early  writings.'  dore  toto  divinse  lucis  oculaverat,'  Pont. 

^  Sit  tibi  vel  oratio  assidua  vel  lectio.  Vit.  2.     There  is  no  need  therefore  to 

Ad  Donat.  15.  attribute  to  Pontius  a  semipelagianism ; 


I.  IV,  CYPRIAN   BAPTIZED.  1/ 

When  Cyprian  speaks  of  his  unbaptized  life  as  one  of 
'  darkness,  ignorance  of  self,  estrangement,'  he  is  not  dwelling 
on  the  short  interval  between  conversion  and  baptism  but  on 
his  life  as  a  whole.  As  yet  the  subtleties  were  not  which 
would  assign  the  stage  of  attraction  and  approach  rather  to 
the  heathen  than  to  the  Christian  side  of  life.  Very  feeble  do 
they  shew  beneath  the  dawn  on  which  Cyprian's  gaze  was  fixed. 
Divine  Grace  has  fallen  as  a  psychological  fact  within  his 
personal  experience  while  he  contemplates  society  as  barren 
and  corrupting  through  lack  of  an  inspiration.  He  will  not 
be  long  in  claiming  the  regeneration  of  society  from  the  same 
source  which  he  already  recognises  as  the  renewal  of  the  man. 

We  need  not  look  to  him  for  Theology  proper,  for  doctrinal' 
refinement,  for  the  metaphysic  of  Christian  definition.  We 
shall  find  him  busy  with  moral  conditions,  the  work  of  grace, 
the  bonds  of  union  :  the  sanctification  of  life  through  the 
sacraments,  the  remodelling  of  life  through  discipline ;  the 
constitution  of  the  church  in  permanence,  the  transforming 
social  influences  which  are  to  control  the  application  of  power 
'and  wealth,  to  charge  science  again  with  the  love  of  truth,  art 
with  the  love  of  beauty,  and  to  create  a  new  benevolence. 
The  '  Charismata  of  Administrations,' '  helps,  governmentsV — 
these  are  his  field, 

IV. 

Cyprian  Deacon. 

The  indigence  of  the  Carthaginian  poor  was,  owing  to 
the  causes  which  Cyprian  himself  had  indicated,  a  constantly 
deepening  gulf     Fifty  years  later  treasures  were  still  thrown 

none  to  find  (with  Tillemont  Tom.  iv.  Cyprian  of  the  struggle  and  the  fears  of 

note    4   on  S.    Cypr.)  a   contradiction  selfwhich  preceded  it,  and  of  the  intense 

between  him  and  Cyprian,  as  to  whether  relief  and  peace  which  followed  it. 

the   two  '  vows '   were  before  or  after  ^  ^laKovlai.,    di>Ti\tj\//eii,    Ku^epv-qafis. 

Baptism.       Pontius    clearly   speaks   of  i  Cor.  xii.  5,  28. 
resolutions  formed  and  kept  before  it : 

B.  2 


1 8  CYPRIAN   AND  C^CILIAJST. 

into  it  in  vain.  The  first  outbreak  of  the  anger  of  the 
separatist  Donatus  against  the  Catholics,  his  famous  exclama- 
tion 'What  hath  Emperor  to  do  with  Church  ?,'  was  occasioned 
by  the  mission  of  Paul  and  Macarius  to  Carthage  from 
Constans  'with  relief  for  the  ik)or';  'that  poverty  might  be 
able  to  breathe,  be  clothed  fed  and  comforted.'  They  came 
'bringing  what  we  may  almost  call  Treasuries  to  expend 
'  upon  the  poor^* 

To  the  sacrifice  of  his  farms  in  their  cause  Cyprian  did 
not  hesitate  to  add  that  of  his  delightful  Gardens.  Friends 
bought  them  in  2,  and  insisted  on  his  residing  there.  Later 
on  he  was  only  too  anxious  to  sell  them  again.  Every- 
thing shews  him  to  have  been  free  from  family  ties^  A 
reasonable  interpretation  suggests  that  he  entered  the  order 
of  Deacons.  And  as  we  shall  have  more  than  one  occasion 
to  remark  the  intimate  relations  subsisting  between  a  Deacon 
and  some  Presbyter  to  whose  labours  he  was  specially 
attached,  so  we  find  him,  possibly  in  this  capacity,  taking  up 
his  quarters  in  the  house  of  his  aged  father  in  the  faith,  the 
Presbyter  Caecilian*,  and  by  his  attention  soothing  his  last 


^  Optat.  iii.  3.  celibacy.     Bp.   Fell  is   worse  in  mis- 

"^  Pont.    Vit.    15.     Perhaps    Pontius  reading  what  Pontius  says  of  yob''s  wife 

was  concerned  in  this  transaction,  for  so    as    to    prove    Cyprian's   marriage, 

he  says  they  were  '  de  Dei  indulgentia  Pont.  Vit.  c.  3  '  Ilium  (Job)  non  tcxoris 

restituti.'  j//a^^/a  deflexit.'    Fell  ad  loc. 'conjuga- 

O.  Ritschl,  pp.  6,  7,  conceives  that  tus  ergo  erat  Cyprianus.'  Let  us  hope 
the  Horti  must  have  been  confiscated  that  prepossession  is  less  blinding  in  our 
later  and  that  Pontius  mistakes  this  for  own  day.  In  all  his  letters  from  his  re- 
charitable  sale  now,  Pontius'  personal  tirement  there  is  no  reference  to  a  home 
knowledge  seems  to  present  to  him  no  of  his  own. 

difficulty,  nor  yet  the  question  how  the  *  I  can  give  no  meaning  to  the  words 

confiscation  was  taken  off.  of  Pontius  the  Deacon  '  Erat  sane  illi 

3  There  is  no  token  of  his  ever  having  etiam  de  nobis  contubemium...Cascili- 

married.      Pontius  as  a  fine  writer  is  ani,'  except  that  assigned  to  them  by 

obscure.      Yet    it    is    inexcusable    for  Pearson  {^An.  Cypr.  a.d.  247),  'while 

Baronius  {Ann.  Eccles.  A.D.  250,  x.)  to  still  of  our  body  (the  diaconate)  he  had 

have   misunderstood   what  he   says  of  quarters  with  Csecilian.'     Pont.    Vit.  4. 

Caecilian's  wife  and  children  to  mean  Pontius  himself  resided  vsrith  Cyprian 

Cyprian's  family  renounced  in  favour  of  from  before  his  first  retirement  till  his 


I.  V.  CYPRIAN   THE   PRESBYTER.  I9 

days^     For  Csecilian  shortly  afterwards  died,  commending 
his  wife  and  children  to  the  grateful  affection  of  his  convert ^ 

V. 

Presbyterate. 

What  we  now  naturally  enquire  is  the  exact  character  up 
to  this  time  impressed,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Carthaginian  church, 
upon  a  layman  by  his  becoming  a  cleric.  Was  it  official  and 
administrative,  or  mystical,  or  didactic,  or  benevolent  ?  From 
Tertullian  we  may  collect  answers  to  these  questions  with 
unusual  clearness — answers  consistent  with  each  other  though 
not  always  rendered  from  the  same  points  of  view. 

The  position  of  the  clergy  had  been  expressed  in  terms 
borrowed  from  the  civil  constitution — terms  which  there  is  no 
reason  to  think  were  disputed  at  Carthage  as  either  arrogant 
or  inadequate.  The  laity  were  the  Commons  or  Plebes^,  the 
Clergy  were  the  Ordo,  that  is  they  were  the  Senatorial  Order 
in  the  Church;  Ordo  being  the  regular  name  of  the  Senate, 
the  Decurions,  in  the  provincial  and  Italian  towns.  Cyprian 
when  a  layman  is  called  a  '  Plebeian '  by  Pontius,  and  he 
himself  addresses  letters  'to  those  who  stand  fast  in  the 
Commons,'  and  '  to  the  Commons  of  Leon  and  Astorga.'  As 
the  senators  in  court  and  in  basilica  had  the  common-bench 
(consessus),  so  had  the  clergy  in  the  congregation.  'The 
'difference  between  the  Order  and  the  Plebes  is  constituted 
'by  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  by  the   consecration 

death.     See  also  the  relation  of  Felicis-  trary  both  to  the  Christian  rules  which 

simus  toNovatuspp.  102  sqq.   Cyprian's  withheld  ordained  persons  from  taking 

diaconate  seems  also  implied  in  Pont.  those  offices,  and  to  the  Roman  usage  of 

^'^-  3>  'Quis  enim  non  omnes  honoris  appointing  the  nearest  relations.     See 

gradus  crederet  tali  mente  credenti?'  below  pp.  44  sqq.    Fechtnip  p.  10,  n.  i 

1  Demulsus  obsequiis.    PonL  Vit.  4.  needlessly  hence  infers  that  he  was  a 

2  Pontius,    Vtt.    4,    says    he    made  layman  still. 

Cyprian    'pietatis   heredem,'    not   that  '  ^Flebs   hominum  dicas   sed   Plebes 

he  appointed  him  curator  or  tutor  to      ecclesiarum.      Ebrard    in    Grsecismo.' 
ihe  family.     This  would  have  been  con-       Ducange. 


20  WHAT   PRESBYTERS  WERE. 

'of  the  Office  indicated  by  the  sitting  together  of  the 
*  Orders'  Tertullian  does  not  attribute  to  the  clergy  spiritual 
descent  from  the  Apostles,  nor  regard  them  as  having  been 
typified  by  the  Levitical  Priesthood,  or  as  occupying  their 
relative  position  towards  the  people.  But  he  regards  the 
Office  as  none  the  less  '  sacerdotal '  although  in  origin 
ecclesiastical,  and  not  immediately  divine.  'A  woman  is 
'  not  permitted  to  speak  in  the  church,  nor  yet  to  teach,  nor 
'baptize,  nor  offer,  nor  claim  to  herself  the  rights  of  any 
'  masculine  function,  much  less  of  the  sacerdotal  office  V  The 
right  of  giving  baptism  belongs  to  the  chief  priest,  '  that  is 
the  bishop,'  and  heretics  offend  in  the  moveable  character  of 
their  orders  and  in  that  they  '  enjoin  sacerdotal  offices  to 
laymen^'  Nevertheless  the  functions  of  the  Order  were  not 
significant  of  any  alienation  or  absorption  of  the  priesthood 
of  believers ;  they  involved  during  their  exercise  only  its 
suspension  or  dormancy.  Where  there  is  a  destitution  of 
clergy  the  sacerdotal  powers  of  the  laity  revive,  to  the  extent 
of  performing  sacramental  acts.  '  Where  there  is  no  Bench 
'  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  you  (a  layman)  offer  (the  sacrifice) 
'  and  you  baptize  and  are  your  own  sole  priest*.' 

The  priesthood  had  been  actually  imparted  by  Christ  to 
all  Christians,  for  'Jesus  the  High  Priest  and  Lamb^  of  the 

^  Differentiam  inter  Ordinem  et  Pie-  self  and  his  opponents.  And  this  of 
bem  constituit  Ecclesiae  auctoritas,  et  course  is  equally  true  as  to  the  doctrine 
Honor  per  Ordinis  consessum  sancti-  of  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  the 
ficatus.  De  Exhort.  Cast.  7.  Honor  is  priesthood  by  the  Order  only.  Ep.  59. 
like  Ordo  a  constitutional  word,  signi-  18,  note  the  form  ^  congestus.^ 
fying  the  Office  of  any  magistrate  or  ^  De  Veland.  Virgin.  9. 
dignity.  Bp.  Lightfoot  in  his  Disserta-  ^  De  Prcescript.  hceretic.  41. 
tion  on  the  Christian  Ministry  [Ep.  to  *  De  Exh.  Cast.  7.  Adeo  ubi  ec- 
Philippians  p.  154  (1868)]  translates  clesiastici  ordinis  non  est  consessus  et 
thus  '  ...the  consecration  of  their  rank  offers  et  tinguis  et  sacerdos  es  tibi  solus, 
by  the  assignment  of  special  benches  ^  Adopting  Scaliger's  emendation 
to  the  clergy.'  The  Bishop  well  '  Nos  lesus  summus  sacerdos  et  Agnus 
observes  that  these  passages  coming  Patris  de  suo  vestiens,' Z>^  i^<7M£ifaw.  7, 
from  a  Montanist  bear  witness  to  the  for  the  common  reading  niagnus ;  corn- 
fact  that  the  doctrine  of  an  universal  pare  Cypr.  Ad  Fortunat.  prcef.  3,  of 
priesthood  was  common  ground  to  him-  which  this  passage  was   perhaps    the 


I.  V.  CyPRIAN  THE   PRESBYTER.  21 

'  Father  clothing  us  from  His  own  [clothing],  because  they 
'  that  are  baptized  in  Christ  have  put  on  Christ,  hath  made  us 
'priests  to  His  Father,  according  to  John.'  So  complete  is 
the  sacerdotal  character  of  the  Christian  layman  that  he  is 
subject  to  rules  laid  down  for  the  Jewish  Priesthood :  thus, 
the  young  man  who  was  not  suffered  to  bury  his  Jewish 
father  was  prohibited  because,  being  a  Christian,  he  was  a 
Priest  and  could  not  (according  to  the  law  of  the  Priest) 
attend  the  funeral,  although  Christians  may  bury  Christians 
because  these  live  still  in  Christ.  Again,  'Assuredly  we  are 
'  Priests  called  by  Christ,  and  therefore  bound  to  single 
'  marriages  only,  according  to  God's  ancient  law  which  then 
'in  its  own  priests  prophesied  of  us\' 

The  fancifulness  of  the  conclusions  does  not  affect  the 
theory  from  which  he  derives  them.  He  argues  from  what 
was  generally  accepted  to  what  he  himself  advanced.  In  his 
time  the  substantive  priesthood  of  the  laity  was  an  understood 
reality.  This  it  was  which  was  perceived  to  be  fore-shewn  in 
the  Levitic  priesthood,  not  that  official  priesthood  of  the  clergy 
which  was  rightly  constituted  by  the  authority  of  the  Church. 

Then  there  were  the  beliefs  and  associations  which  invested  a.d.  247. 

A.U.C. 

the  order  of  the  Presbyterate  at  the  time  when  Cyprian  was  1000. 
received  by  Donatus  to  their  own  bench'"*.     We  shall  see  how  n^'  ^^^' 
they  were  presently  varied.  M.  Jul. 

Philippus 

We  shall  see  too  how  grave  was  the  business  which  came  Pius  Fei. 

before  the  '  consessus,'  and  how  necessary  that  men  of  affairs  panii. 

should  have  seats  on  it.  "f^^-  "• 

Imp.  Cses. 

All  that  his  Biographer  records  of  Cyprian  as  a  member  M.  Jul. 

Scvcnis 

of  the  Bench  of  Presbyters  is  that  he  was  no  less  active  in  phUippus 
that  office  than  he  had.  been  as  a  Plebeian,  no  less  eager  to  ^^^f'^^^' 
translate  the  ancient  saints  into  modern  life  ^ 

seed — '...de  Agno...\z.i\sMi  ipsam  et  pur-  ^  De  Monogam.  7,  cf.  De  Exh.  Cast.  7. 

puram  misi,  quam  cum  acceperis  tuni-  '^  Non  post  multum  temporis  allectus 

cam  tibi  pro  voluntate  conficies  et  plus  in  presbyterium.    Hier.  de  Viris  III.  67. 

ut  in  domestica  tua  adque  in  propria  ^  Pont.  Vit.  3  "multa  sunt  quae  ad- 

veste  Isetaberis,'  &c.  hue  plebeius,  multa  quae  jam  presbyter 


22 


CYPRIAN  'TO  QUIRINUS — 


VI. 

Helps  to  Laymms  Scripture  Studies. 

Of  that  activity  in  one  of  its  applications  we  have  still  a 
noble  instance  in  at  least  two  of  the  books  of  classified  texts 
skilfully  grouped  under  pithy  headings,  entitled  To  QuiRINUS, 
— the  'dear  son,'  or  layman,  at  whose  request  they  were 
compiled. 

Since  in  Augustine's  mention  of  the  books  the  name  of 
Testimonies  is  used,  and  Pelagius  compiled  his  'Testimonies 
to  the  Romans'  in  imitation  and  indeed  in  completion  of  it, — 
as  he  himself  stated, — and  since  this  name  appears  in  the 
earliest  manuscript,  if  not  in  slightly  later  ones\  it  is  pro- 
bable enough  that  a  title,  which  so  neatly  describes  the  work, 
was  of  Cyprian's  own  giving. 

It  was  also  vulgarly  called  'Against  the  Jews';  but  was 
perhaps  not  so  much  intended  for  as  found  to  be  a  serviceable 
manual  in  the  contemporary  controversies-. 


fecerit,  multa  quae  ad  veterum  exempla 
justorum  imitatione  consimili  prose- 
c\xt\x%..^hcec  debentfacere^  dicebat,  'qui 
Deo  placere  desiderant.'  et  sic  (per) 
bonorum  omnium  exempla  decurrens, 
dum  meliores  semper  imitatur,  etiam 
ipse  se  fecit  imitandum."  Cf.  Euseb. 
Chronicon,  Ol.  258,  1. 

^  Hartel,  p.  35,  entitles  it  thus:  'Ad 
Quirinum  (Testimoniorum  Libri  Tres),' 
which  can  represent  nothing  ancient, 
and  his  own  note  is  as  follows:  "Aug. 
c.  a.  epp.  Pelag.  I.  iv.  c.  21  (p.  480  d) 
Cyprianum  etiam  ipse  haeresiarches  is- 
torum  Pelagius  cum  debito  honore  com- 
memorat,  ubi  testimoniorum  librum 
scribens,  eum  se  asserit  imitari,  '  hoc 
se '  dicens  '  facere  ad  Romanos  quod  ille 
fecerit  ad  Quirinum^  et  ejusdem  libri 
c.  27  merito  et  ad  Quirinum  de  hac  re 
absolutissimam  sententiam  proponit  cui 
testimonia  divina  subjungeret.    Hieron, 


Dial.  c.  Pelag.  c.  32  quumque  se  imi- 
tatorem  imo  expletorem  operis  beati 
Cjqiriani  scribentis  ad  Quirinum  esse 
fateatur."  The  Sessorian  MS.  (ssec.  Vll. 
Mai,  or  viii.-ix.  Reifferscheid)  has 
'  Testimoniorum  incipit  ad  Quirinum  ' ; 
the  word  '  explicit '  before  '  Testimoni- 
orum '  refers  of  course  to  the  preceding 
treatise.  Surely  from  these  facts  one 
would  not  '  conjecture  that  the  genuine 
title  was  '  Ad  Quirinum  '  merely.  Does 
the  note  at  the  end  of  Bk.  in.  in  MS.  L 
imply  that  it  was  sometimes  called 
NuMERi — 'Ad  Quirinum  numer.  lib. 
III.  ex.'?  Hartel  p.  184.  Cf.  Caecili 
Cipriani  ad  Quirinum  liber  II.  exp  incip 
ad  eundem  excerpta  capitulorum  numero 
Lxx.  (Cod.  M),  Hartel  p.  10 1.  Here 
LXX.  is  in  error  for  cxx. 

*  See  on  Novatian's  controversial 
books  p.  123  and  notes.  Since  out  of 
nearly  a  hundred  passages  collected  in 


I.  VI.  TESTIMONIES.'  23 

The  first  book  assembles  the  chief  scriptures  which  fore- 
told disobedience  and  forfeiture  of  grace  on  the  part  of  the 
Jews,  and  the  inheritance  of  all  the  Church's  privileges  by  the 
Gentiles :  the  substitution  of  a  new  Circumcision,  Law  and 
Testament  for  the  ancient  ones,  of  a  new  Baptism,  a  new 
j*Yoke':  how  the  old  Pastors,  the  old  House  of  God,  the 
/  Temple,  and  the  Sacrifice  were  to  come  back  in  nobler  form  ; 
how  the  cessation  of  the  Priesthood  and  the  succession  of 
Christ  as  true  High  Priest^  were  predicted  and  accomplished; 
how  to  the  Jewish  nation  there  remained  now  nothing  but 
to  purge  by  baptism  the  blood  of  their  slain  Messiah  and  to 
come  over  to  His  Church. 

In  the  second  book  Cyprian  treats  of  the  Mystery  or 
'Sacrament  of  Chrisf^' — the  adequate  fulfilment  of  prophecy 
in  Him,  and  the  grandest  notes  of  His  Person.  The  clear- 
ness and  force  of  these  most  brief  summaries  or  articles 
of  Christology  are  very  impressive,  nor  less  so  the  spirit  of 
personal  devotion  which  they  breathe. 

The  third  book*,  separately  issued,  resembles  the  others 
only  in  arrangement.  It  is  a  commonplace-book,  meant  for 
rapid  and  frequent  reading,  of  texts  for  Quirinus'  use  on  the 
Christian  life,  duty  and  doctrine*:  the  tone  very  pure  and 
spiritual. 

the  first  book,  only  twenty  come  from  iii.  (7) ;  c.  II.  epp.  Pelagg.  iv.  9  (25). 
the  New  Testament,  and  these  almost  all  *  Salubre  et  grande  compendium... in 

bearing  on  the  fulfilment  of  the  Old,  and  breviarium  pauca  digesta  et  velociter 

as  each  heading  notes  a  contrast  of  Old  perleguntur  et  frequenter  iterantur,  Test. 

with  New,  it  is  somewhat  less  clear  to  iii.  Proem.     No.  6  is  perhaps  the  first 

me  than  it  was  to  Rettberg  pp.  231  sqq.  explanation  in  Latin  of  misfortvmes  as  a 

that  Cyprian  had  no  eye  to  the  Jewish  divine  probation  and  is  the  keynote  of 

sects  in  this  compilation.     Again,  the  his  treatise  on  The  Mortality.     No.  28 

last  heading,  Test.  i.  24,  gives  the  point  marks  the  slight  tendency  which  Cyprian 

of  the  whole.  had  to  Novatianism  before  Novatian. 

^  Test.  i.  17.  No.  46  on  silence  of   women    seems 

^  See    Test.  Proem.    (Hartel    p.   36,  oddly  placed.      Rettberg    argues   that 

1.  13)  and  notes  in  MSS.  A  and  B  at  end  this  book  belongs  to  the  early  years  of 

of  Test.  Bk  II.  (Hartel  p.  loi).  his  Christianity  from  the  'texts  against 

'  Test.  iii.  tit.  4  is  thrice  quoted  by  heretics '  being  other  than  those  which 

hyx^a&'Cva.t  Retr.\\.i%dePradest.sanctt.  he  used  afterwards.     Unless  he  refers 


24  CYPRIAN  'TO  QUIRINUS — TESTIMONIES.' 

/  His  touches  upon  Faith  are  well  worth  reflexion — That  the 

very  difficulty  of  the  subjects  demands  that  dogma  should  be 
simple;  that  belief  is  not  independent  of  will;  that  cause  and 
.effect  are  proportionate,  as  elsewhere  so  in  faith;  that  faith 

.  requires  patience  as  an  essential  character  of  itself  ^ 

Cyprian's  copious  memory,  to  which  Pontius  bore  witness, 
receives  remarkable  illustration  from  these  books.  That  such 
a  work  could  be  compiled  out  of  Scripture  at  all  by  a  memory 
unassisted  by  concordance  or  index  is  surprising.  Add  to 
this  that  the  selection  is  so  well  made,  and  that  the  memory 
had  been  so  recently  introduced  to  the  Bible.  He  mentions 
that  he  had  avoided  diffuse  selection,  and  confined  himself  to 
what  a  '  moderately  good  memory '  had  suggested '.  But  all 
this  would  be  truly  unimaginable  if  he  had  been  debarred 
from  the  study  of  Scripture  until  he  entered  on  the  duties  of 
a  presbyter,  and  had  been  taught  only  orally  whilst  he  was  a 
layman  ^  Quirinus  himself  must  have  been  such  a  layman, 
for  Cyprian  seeks  to  provide  him  only  with  profitable  'reading 
towards  forming  the  first  lineaments  of  his  faith.'  Yet  he 
assumes  that  Quirinus  will  presently  *be  searching  into  the 
'  Scriptures  old  and  new  more  fully,  and  reading  through  the 

(which  I  doubt)  to  what  is  here  said  as  c.  5  'tarn  memoriosa  mens.' 
to  Novatianism,  I  do  not  know  what  ^  This  ultramontane  thesis  is  deliver- 

texts    he    means.     But  the  fact    does  ed,   and    Cyprian's  study  of  Scripture 

appear,  I  think,  from  the  281  h  heading  limited  to  'about  the  inside  of  a  year,' 

just   mentioned   standing    without    the  by  Peters,  p.  80,  in  the  face  of  Pontius' 

qualification  which  he  would  have  added  account  ( Vit.  2,  3)   how  Cyprian  as  a 

later.  layman  was  teaching  others  how  to  use 

^  No.  52,  Credendi  vel  non  credendi  Scripture,  and  of  these  very  prefaces  to 

libertatem  in  arbitrio  positam.     (Com-  Quirinus.     So  Novatian  to  the  Plebes 

pare  Coleridge  Aids  to  Reflection.)    No.  at  Rome,  '  Nam  qui  sincerum  Evange- 

53,  Dei  arcana  perspici  non  posse,   et  Hum. ..non  tantum  tenetis  verum  etiam 

idcirco  fidem  nostram   simplicem   esse  animose  docetis,'  De  Cib.   jhtd.   c.    i. 

debere.    No.  42,  Fidem  totum  prodesse,  Peters  alleges  the  bare  fact   that  the 

et  tantum  nos  posse  quantum  credimus.  '  Quod   Idola '  and  the  '  ad  Donatum  ' 

No.  45,  Spem  futurorum  esse,  et  ideo  contain  no  quotations ;  to  which  (so  far 

fidem  circa  ea  quas  promissa  sunt  pati-  as  it  is  true)  the  aim  of  those  pamphlets 

entem  esse  debere.  is  an  answer  in  full. 

•  Test.  Proem,  compare   Pont   Vit. 


I.  VII.  CYPRIAN   POPE  OF  CARTHAGE.  2$ 

*  whole  of  the  volumes  of  the  spiritual  books '  and  '  equally 
'  with  ourselves  be  drinking  of  the  same  springs  of  divine 

*  fulness.' 

To  our  knowledge  of  the  wording  of  the  actual  versions 
which  the  African  Christian  thus  studied  these  books  are 
necessarily  a  very  important  contribution.  In  this  light  we 
hope  to  return  to  them  again. 


VII. 

Cyprian  made  Pope  of  Carthage. 

So  rapid  had  been  the  progress  of  Cyprian  through  the 
Diaconate  and  in  the  offices  of  the  Presbyterate*  that  he  was 
still  a  Novice^  according  to  usual  account,  when  the  public 
opinion  of  the  laity^  immediately  upon  the  voidance  of  the  a.d.  248. 
see  of  Carthage  by  the  demise  of  Donatus*,  unanimously  called  *"-^- 
him  to  that  post.     The  apostolic  warning  against  the  elation  Coss.  Inip. 

Cses.  M. 

of  a   neophyte  was    afterwards  quoted  against  him.     Some  Jul.  Phi 
defended  the  step  by  the  instance  of  the  Vizir  of  Meroe,  Y?Y^.k\x". 
baptized  by  an  evangelist  after  an  hour's  instruction.     But  P^^th. 

*^  •/  o  max.  Oer. 

others  rested  on  the  exceptional  character  of  the  man,  his  max.Carp. 
mature  and  gentle  wisdom,  his  vast  knowledge,  sagacity  and  imp!  Cks. 
diligence,  and  that  rapid  energy,  so  needed  by  the  stagnant  phinpL? 
church,  which  swiftly  carried  him  through  the  circle  of  in-  P-  F-  Aug. 

Germ. 

vestigation  and  acquirement,  and    then  unrestingly  through  max.Carp. 
administrations,  reforms,  and  new  creations.  ^^^' 

Cyprian  declined  the  office.  His  own  desire  was  to  see 
it  exercised  by  one  of  his  elders  in  years  and  in  the  faith'. 
A  small  portion  of  the  church,  but  among  them  five  of  the 

^  Pont.  Vit.  2  ...et  praepropera  veloci-  Vit.  5. 

tate  pietatis  paene  ante  ccepit  perfectus  '  Suffragium  vestrum. — vestra  suflfra- 

esse  quam  disceret.     3...quis  enim  non  gia,  Ep.  43.  i,  5. 

omnes    honoris    gradus    crederet    tali  *  Ep.  59.   6,  10. — On   the  date  see 

mente  credenti?  P-  4i>  "ote  5. 

*  Adhucneophytus...novellus.   Pont.  *  Antiquioribus  cedens.  Pont.  Vit.i. 


26  HIS  CONSECRATION. 

most  influential^  members  of  the  bench,  held  the  same  view. 
Some  of  the  firmest  friends  of  his  after-life  had  belonged  at 
first  to  that  minority,  but  the  five  presbyters  maintained  for 
many  years  an  organized  opposition.  The  mass  would  now 
brook  neither  opposition  nor  refusal.  They  surrounded  his 
house  and  filled  the  avenues  by  which  it  was  approached.  He 
concealed  himself;  he  would  fain  have  escaped  by  a  lattice'; 
but  the  tumultuous  demonstration  (a  sufficient  indication  of 
the  present  security  of  the  Christian  population)  lasted  until 
he  reappeared  and  signified  his  consent,  when  it  was  suc- 
ceeded by  rapturous  joy. 

Whether  as  in  some  untrustworthy  statements  concerning 
Alypius  and  Ambrose  he  was  carried  away  and  consecrated 
on  the  spot,  or  what  further  steps  were  allowed  to  be  neces- 
sary before  his  consecration,  we  do  not  know.  It  must 
remain  matter  of  doubt  whether  the  bishops  of  his  province 
were  summoned  to  elect  him.  He  him.self  enumerates  more 
than  once  the  requisites  of  a  regular  episcopate  as  three, 
and  says  that  they  were  regarded  in  Africa  as  essentials;  firsts 
the  choice  of  the  neighbouring  bishops  of  the  province  assem- 
bled at  the  see^;  secondly,  the  *  sufi'rage,'  that  is,  the  presence 
and  support  of  the  Plebes  at  that  choice ;  thirdly,  the  judg- 
ment of  God,  To  these  he  adds,  in  vindicating  the  perfectness 
of  the  election  of  Cornelius  at  Rome,  the  tesdmonx  of  P  ^arg<. 

^  Ep.  43.  4  ...aetas...auctoritas. — On  S.  Paul  could  be  considered  an  ordained 

their  identification  see  below,  p.   1 10,  apostle  when  at  Damascus  (Acts  ix.  25) 

n.  4.  is  another  matter. 

^  Pont.  Vit.  5.  I  hope  this  is  what  ^  Ep.  67.  5  '...apud  nos  quoque  et 
Pontius  means  by  '  potuisset  fortasse  fere  per  provincias  universas  tenetur,  ut 
tunc  illi  apostolicum  illud  evenire,  quod  ad  ordinationes  rite  celebrandas  ad  earn 
voluit,  ut  per  fenestram  deponeretur,  si  plebem  cui  prsepositus  ordinatur  epis- 
jam  turn  apostolo  etiam  ordinationis  copi  ejusdem  provinciae  proximi  quique 
honore  similaretur.'  Freppel  '  il  y  conveniant,  et  episcopus  deligatur  plebe 
songea  un  moment,  mais  son  humility  praesente...'  He  also  distinguishes  the 
redouta  ce  trait  de  ressemblance  avec  'episcopatus  deferretur'  from  'manus 
Paul.'  Rather  'if  he  was  being  made  ei...imponeretur.' 
like  him  in  one  way,  by  ordination,  he  In  Ep.  59  it  maybe  observed  that  he 
might  (if  he  had  had  his  own  will)  have  says  of  himself  (6)  '...populi  universi 
been  made  like  him  in  another,  by  suffragio...</if//]fjV«r,' and  (5)  'post  co- 
escaping  through  the  lattice.'    Whether  episcoporum  consensum.  * 


I.  VII.  CYPRIAN   BISHOP.  V^      2J 

majority  of  the  clergy.  But  since  we  observe  that,  although 
he  has  more  than  once  to  maintain  his  own  title',  he  omits,  as 
his  biographer  does,  the  mention  of  any  such  choice  by  his 
provincial  bishops,  claiming  nevertheless  to  have  had  'the 
consensus  of  his  fellow-bishops*,'  it  is  probable  that  such  a 
call  by  acclamation  superseded  further  election^  and  that 
their  *  consensus  '  was  simply  their  imposition  of  hands. 

The  picture  drawn  in  earlier  canons  and  constitutions 
shews  us  the  people  electing  their  bishop,  and  declaring  their 
choice  on  the  Lord's  day  in  the  presence  of  the  presbytery 
and  neighbouring  bishops,  in  answer  to  the  thrice-repeated 
questions  of  the  principal  bishop,  '  Is  this  the  man  whom  ye 
desire  for  a  Ruler.?  is  he  blameless,  and  is  he  worthy*?' 
Nothing  is  more  likely  than  that  Cyprian  was  himself  ordained 
thus  in  a  way  more  primitive  than  that  which  he  afterwards 
describes  as  customary'.  The  ordaining  bishops  were  those 
of  his  own  Province  of  Africa,  according  to  its  dignity,  not 


^  Ep.  43.    Ep.  66.  shew   us   the    bishop    elected    by  his 

2  Ep.  59.  5...    The  very  expression  flock  and  accepted  by  the  neighbouring 

I    'all    the   bishops    consenting'   to    the  bishops ;  Cyprian's  rule  as  elected  by  the 

j  j    choice  of  the  people  occurs  in  the  pri-  neighbouring  bishops,  accepted  by  the 

I  1  mitive  Coptic  Canon  31  (Bunsen,  I/ip-  flock.   The  process  of  change  may  have 

'  ■  polytus  and  his  age,  vol.  II.  p.  308,  vol.  gone  on  through  the  other  custom  pre- 

III.  p.  42,  1852).  scribed  by  those  canons  in  appointing  a 

^  Tillemont  compares  the  election  of  bishop  to  any  congregation,  not  having 

Alexander    of    Comana    at    the   same  before  had  or  elected  a  bishop  of  its 

period.     There    it    would    seem    that  own,  in  which  twelve  men  at  least  were 

Gregory  Thaumat.,  having  satisfied  him-  ready  to  guarantee  a  sustentation  fund, 

self  of  the  fitness  of  the  person,  pro-  In  such  case  the  neighbouring  churches 

posed  him  to  the  people,  and  on  their  proposed  a  bishop  to  the  new  congre- 

consenting,  consecrated  him.     Tillem.  gation  who  by  three  deputies  examined 

vol.  IV.  Art.  viii.  on  S.  Greg.  Thaum.  and  (if  satisfied  with  their  report)  ac- 

p.  331,  quoting  Greg.  Nyss.  Life  of  S.  cepted  him.     The  proposers  must   in 

Greg.  Thaum.  practice  or  officially  have  been  the  bi- 

^  The    65th    canon    of   the    Coptic  shops;    subsequent    elections   in   such 

collection,  '  literally  agreeing  with  the  sees  would  easily  follow  the  precedent 

Apostolical  Constitutions,  B.  viii.  c.  4.'  of  the  first  election,  and  as  sees  multi- 

Bunsen,  op.  cit.  vol.  II.  p.  336,  vol.  in.  plied  this  would  become  the  usual  mode, 

pp.  49,  50  (1852).  Coptic  collection,  canon  16.     Bunsen, 

*  The  primitive  'Apostolic  Canons'  ^/.^tf.  vol.  li. p.  305,  vol.  in.  pp.  35 — 36. 


28  MANNER   OF   ELECTION.  ^ 

the  primates  of  the  neighbouring  provinces  of  Numidia  and 
Mauritania\ 

The  '  suffrage '  of  the  laity  was  adequately  signified  by 
their  presence  and  their  testimony  to  good  -life  and  conversa- 
tion. There  is  no  indication  that  the  'suffcag^e'  implied  any 
recording  of  votes  ;  under  the  tutelary  empire  the  word  had 
long  ceased  to  bear  any  such  meaning'^  in  political  affairs, 
and  there  is  no  ground  for  fancying  that  this  sense  was 
revived  by  the  Church  of  Carthage. 

In  what  way  distinct  from  these  the  third  requisite — '  the 
Judgment  of  God ' — was  looked  for  is  somewhat  more  diffi- 
cult to  perceive.  Some  have  supposed,  as  in  the  choice  of 
Matthias,  a  casting  of  lots  with  prayer.  Evidence  of  this  there 
is  none^  But  by  those  who  relied  upon  the  special  providence 
and  guidance  of  the  Father,  His  Judgment  was  recognised  in 
the  fact  of  the  election  and  ordination  proceeding  in  due  order 
without  interruption*.  Cyprian  claims  to  enjoy  'the  Judgment 
of  God  and  Christ'  as  a  token  of  the  genuineness  of  his  apostle- 
ship  upon  the  ground  that  he  is  de  facto  bishop;  that  'the 
'  God  who  made  him  to  be  this  is  the  God  without  whose  will 
*  the  sparrow  falls  not'.' 

^  MxixAtx,Primordia  Eccl.  Afr.'^.  \l.  the  previously  expressed  assent.    Bun- 

^  In  Ep.  57.  5  the  ordination  made  sen,  op.  cit.  vol.  in.  p.  50. 

in  \!i\^ presence  oi  z.  plebes  fully  conver-  ^  H.  Dodwell,  Z>m.  Cyp.  i,  considers 

sant  with  the  life  and  conversation  of  the  the  word  /cX^poj  to  be  evidence, 

bishop  elect  is  said  to  be  'de  universse  ^  The  Coptic  Canon  65  seems  to  de- 

fraternitatis     suffragio.^      '  Suffragium  scribe  a  distinct  appeal  to  Heaven  as 

sceleris '  is  the  support  which  the  stern  following  upon  the  enquiry  w^hether  the 

crime  of  Brutus  gave  to  his  own  autho-  elected  person  is  of  pure  character — 

rity.     Quod  Idol.  5.     '  Suffragia  saepe  '  And  if  they  all  together  have  witnessed 

repetita'  are  the  cries  with  which  the  that  he  is  such  an  one  according  to  the 

mob  demanded  Cyprian  for  the  lions,  truth,  God  the  Father  and  His  only- 

Pont.  Vit.  7.    Christ  is  our  Suffragator  begotten  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and 

in  a  gloss  on  Advocatum  which  in  the  the  Holy  Ghost  being  judge  that  these 

common  text  oi  Ep.  55.   18  displaced  things  are  so...' 

justum  in  i  Joh.  ii.   i — a  word  which  °  Ep.66.  i,  9,  to  Pupienus;  to  whom 

seems  to  imply  the  utter  disappearance  he  would  take  the  strongest  ground  he 

of  any  idea  of  united  opinions.     The  could.     So  also    to    Cornelius   59.   6. 

'  Voies^  in  Copt.  Can.  65  seem  to  mean  Somewhat  similarly  an  opportunity  of 


I.  VII.  CYPRIAN   THE  POPE.  ^  29 


Cyprian's  title  of  '  Papa! 

The  Roman  clergy  in  addressing  Cyprian  and  in  writing  about  him 
style  him  '  Papa,'  *  Papas.'  or  Pope  of  Carthage,  as  do  also  the  Confessors 
of  his  own  city^.  This  title  has  been  attempted  to  be  explained  by  the 
statement  that  it  was  a  common  synonym  for  '  Bishop,'  or  that  the 
Romans  at  least  felt  no  difficulty  in  extending  the  title  used  by  their  own 
bishop. 

Pearson  2,  Bingham^,  Routh*  have  added  their  weight  to  the  belief 
that  all  bishops  were  so  called.  This  however  was  apparently  not  the 
case  in  the  time  of  Cyprian.  By  the  end  of  the  5th  century  no  doubt 
Papa  was  a  common  title  in  distinguished  sees.  Sidonius  ApoUinaris 
(Bp.  472)  speaks  of  the  Popes  of  Rheims,  Lyons,  Aries,  Vienne,  Marseilles 
and  others,  usually.  Even  in  the  4th  century  the  name  was  not  uncom- 
mon. Augustine  is  frequently  addressed  as  Pope  by  his  correspondents'^, 
especially  by  Jerome,  and  Jerome  himself  so  calls  Epiphanius,  John  of 
Jerusalem,  Athanasius,  Chromatius  of  Aquileia,  as  well  as  Anastasius 
and  Damasus  Bishops  of  Rome,  and  Theophilus  of  Alexandria^. 

The  Bishops  of  Alexandria  however  had  the  appellation  earlier 
than  the  rest.  Both  Athanasius  and  Arius  call  Alexander  {d.  a.d.  326) 
the  *  Pope '  of  that  see,  and  the  first  distinct  use  of  the  title  there  is  in 
the  instance  of  Heraclas  who  probably  died  in  A.D.  246  and  is  so  styled 
formally  by  his  successor  Dionysius  the  Great'^. 

It  now  will  seem  remarkable  that  within  two  or  three  years  of  the 
death  of  Heraclas  Cyprian  is  called  Papa  frequently  by  the  Roman 
clergy  and   confessors,  as  well  as   by  the  native  confessors — especially 

martyrdom,  even  when  it  is  rightly  (as  Ep.  8.  i.    Didicimus  secessisse  bene- 

coming    in   the    order   of    providence)  dictum    Papatem    Cyprianum.      (Cleri 

avoided  by  flight,  is  called  an  occasion  Rom.) 

when...'corona^(ja'?^7««/jo«i?Z)^/descen-  ^   Vind.  Epistt.  S.  Ignat.  p.  i.  c.  xi.  ^. 

dat,  nee  possit  accipi...,'  Dc  Laps.  10.  ^  J.  Bingham,  I.  pp.  65  sqq.  (1855). 

^  Ep.  30.    Cypriano  Papae  Presbyteri  ^  Routh,  R.  S.  III.  pp.  235,  268. 

et  Diaconi  Romje  consistentes  s. — opta-  '  Aug.  Ep.  68,  81,  119,  216. 

mus  te,  beatissime  ac  gioriosissime  papa,  *  Hieron.  Epp.  81  (66),  86  (70),  88 

semper    in   Domino   bene    valere...(2'«  (j\),2\.%o  Contra  Johami.  Hierosolymit. 

fine).  4. 

Ep.  31.     Cypriano  Papse  Moyses  et  "^  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  vii.   7.     Gre- 

Maximus   Presbyteri  et  Nicostratus  et  gory   of  NeocKsarea    (Thaumat.)    ad- 

Rufinus  et  ceteri  qui   cum  eis  confes-  dresses  his  Ca«6?«iVa/Z£//^  to  (teyowrare) 

sores  s.  Haiva.  in  a.d.  258  (?),  but  it  is  difficult 

Ep.  36.     Cypriano  Papati  Presbyteri  to  say  whether  this  is  a  circular  letter  to 

et  Diacones  Romae  consistentes  s.  bishops,  or  to  priests,  as  Greek  priests 

Ep.   23.     Universi   Confessores  Cy-  and  hieromonachi  are  so  called,  or  to  a 

priano  Papati  s.  particular  bishop. 


30  '  CYPRIAN   THE  POPE. 

remarkable  when  we  further  observe  that  the  Bishops  of  Rome  with 
whom  so  many  letters  pass  to  and  fro  are  never  once  so  designated. 
This  corresponds  however  with  the  evidence  of  inscriptions.  We 
iiave  from  the  Roman  Catacombs  a  series  of  the  monumental  slabs 
first  laid  over  the  Bishops  of  Rome  in  the  3rd  century.  We  have 
Urban's,  who  was  bishop  from  A.D.  222  to  230;  we  have  the  monu- 
ment of  Anteros  who  sat  in  235  and  236,  Fabian's  from  236  to  250, 
Eutychian's  from  275  to  283.  Again  we  have  that  which  Damasus 
placed  over  Eusebius  who  died  in  309,  and  that  which  Damasus  made 
for  himself.  Yet  the  first  appearances  of  the  title  Papa  at  Rome  are 
in  inscriptions  to  the  honour  of  Marcellinus  a.d.  296 — 304  and  Damasus 
366—384. 

De  Rossi  attempts  to  account  for  the  fact  that  the  third  century 
monuments  call  the  Roman  bishop  in  each  case  Episcopus  and  not 
Papa,  by  the  theory  that  this  name  still  bore  only  the  sense  of  affectionate 
reverence  in  which  it  arose,  was  not  yet  a  recognised  title,  and  therefore 
not  appropriate  to  a  monument.  He  observes  that  the  earliest  inscrip- 
tional  use  of  the  word  is  with  the  adjectives  meus,  suus,  noster,  and 
accordingly  in  the  two  earliest  instances  of  the  Roman  bishops,  the 
admirer  who  erects  the  inscription  calls  him  '■his  papa'  in  each  instance. 
*  By  order  of  his  papa  Marcellinus  this  Severus,  deacon,  made  a  double 
chamber^...'  'Furius  Dionisius  Filocalus  inscribed  this,  adorer  and  lover 
of  Damasus  his  papa^.'  And  of  this  usage  in  application  even  to  priests 
various  early  examples  are  given. 

But  the  point  to  be  observed  is  that  so  very  long  before  any  bishop  of 
Rome  appears  with  the  title  in  a7iy  sense  it  is  used  as_aj52rza/a:Zjiiode_^f_ 
address  to  Cyprian  by  the  clergy  of  Rgme. 

We  have  then  this  curious"^result  that  when  Gregory  the  Seventh,  in 
1073,  published  the  edict  that  the  world  should  have  but  one  Pope^,  he 
appropriated  a  title  not  original  to  his  see,  which  had  belonged  to  the 
_great  African  sees  far  earlier,  and  in  the  meantime  had  been  very 
widely  adopted. 

I  believe  however  that  the  earliest  instance  of  the  use  of  the  name  is 
in  connection  with  the  see  of  Carthage.  It  seems  so  improbable  that 
TertuUian  should  attack  a  Roman  regulation  that  I  must  think  his  De 
I'udicitia  was  addressed  to  the  then  bishop  of  Carthage  (a.D.  211—220). 

^  Cubiculum  duplex  cum  arcisoliis  at  ^  Furius  Dionisius  Filocalus  scribsit 

luminare  Damasi  s   pappae  cultor  atque  amatot 

Jussu  p(a)p(ae)  sui  Marcellini  Diaco-  (amator).     De  Rossi,  Roma  Sott.  i.  p. 

nus  iste  121, 11.  200,  201. 

Severus  fecit...  *  [Ennodius      xliii.,     Ixxx.     refutes 

G.   B.   de   Rossi,    Inscrr.    Chr.  Simond's  assertion  (a^  £««.£//.  iv.  i) 

Urb.   RomcE,    i.    p.  cxv.,   11.  that  his  use  of  the  word  is  limited  to 

p.  55'  the  Roman  see.] 


I.  VIII.  CYPRIAN   BISHOP.  3I 

It  is  the  much  condemned  assumption  of  the  authority  of  Episcopus 
Episcoporum  by  a  predecessor  which  makes  Cyprian  in  council  so 
anxious  to  disclaim  the  appearance  of  it,  as  well  as  the  African  canons  so 
distinct  in  repudiating  it.  Now  in  chapter  13  Tertullian,  with  ironical 
emphasis,  calls  the  bishop  in  question  Bonus  pastor  et  benedictus  papa, 
and  Benedictus  Papa  is  the  very  word  used  of  Cyprian  in  Ep.  8.  i. 
Because  Callistus  issued  an  edict  ^  like  the  one  which  Tertullian  con- 
demns, it  would  not  follow  that  he  was  the  only  bishop  who  did  so,  rather 
perhaps  the  reverse.  If  Papa  was  originally  then  of  Carthaginian  usage, 
this  is  but  one  of  many  instances  in  which  the  African  Church  led  the 
Latin  forms. 

Lastly,  we  may  observe  that  if  the  Roman  letters  to  Cyprian  were 
not  genuine,  but  belonged  to  the  fifth  century,  or  even  the  fourth,  and 
were  written  in  the  interests  of  the  papal  see,  we  should  not  have  had 
the  name  Papa  carefully  attributed  by  the  Romans  to  Cyprian  and 
entirely  withheld  by  them  and  by  all  the  letter- writers  from  the  bishop 
of  Rome. 

VIII. 

Cyprian's   View  of  the  Authority  and  the  Design  of  the 
Episcopate. 

And  what  then  was,  in  Cyprian's  thought,  the  Office  to 
which  he  had  been  called  .-• 

It  is  evident  that  we  must  ascertain  this  before  we  can 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  his  administration.  For  that  office 
was  undertaken  by  him  with  clear  ideas  upon  its  import,  and 
was  not  gradually  invested  with  them  by  mere  administrative 
convenience. 

There  are  two  main  outlines  possible.  Which  of  the  two 
was  before  him .'' 

Did  he  find  himself  called  to  be  chief  arbiter  and  judge  of 
the  Christian  congregations,  the  president  of  their  committees, 
the  guardian  of  their  doctrine  and  customs,  of  the  Scriptures 
and  their  interpretation,  the  principal  of  those  functionaries 
who  for  the  sake  of  order,  regularly  and  alone,  within  a 
certain   district   exercfsed,  that  ^lesthood   which    in   theory 

1  Hippol.  Refut.  omn.  hares,  ix.  i3  (ed.  L.  Dunker  and  F.  G.  Schneidewin) ;  cf. 
Tart,  de  Pudicit.  13. 


32  WHAT  A  BISHOP  WAS  TO   HIM. 

belonged  equally  to  all  believers  ?  Had  his  office  thus  risen 
naturally  out  of  the  presbyterate,  as  the  presbyterate  had 
grown  out  of  the  whole  community  ?  or,  if  this  enquiry  sur- 
passed the  curiosity  of  the  age,  did  he  regard  himself  as 
delegated  to  be  thdr^iiead-priest  by  a  nation  of  priests  ? 

Or  did  he  regard  his  office  as  something  different  in  kind 
from  all  such  conceptions  of  it?  as  a  line  traced  in  the  Divine 

_Plan?  indicated  and  assumed,  if  not  defined,  in  the  New 
Testament?  deducible  from  it  by  reasoning,  such  as  evolves 
from  the  same  writings  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity  ?  as 
a  power  not  there  reduced  to  terms,  but  constant  in  exercise ; 
endowed  with  a  grace  specific,  exclusive,  efficient  ? 

These  questions  receive  a  full  answer  in  Cyprian's  writings. 
As  matter  of  order,  the  eminence  of  the  rank  of  the  bishop 
was  visible  to  the  Roman  world.  He  was  the  Chief  of  the 
Christian  Society;  the  confiscation  of  his  property  was  the  first, 
for  a  time  the  only,  edict  of  persecuting  magistrates.  In  the 
assembly  from  the  midst  of  the  separate  semicircle  of  the 
.presbyters^  rose  his  chair  or  Throne,  already  the  universal 

/  jbame  and  symbol  of  his  authority.  He  was  specially  the 
Preacher'*  in  his  church,  the  chief  instructor.  Again  he  was 
the  principal  arbitrator  in  disputes.  As  to  morals  and 
discipline,  whether  clerical  or  lay,  he  was  'Judge  in  Christ's 
-  stead '  of  disqualifications'  from  communion,  propriety  of 
restoration,  suitableness  for  any  office.  But  in  this  capacity 
Cyprian  felt  at  all  times  bound  to  act  on  the  principle  which 
in  one  of  his  earliest  letters  he  lays  down — '  to  do  nothing 
'  without  the^nformation  and  advice  of  presbyters,  deacons, 

-  *  and  laymei^.' 

1  Epp.  39.  4.  40,  &c.  *  ...nee  episcopo  honorem  sacerdotii 

2  Ep.  55.  i4...1egeram  et  episcopo  sui  et  cathedrae  reservantes,  Ep.  17.  2. 
tractante  cognoveram.  And  of  false  *  ...prsesentibus  et  judicantibus  vobis 
bishops... quorum  tractatus...mox\.2Xt.  (t.e.  plebe).  Ep.  17.  i,  cf.  3.— Cf.  Ep. 
virus  infundit.  De  Unit.  10.  One  of  the  14.  4;  19-  -2.  Cf.  as  regards  ordination 
sadnesses  of  the  exile  is... quod... nee  Ep.  38.  i...solemus  vos  anteconsulere 
tractantes  episcopos  audiat.    Ep.  58.  4.  et  mores  ac  merita  singulorum  communi 


I.  VIII. 


WHAT  A  BISHOP   WAS   TO   CYPRIAN. 


33 


That  which  has  been  for  centuries  the  supreme  title  of 
episcopal  greatness,  the  title  of  Pontiff,  he  would  have  rejected 
with  disdain  and  horror.     On  Tertullian's  lips  it  had  been  a 
.  gibe\   In  Cyprian's  language  it  was  reserved  for  Caiaphas  after 
the  priesthood  had  passed  from  him  by  his  condemnation  of 
his  own  High  Priesf^:  but  that  the  Bishop  was  simply  the 
delegate  or  representative  of  the  people  in  their  sacerdotal 
aspect  is  a  thought  which  never  took  shape  from  his  pen. 
For  him  the  Bishop  is  the  sacrificing  priests     Christ  was  ,' 
Himself  the  Ordainer  of  the  Jewish  Priesthoods    The  Priests, 
of  that  line  were  'our  predecessors'.'     The  Jewish  Prie_sthood 
at  last  became  'a  name  and  a  shade,'  on  the  day  when  it, 
crucified    Christ*.      Its   reality   passed    on   to   the    Christian, 
bishop ;  each  congregation  (diocese)  is  '  the  congregation  of -^ 
Israel';  the  election  of  the  bishop  in  their  presence  is  made  \ 
in  accordance  with  the  Law  of  Moses^;  the  lapsed  or  sinful 


consilio  ponderare.  Cf.  Ep.  43.  7,  Ep. 
30.  5  (at  Rome). 

1  Tert,  De  Pudicit.  i.  See  below, 
p.  197. 

^  Ep.  3.  1;  Ep.  59.  4.  So  fast  did 
the  feeling  change  that  Pontius  Vit.  c.  9 
calls  Cyprian  'Christi  et  Dei  pontifex' 
in  contrast  with  the  'pontifices  hujus 
mundi '  and  again  c.  ii  ' Dei  pontifex ' 
simply. 

*  Throughout  the  letters  of  Cyprian 
the  bishop  is  more  frequently  called 
sacerdos  than  episcopus.  The  word 
'sacerdos'  is  never,  I  believe,  distinctly 
applied  to  a  presbyter,  though  once 
or  twice  the  whole  clerical  body  is 
spoken  of  as  sacerdotes  et  ministri. 
In  Ep.  63  (14,  18,  19)  at  first  sight 
it  might  seem  that  the  arguments 
there  addressed  to  'Sacerdotes'  as  to 
the  mixture  of  wine  with  the  water  in 
the  Eucharist  were  addressed  to  or  at 
least  included  presbyters,  but  the  open- 
ing of  the  letter  shews  that  he  confines 
his  remarks  to  the  bishops  (episcopi), 

B. 


of  whom  the  majority,  he  says,  are 
correct  in  practice,  but  others  not  so. 
Again,  his  own  presbyters  were  not  in 
fault,  and  it  would  be  contrary  to  his 
principles  to  address  the  presbyters  of 
another.  Even  in  this  epistle  there- 
fore 'sacerdos'  means  bishop.  In  Ep. 
40  he  says  Numidicus  had  been  rescued 
from  death  at  his  martyrdom  by  God, '  ut 
...et  desolatam  per  lapsum  quorundam 
presbyterorum  nostrorum  copiam  glo- 
riosis  sacerdotibus  ornaret.'  This  is  the 
general  use  of  the  term,  as  in  'sacerdo- 
tes et  ministri,'  and  he  indeed  adds  'et 
promovebitur  quidem...ad  ampliorem 
locum,'  sc.  episcopatum,  so  that  'sacer- 
dos' does  not  lose  here  its  proper  refer- 
ence. In  De  Zel.  et  Liv.  6  it  might 
equally  be  maintained  that  the  words 
were  distinguished  or  that  they  were 
rhetorically  paralleled,  *  dum  obtrectatur 
sacerdotibus,  dum  episcopis  invidetur.' 
*  Ep.  69.  8.  "  Ep.  8.  I. 

6  Ep.  66.  3;  59.  4. 

7  Ep.  67.  4. 


34  THE  ANTIENT  BISHOP  AND  THE  MODERN. 

bishop  is  prohibited  from  sacrificing  by  the3^osaic  statute 
against  uncleanness;  his  communicants  are  ^ainte^  by  his  sin\ 
The  presbyterate  is  the  Levitic  tribe^  exempt  from  worldly 
office,  deSarred  from  worldly  callings,  living  on  the  offerings 
of  the  people,  as  their  predecessors  on  the  tithes,  devoted  day 
and  night  to  sacrifice  and  prayer.  So  precise  is  the  appli- 
cation, that  the  people  are  to  rise  at  their  coming  in  pursuance 
of  the  Levitic  direction  ^ 

Again  there  is  another  aspect  of  the  same  ofifice.     The 

Apostles  were   bishops.     Matthias  was  ordained  a  'bishop.' 

And'^stitt~The''"5Ish"op~is  the  Apostle   of  his   flock*.     From 

/  the  Twelve  through  successive  ordinations   he  derives  that 

/  character^     His  order  is  of  divine  creation.     The  diaconate 

is  the  institution  of  his  predecessors. 

He  is  npt-cmly  a  Judge.  He  is  Judge  in  Christ's  steads 
Contempt  of  his  government'  is  the  parent  of  heresy;  it  is 
expressly  condemned  in  the  Law,  in  the  books  of  Samuel,  by 
the  example  of  St  Paul  and  of  our  Lord.  To  maintain  the 
same  faith  and  worship  and  yet  invade  the  office  of  the 
-righ^l  bishop  is  identically  the  sin  of  Korahl  For  the 
Laws  about  the  High  Priest  are  not  merely  applicable  to  the 
Bishops;  they  were  ultimately  intended  for  them,  and  now 
they  apply  to  them  alone. 

^  Ep.  65.  2;  67.  I,  9.  cedunt,  Ep.  66.  4. 

^  Ep.  I.  I.  ^  Ep.  59.  5  'vice  Christi.'    Cyprian's 

^  Levit.  xix.  32,  so  interpreted  Tes-  use  of  Index  not  Arbiter  is  important 

tim.  iii.  85.  on  account  of  his  legal  exactness. 

*  ...apostolos  id  est  episcopos  et  prse-  ^  Ep.  66,  Ep.  3,  Ep.  59,  Ep.  43. 
positos,  Ep.  3.  3.  Cf.  Ep.  45.  3.  The  The  Scriptures  quoted  are  Deut.  xvii. 
reading  'de  ordinando  in  locum  ludae  12,  which  is  cited  five  times,  i  Sam. 
^/wo/^,' £/.  67.  4  (Hart.  p.  738),  is  not  viii.  7.  Sir.  vii.  29,  31.  Acts  xxiii.  4,  5. 
only  supported  apparently  by  all  MSS.,  Matth.  viii.  4.  Jo.  xviii.  22,  23.  Luc. 
against  edd.,  but  is  required  by  the  'epis-  x.  16. 

coporum  et  sacerdotum'  which  follows.  ^  Ep.  69.  8. 

*  ...apostolis  vicaria  ordinatione  sue- 


I.  IX.  THE  BISHOP  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  35 

IX. 

Divergence  of  Cyprian's  from  Modern  views. 

In  these  opinions  of  Cyprian  the  first  point  which  invites 
attention  is  their  dissimilarity  to  any  scheme  of  the  Christian 
ministry  now  held.  A  parallel  between  that  ministry  and  the 
three  Levitic  orders  is  indeed  familiar  to  us,  but  not  the  same 
parallel  which  Cyprian  draws.  Although  disobedience  to  the 
Bishop  is  the  sin  of  disobedience  to  the  High  Priest,  yet  his 
Bishop  is  not  pourtrayed  as  surrounded  first  by  the  Priests, 
and  secondly  by  the  Deacon-Levites.  The  Order  of  Bishops 
with  him  answers  to  the  '  Priests  of  God,'  the  Presbyters  are 
the  Tribe  of  Levi.    The  New  High  Priest  is  Christ  eternally^ 

Secondly,  neither  would  any  school  now  interpret  the 
Mosaic  precepts  with  anything  like  the  literalness  which  he 
always  uses.  For  instance,  the  territorially  endowed  ministry 
of  all  Christendom  gives  up  what  was  in  his  eyes  an  essential 
resemblance  to  the  house  of  Levi,  their  right  to  maintenance 
by  offerings  without  land. 

Third,  the  method  of  election  to  bishoprics  is  extinct 
through  the  whole  world.  Nowhere  do  neighbouring  bishops 
meet  and,  requiring  the  testimony  of  the  laity  over  whom  he 
will  preside,  elect  or  nominate  for  them  a  bishop^  Various  as 
have  been  the  phases  through  which  that  election  has  passed, 
none  can  be  more  alien  from  the  spirit  of  Cyprian's  prescrip- 
tions than  the  two  which  divide  the  Western  Church  between 
them.  In  one  the  lay,  in  the  other  the  ecclesiastical  element 
has  reduced  its  copartner  to  a  shadow  :  in  each  the  surviving 
element  has  merged  in  a  single  individual,  a  single  nominator 
to  all  sees  within  his  supremacy.  Here  it  is  the  monarch,  there 
the  one  bishop  of  Rome^  Measured  by  ancient  standards 
neither  section  could  criticise  the  other,  yet  to  the  purposes 

^  Ep.  I.  I,  Testi?>i.\.  17.   i?^.  63. 14.  The  bishop  of  Rome  in  the  praeconisa- 

^  Ep.  67.  4,  5.  tion  of  bishops  or  in  appointments  by 

3  Where  concordats  exist   the  laity  brief  elects  and  constitutes. 
nominate  in  the  person  o5  the  sovereign. 

3—2 


36  THE  BISHOP  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

of  each  no  machinery  could  be  better  adapted  than  the 
present,  and  ancient  standards  were  not  uniform.  No  mean 
analogy  is  that  of  England,  where  a  minister  of  the  Crown, 
selected  from  popular  representatives,  nominates,  the  chapters 
as  representatives  of  the  diocesan  presbyterate  accept  or 
reject,  and  the  comprovincial  bishops  consecrated 

Fourth,  the  presbyters  had  no  voice  or  vote  in  the  election 
of  the  bishop  distinct  from  that  of  the  laity :  their  influence 
was  great,  but  in  government  they  scarcely  appear  as  an 
orders  The  very  name  of  priesthood  (as  represented  by 
sacerdotes,  sacerdotium)  did  not  descend  from  the  episcopate 
upon  them  until  after  Cyprian  wrote.  Their  then  designation, 
as  the  Levitic  body  of  the  church,  similarly  descended  upon 
the  deacons'. 

Fifth,  while  the  virtue  of  Aaron's  Priesthood  and  the  grace 
of  Apostleship  still  flowed,  as  it  were,  from  a  divine  source 
through  the  world,  those  who  received  it  were  not  a  college 
with  power  to  invite  or  coopt  or  to  increase  their  numbers 
at  their  pleasure.  It  was  the  Christian  plebesyjhxch.  to  every 
individual  bishop  was  the  fountain  of  his  honour*.  It  was 
they  who  by  the  'aspiration  of  God'  addressed  to  him  the  call 

^  See  Dr  Pusey,  The  Councils  of  the  trace  is   in  //.    Cone.  Carth.   sub    Ge- 

Church,  p.  loff.  nethlio,  a.d.  390,  Can.  II.  (Labbe,  II.  c. 

^  Presbyters  in  Cone.  v.  de  Bap.  i,  1244),  where  to  a  question  put  with  the 

are  said  'adesse' — 'plurimi  Coepiscopi  words 'episcopus,  presbyter  et  diaconus' 

cum  Conpresbyteris  qui  aderant,'  Ep.  Genethlius   himself  replies,  using   'sa- 

71.  I.  crosanctos  antistites,  et  Dei  sacerdotes, 

'  Perhaps  the  first  use  of  Levita:  for  nee  non  et  Levitas.'     In  this  form  Au- 

Deacons  is   nearly   contemporary  with  relius  repeats  it  Cod.  Can.  Ecc.  Afric. 

Cyprian's  application  of  Levitica  tribus  Can.  III.  (Labbe,  II.  c.  i'26i).  In  Can.  X. 

(Ep.  I.  i)  to  presbyters  (a.d.  circ.  245)  of  //.  Cone.  Carth.  and  in  Can.  IV.  of 

Origen,  Horn.  xii.  3,  in  Jerem.  (Delarue  ///.  Cone.  Carth.  A.D.  397  (al.  398)  the 

V.  iii.  196  [1740]),  and  it  is  in  a  way  form    appears    in   titles   only,   not    in 

which  shews  his  use  of  both  words  to  be  Canons.     And  so  it  spreads, 

unfamiliar.     E?  rts  oxiv  /cai  roi^roty  roty  *  A  bishop  could  ordain  a  lector,  a 

Upevai   {deiKvvfu   Se   toi)s    irpej^vr^povs  subdeacon,  a  deacon,  even  a  presbyter, 

r)ijias)  ^  iv  roirrots  rots  wepieffTrjKbai  Xaif  without  more  than  a  nominal  reference 

Xevlrais  (X^7w  5^  tovs  8iaK6vovs)  afiaprd-  to  the  plebes.     But  the  whole  eollegium 

vei...     The  first  formal  use  of  them  I  ja«r</(?/a/<?  couli  not  elect  a  bishop. 


I.  IX.  THE  PRIESTHOOD   OF  THE   LAITY.  37 

to  enter  on  the  inheritance  of  that  priesthood  and  the  dispen- 
sation of  that  grace.  On  them  rested  also  the  responsibility 
and  duty  of  withdrawing  from  him  and  his  administrations  if 
he  were  a  sinner.  '  A  people  obedient  to  the  precepts  of  the 
'  Lord  and  fearing  God  is  bound  to  separate  itself  from  a 
'  sinful  prelate,  and  not  to  associate  itself  with  the  sacrifices 
'  of  a  sacrilegious  Priest ;  forasmuch  as  they  have  mainly  the 
'power  either  of  electing  worthy  Priests  {i.e.  Bishops)  or  of 
'  refusing  the  unworthy^' 

Sixth,  hence  when  a  bishop  had  been  appointed  to  a  see, 
he  was,  so  long  as  he  remained  in  faith  and  charity,  the 
visible  pillar,  foundation,  and  indeed  the  embodiment  of  his 
church.  '  The  bishop  is  in  the  church,  and  the  church  in  the 
'  bishop,  and  if  anyone  is  not  with  the  bishop  he  is  not  in 
'the  church V 

Seventh,  in  the  councils  there  was  no  elective,  no  mutable 
representation.  Each  diocese  elected  its  bishop  once  for  all 
to  be,  among  other  functions,  the  representative  of  his  church 
and  constituency ;  a  life  member  of  the  conciliar  body. 
They  needed  no  other.  r^i^ ^''^^ 

Eighth,  the  temptations  incident  to  this  copious  authority 
were  not  without  an  antidote  in  the  popular  character  of  the 
commission  and  the  popular  duties  it  involved.  To  the  bitter 
attack  of  Pupien  Cyprian  replies  '  all  the  brethren  and  the 
'heathen  also  well  know  and  love  my  humble  character:  you 
'  knew  it  and  you  loved  it  when  you  were  in  the  church  and  in 
'  communion  with  me... I  am  daily  the  servant  of  the  brethren. 
'  I  receive  those  who  come  to  the  church,  one  after  another, 
'  with  goodwill,  with  prayers,  and  with  joyfulness^' 

Lastly,  it  has  been  accurately  shewn  that  there  is  no  clear 
development  of  these  opinions  on  Priesthood  in  the  writings  of 
the  Apostolic  Fathers,  in  Justin,  or  in  Clement  of  Alexandria^ 

1  Ep.  67.  3.     On  the  refusal  of  the  =  Ep.  66.  8.  »  Ep.  66.  3. 

Spanish  churches  to  communicate  with  *  Dissertation  on  the  Christian  Mi- 

their  bishops  Basilides  and  Martial.  nistry  in  Bp.  Lightfoot's  edition  of  the 


38  THE  PRIESTHOOD  OF  THE   LAITY. 

I  am  not  so  sure  that  there  is  no  trace  of  them  in  Irenaeus^ 
We  have  seen  that  in  Tertullian  they  exist  side  by  side  with 
clear  enunciations  of  the  doctrine  of  an  essential  priesthood 
inherent  in  all  Christians,  but  exercised  in  fully  developed 
churches  by  the  organic  ministry  alone. 

This  universal  Lay-priesthood  is  not  dwelt  upon  in 
Cyprian,  but  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  question  his 
belief  in  it.  Nor  is  it  a  specially  Christian  doctrine  ;  it  is 
coaeval  with  the  religious  instinct  of  mankind.  It  had  no 
doubt  been  obscured  in  pagan  Greece,  and  even  in  Rome 
many  shrines  had  special  endowments  and  ministers,  and  to 
the  last  both  retained  traces  of  functions  appropriate  to 
priest-kings.  But  the  principal  sacrificing  priests  of  the 
Roman  state,  the.  pontiffs  and  Jhe__augurSj.W-ere_llay_men,' 
not  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  people.  The  celebrants  in 
the  sacrifices  were  generals,  senators,  and  magistrates-.  The 
Jewish  nation  had  been  founded  as  a  priesthood,  in  which  the 
functions  proper  to  the  whole  manhood  of  the  race  were 
deputed  first  in  theory  to  the  eldest  sons  and  then  to  the 
single  tribe,  yet  frequently  resumed  for  sufficient  cause  by 
kings  and   prophets.     This  royal   priesthood    became,  when 

Epistle  to   the  Philippiaiis,    1868,    pp.  incorruptibile  semionis  constat.'    These 

247 sqq.  three  he  parallels   with  the  'apostles, 

^    Irenseus    handles    the    episcopate  prophets,  doctors'  of  i  Cor.  xii.  28,  c. 

more   'as   the   depository   of  apostolic  Uteres.  \\.  26.     See  also  the  commence- 

tradition'  than  as  'the  centre  of  unity'  ment  of  the  same  section  and  compare 

(Bp.  Lightfoot,   op.    cit.   pp.    237,    8),  iv.   26,  iii.  3,  v.  20  '...episcopi  quibus 

because  his  whole  object  is  doctrinal,  apostoli  tradiderunt  ecclesias.' 

not  governmental.     The  whole  Church  In  Justin  it  is  true,  Dial.  c.  Tryph. 

is  to  him  a  'depositorium  dives,'  into  116,  that   the   whole  Christian  people 

which  the  apostles  stored  'omnia  quae  are    the  high-priestly   family,   but   we 

sint  veritatis,'    c.    Hccres.   iii.   4.     The  must  mark  also  the  church-function  of 

notes  however  of  a  church  (possessing  the   TrpoecrTwy   alone,  Apolog.   i.   65 — 6 

charismata  and  so)  capable  of  witness-  7rpoe(rTd>s...Xoj3a)v...evxa/"«'"'''ai'...^7ri  tto- 

ing  to  apostolic  truth  he  makes  to  be  Xi>  n-oietrat.    05  (TwreX^crai'roj  tAj  ei>xis 

three,  viz.    'apud  quos  est  (i)  ea  quoe  Kal  Tijv  evxapiffrlav . . . 

est  ab  apostolis  ecclesise  successio,  (2)  *  ...flaminicse   et    sediles   sacrificant, 

et  id  quod  est  sanum  et  irreprobabile  Tert.  de  Idolatr.  10. 
conversationis,  (3)  et  inadulteratum  et 


I.  IX.  THE  ORIGIN   OF  CYPRIAN'S  VIEW.  39 

Judaism  broadened  into  Christianity,  the  inheritance  of  be- 
lieving humanity*.  The  right  to  approach  the  Father  with 
prayers  and  intercessions,  the  duty  of  purity,  the  unworld- 
liness,  which  all  exercise  of  the  right  implied,  were  sacerdotal 
characters  which  none  failed  to  recognise.  We  have  seen, 
however,  that  strongly  as  TertuUian  represents  this  view,  he 
no  less  strongly  recognises  the  'priestly  discipline^'  and  the 
separateness  of  the  office.  And  '  it  seems  plain  from  his  mode 
'  of  speaking  that  such  language  was  not  peculiar  to  himself, 
'but  passed  current  in  the  churches  among  which  he  moved^' 
What  is  distinctive  therefore  in  Cyprian's  theory  simply 
regards  the  origin  of  that  office.  According  to  him,  it  is 
(i)  an  inheritance  from  the  apostles,  (2)  and  a  succession 
to  the  Levitic  Priesthood,  only  more  glorious  in  being  the 
fulfilment  of  that  priesthood  as  of  a  type. 

And  now,  we  must  observe  that  from  whatever  source  the 
theory  sprang  it  wasjnqtan  emanation  from  the  pplicj^.oi 
Cyprian.  And  although  it  would  be  equally  inaccurate  to 
say  that  the  policy  sprang  from  the  theory,  yet  the  influence 
of  the  view  in  moulding  both  then  and  ever  since  all  vigorous 
church-life  which  has  had  any  continuity,  all  Christian  organi- 
zation which  has  enjoyed  any  extension,  can  scarcely  be 
over-estimated.  From  the  very  first  Cyprian  believed  that  he 
read  that  doctrine  in  Scripture,  and  in  Scripture  as  a  whole. 
Whencesoever  derived,  it  came  to  him  in  his  '  novitiate.'  We 
find  it  in  strongest  and  completest  terms  in  his  first  epistle 
and  in  his  first  application  of  texts  in  the  Testimonies.  The 
whole  period  of  his  episcopate  added  nothing  to  the  distinct- 
ness with  which  he  realised  it,  although  his  discussions  and 
his  '  visions '  reflected  and  impressed  it^  There  is  no  room 
for  the  hypothesis  that  the  exigencies  of  his  position  towards 
thet   Novatianists,  .towards   his   own    presbyters,  or   towards 

^  Tert.  de  Monog.  7.  ^  jjp,  Lightfoot,  op.  cit.  pp.  •253,  254. 

2  Ibid.  12.  ••  i5>.  6().  10. 


40  THE   REMNANT  OF   PEACE. 

the  see  of  Rome,  determined  or  in  the  least  developed  his 
beliefs 

And  whence  then  did  this  form  of  Christian  thought 
originate?  I  see  no  proof,  and  to  me  it  is  incredible,  that 
he  or  other  Africans  should  have  derived  any  such  scheme, 
consciously  or  unconsciously,  frorn  -Pa^^an^onstAXutions,  which 
appeared  to  them  all  in  the  light  of  a  purely  demoniacal  ^rV' 
and  satanic^ystem.  Nor  yet  is  it  possible  that  they  inherited 
them  from  any  Judaizing  forms  of  Christianity.  For  not 
only  is  sacerdotalism  not  one  of  the  characteristics  for  which 
Judaizers  are  ever  reprehended  ^  but  in  fact  the  very  essence 
of  Judaism  lay  in  looking  back  to  the  literal  circumcision, 
the  literal  passover,  the  literal  centralising  of  the  church  upon 
Jerusalem.  Towards  Gentile  Priests,  towards  Levites  from 
the  uncircumcision,  they  had  no  propension.  Neither  to 
heathenism  nor  to  legalistic  sects  can  we  trace  back  the 
fruitful  powerful  theory  now  accepted  in  Africa. 

Was  it  then  but  an  unconscious  straining  first  of  language, 
then  of  feeling,  lastly  of  thought,  which  gradually  warped 
with  a  hieratic  distortion  offices  originally  politic  and  didactic? 
Did  the  contemplative  study  of  numerously  fulfilled  types 
draw  men  by  a  seemingly  irresistible  attraction  to  imagine  an 
actual  continuity,  totally  unreal,  between  a  sacrificial  priest- 
hood and  what  was  designed  only  for  a  hortatory  college  ? 

Or,  was  the  belief  a  legitimate  development  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  apostolic  church,  parallel  with  and  analogous 
to  the  growing  light  on  cardinal  doctrines  which  similarly 
nothing  but  use  could  illustrate  1    And  are  all  the  forms  in 

^  O.  Ritschl  (pp.  50,  222,  223)  that  the  conception  of  the  Church  which 
rightly  states  that  the  theory  was  not  Cyprian  applies  to  life  in  his  first  writ- 
developed  without  the  events.  No  ings  requires  for  its  potential  nucleus 
practical  theory  of  a  polity  could  be.  that  theory  which  the  formula  so  soon 
But  when  he  says  that  it  broke  out  consolidates.— [The  text  was  written 
as  a  new  perception  in  Ep.  43,  he  not  some  years  before  Ritschl  appeared.] 
only  overlooks  the  early  Ep.  33,  but  ^  Bp.  Lightfoot,  op.  cit.  pp.  257sqq. 
fails  to  discern  what  is  more  important, 


I.  X.  THE  REMNANT  OF  PEACE.'  4 1 

which  it  may  be  said  to  live  among  us  broken  lights  of  the 
same  truth  ? 

The  alternative  is  an  important  one.  It  will  be  answered 
by  thinkers  according  to  their  schools,  and  cannot  be  deter- 
mined by  history  alone.  We  shall  find  further  illustrations  of 
it  in  the  progress  of  the  history,  but  it  becomes  at  this  point 
a  debate  of  metaphysical  ^theology.  _ 

X. 

A  Bishop's  work  uphill. 

A  {e.vj  months  only  were  left  to  the  unsuspecting  Chris- 
tians of  a  'Thirty-eight  years  Peace ^'  which  had  assisted  the 
extension  of  the  church  without  promoting  either  its  devotion 
or  its  organization,  when,  some  time  between  the  July  of 
A.D.  248  and  the  following  April*,  the  figure  of  the  well-  a.d.  249. 
known  advocate,  now  for  some  time  missed  from  court  and  ^q(^i',coss. 
forum,  and  grown  familiar  to  Christians  in  the  semicircle  of  -^^V^.^"^ 

presbyters,  took  the  white  linen-covered  chair  of  the  illicit  nus  11. 

11-  1  •         >     1       •!•       o  11  .       L-  Nsevius 

assembly  m  some  merchant  prmces  basilica^,  and  the  voice  Aquilinus. 

^  Sulpicius  Severus  Chronicor.  ii.  32  Day,  April  15,  A.D.  249;  for  in  Ep.  1^, 

'interjectis   deinde  annis   viii  et  xxx  after  Easter  a.d.  250,  he  mentions  that 

Pax  Christianis  fiiit,'  i.e.  from  the  end  he  had  made  Saturus  read   a   Lesson, 

of  Sept.  Severus  {d.  4  Feb.  211),  about  with  the  consent  of  the  clergy,  on  the 

which  time   the  ferocities  of  the  pro-  two  last  Easter  Days, 

consul    Scapula     elicited     Tertullian's  The  Decian  persecution  began  in  the 

fierce  'Ad  Scapulam.'    Freppel,  p.  168,  end  of  A.D.  249,  or  the  very  beginning 

quotes  Origen,  c.  Cels.  vii.  26,  speaking  of  A.D.  250.    For  all  that  happened  Til- 

of  the  rapid  multiplication  of  the  Chris-  lemont   allows  two  years   (vol.    iv.    S. 

tians.  Cypr.   Art.  vi.).     Eighteen  months  is 

^  The     59th    epistle    was    written  the  utmost  possible,  and  probably  the 

after    the     15th    of    May,    the    Ides,  episcopate   began  not  long  after  June 

A.D.  252  {Ep.  59.  lo).  Cyprian  had  then  a.d.  248.     More  than  four  years  would 

been  bishop  for  a  'quadriennium'  (ib.  be  called  a  quinquennium;  in  Ep.  56.  i 

6),  i.e.  at  least  for  two  or  three  months  a  'triennium'  is   two  years  and  three 

beyond  three   years,  at   most  for  four  months ;  in  Ep.  43.  4  little  more  than 

years.     This   makes   the  earliest   date  a  twelvemonth  is  a  'biennium.' 

possible  for  his   accession  to  be  June  ^  The    Basilicse    common    in   great 

A.D.  248,  the  latest  possible  April  A.D.  houses,  and  not  those  of  the  law-courts, 

249.    He  was  certainly  bishop  on  Easter  were  probably  the  models  of  the  first 


42  THE  DISCIPLINE  OF   PEACE. 

that  had  defended  the  state-religion  rose  before  an  altar 
which,  still  standing  in  its  old  place  sixty  years  laterS  seemed 
to  reproach  the  departing  schismatic  with  the  shadows  of 
Cyprian  and  of  Unity. 

Of  his  sermons,  unless  the  tract  on  Patience  is  a  sermon 
remodelled,  not  a  record  has  reached  us :  a  singular  contrast 
to  the  vast  monuments  of  Augustine's  preaching.  We  should 
have  gladly  learnt  the  tenor  of  that  first  exhortation  which, 
after  the  usage  of  the  African  bishops,  he  opened  and  closed 
with  the  double'^  salutation  '  In  the  Name  of  the  Lord,'  and 
have  caught  the  first  note  of  those  thirteen  years  ofjnefikce^ 
,able  teaching.  But  there  is  in  the  whole  man  such  oneness 
that  we  can  scarcely  question  that,  as  in  his  letters  and 
pamphlets,  so  from  his  bema  Christian  life  was  taught  as  a 
social  science.  '  In  the  quiet  time  he  had  served  discipline'^ ' 
is  his  own  epigrammatic  tale  of  his  first  few  months.  There 
was  nothing  wavering  in  him,  or  tentative  ;  there  was  no  feel- 
ing for  a  clue.  He  entered  on  restoration  and  organization 
with  a  theory  clearly  ascertained,  and  a  practical  devotion  to 
its  consequences.  '  The  church  is  one.  She  holds  and  owns 
*  all  the  power  of  her  Spouse  and  Lord.  And  in  her  we  pre- 
'  side.  For  her  honour  and  her  unity  we  do  battle.  Her  grace 
'  and  her  glory  we  alike  maintain  with  faithful  self-devotion. 
'  We  have  God's  leave  to  water  God's  thirsting  people.  We 
'  keep  the  bounds  of  the  springs  of  lifeV  Such  was  his 
estimate  of  his  duty  and  his  responsibility.  To  revive  in 
a  worldly  laity,  with  a  staff  of  caballing  clergy,  the  reality 
-->  of  their  professions  and  of  their  offices,  to  reanimate  church 
/  life  with  half-forgotten  forces,  was  his  first  task,  and  in 
that  primitive  age  no  light  one.     Not  only  had  he  from  the 


churches.    See  R.  '^\yccC %  Rome  and  the  ^  ...salutatione  scilicet  geminata.  Op- 

Campagna,   Introd.    p.   1.    That  used  tat.  vii.  6,  note  p.   162,  ed.  Albaspi- 

by  Cyprian's   congregation  was   main-  naei.     Paris,  1631. 
tained  afterwards  as  a  church.  '  Ep.  59.  6. 

^  Optat.i.  19'erataltareloco  suo,'&c.  *  Ep.  73.  it. 


K 


/ 

I.  X.  ^  S   THE  TRIALS  OF   PEACE.  43 

first  to  bear  ' contumely  toward  his  office*';  not  only  did 
opponents,  the  five  presbyters  and  others,  '  turbulent  men 
whom  he  could  scarcely  rule^'  render  his  administration  diffi- 
cult ;  the  glaring  abuses  of  the  episcopal  office  were  yet  harder 
to  cope  with.  Socially  known  as  leading  men,  but  unprovided 
with  material  independence,  or  with  position  equal  to  that 
of  a  provincial  magistracy,  some  bishops  were  engrossed  in 
agriculture,  some  absent  in  commerce,  some  even  engaged  in 

y/-  usury^  There  was  the  free-living  bishop  actually  enriched 
by  the  opportunities  of  his  post,  ready  to  ^b[ure  the  faith  on 
the  prospect  of  danger,  ready  to  resume  his  office  when  peril 
was  past*.  There  was  the  immoral  bishop  on  the  verge  of 
excommunication ^  Some  were  secure  in  their  position  though 
notorious  for  their  frauds  in  the  bazaar,  or  their  complicity  in 
the  slave-trade  of  the  Sahara^  Some  again  were  too  ignorant 
to  prepare  their  catechumens  for  baptism,  or  to  avoid  heretical 
phrases  in  their  public  prayers,  too  indifferent  even  to  abstain 
from  using  in  their  liturgies^  the  compositions  of  well-known 
heretics.  Cold  and  dark  are  the  shades  which  are  flung  athwart 
the  bright  tracts  and  around  the  glowing  lights  of  the  scenes 
of  this  early  church  life.  If  it  was  possible  for  such  men  to  be 
bishops  we  can  understand  how  among  their  presbyters  they 
tolerated  the  makers  of  idols  and  the  compounders  of  incense, 
or  among  their  laity  astrologers*  and  theatrical  trainers^ 

^-  In  that  fierce  s_u£ge  of  mingling  races,  tyrannous  classes, 
inhuman  superstitions,  the  struggle  of  life  and  the  shock  of 
interests  was,  upon  a  comparatively  narrow  space,  tenfold 
more  violent  and  more  unscrupulous  than  in  the  most  intense 


^  Ep.  i6.  I,  1.  privatam  mensam  sed  Dei  altare  habe- 

'  Ep.  27.  3:  see  above  I.  vii.  bat  commune  Cyprianus.'    Ibid.  iv.   9 

'  De  Laps.  $,  6.  (12);    c.   Ep.  Parnien.  iii.  2  (8).     Cf. 

*  Ep.  65.  3.  Can.  18,  19,  20  Conc.Elib.  (305 — 306?), 
5  Auct.  de  Rebaptisvi.  to.  Can.  13  /.  Cone.  Carth.  (348). 

*  Aug.   de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.   vii.    45  ^  A.Mg.  de  Bapl.  c.  Donatt.Vu  2^  (47). 
(89)  'Cum  collegis  fseneratoribus,  insi-  ^  Tert.  de  Idolatr.  cc.  7,  9. 

diesis,    fraudatoribus,    raptoribus    non  ^  Ep.  2. 


44  CYPRIAN   BISHOP. 

centres  of  our  energies.  The  new  sect  had  been  for  the  third 
part  of  a  century  not  only  unharmed  but  prosperous  :  that 
hollowness  and  insincerity  should  have  grown  up  in  it  was 
inevitable.  We  can  but  recognise  as  they  did  themselves  that 
the  persecution  of  the  church  was  mercy  to  the  world.  We 
shall  find  reason  to  believe  that  its  end  was  answered.  And 
for  the  present,  we  shall  see  that  the  troublous  years  which 
followed  were  more  favourable  by  far  than  profoundest  peace 
could  have  been  to  the  grand  combinations  of  one  master  spirit. 

XI. 

Discipline — Clerical  and  Lay. 

We  must  now  pass  in  review  the  measures  of  Cyprian's 
eighteen  months^  of  peace,  remembering  that,  illustrative  as 
they  are,  they  are  but  a  p^elui^ 

One  passing  glimpse  of  what  seem  active  methods  shews 
him  to  us  with  a  band  of  the  '  Teaching  Presbyters,' 
examining  into  the  qualifications  of  Readers,  testing  all  who 
were  preparing  for  the  clerical  office,  and  placing  the  approved 
in  a  kind  of  rank  as  '  Next  the  Clergy.'  On  one  such  occa- 
Easter,  sion  these  agree  to  appoint  Optatus  one  of  the  Readers  to  be 
A.D.  249,  .  Teacher  of  Catechumens,' — to  do  for  many  what  Caecilian 
had  done  for  Cyprian,  but  still  as  a  Readerl     Again  on  two 

^  Counting  from  June    248    a.d. —  construction.     '  Presbyteri  doctores '  are 

See  p.  41,  note  2.  like  Aspasius  in  Passio  SS.  Perpetuce  et 

^  Ep.   29  '...quos  jam  pridem  com-  Felicit.  xiii. ;  the  Doctores  no  longer  a 

muni  consilio  clero  proximos  feceramus,  distinct  Order  as   in    Teaching  of  the 

quando   aut  Saturo  die   Pasch^e   semel  XII.  Apostles  id.  ■x.v.,oxShepherd  of  Her- 

atque   iterum   lectionem   dedimus,    aut  mas.  Vis.  III.  5.     See  Dodwell,  Diss. 

modo  cum   presbyteris   doctoribus  lee-  Cyp.   vi.     I  cannot  think  'die  Paschae 

tores   diligenter   probaremus,  Optatum  semel  atque  iterum  lectionem  dedimus' 

inter  lectores  doctorem  audientium  con-  means  '  we  gave  him  two   passages  to 

stituimus,  examinantes,  &c.'    In  this  in-  read  aloud  in  examination.'     Compare 

teresting  passage  there  must   be   some  Ep.  38.  2  '...dominico  legit.'     In  Ep. 

fault,  {ox  presbyteris  cannot  be  dative:  38.   i   he  speaks  of  his   'practice'  of 

Dr    Hort   conjectures   that  coram  may  consulting  presbyters,  deacons  and  laity 

have   disappeared    after  cum.     Hartel  on  the  fitness  of  candidates, 
reads  doctorum,  which  is  not  a  Cyprianic 


I.  XL  HIS   MONTHS  OF   PEACE.  45 

consecutive  Easter  Days  they  assign  to  Saturus,  though  not 
yet  a  Reader,  the  Reading  of  the  Lesson.  It  is  not  quite 
possible  to  say  whether  all  this  was  new,  or  old  with  a  new 
life  in  it.  But  this  gathering  of  the  best-read  presbyters 
about  their  bishop  in  the  training  of  the  young  clergy  was  a 
sure  sign  of  progressive  improvement. 

The  monuments  of  this  time  are  one  Treatise  and  three 
Letters  which  the  sagacity  of  Pearson  restored  to  their  place 
as  the  earliest  in  the  collection.  About  another,  however  (the 
third),  he  was  mistaken  \ 

His  first  epistle  deals  with  the  case  of  one  who  had,  con- 
trary to  an  existing  rule,  left  a  clergyman  'Tutor '  by  will  to  his 
property.    It  forbids  the  sacrifices*  to  be  offered  for  his  repose. 

Geminius  Victor  of  Furni^  near  Carthage  had  in  his  will 
nominated  as  'Tutor'  Geminius  Faustinus  a  presbyter.  A 
statute*  of  a  former  council  had  ruled  thus :  '  No  one  is  to 
'  appoint  by  his  will  a  cleric  and  minister  of  God  to  be  a  tutor 
'  or  curator,  since  every  one  who  is  honoured  with  the  divine 
'  priesthood  and  appointed  to  the  clerical  ministry  ought  only 
'  to  serve  the  altar  and  sacrifices  and  be  free  for  devotions  and 
'prayers...'  'if  any  shall  have  so  done,  no  offering  shall  be 
'  made  for  him  nor  sacrifice  celebrated®  for  his  repose.'  Cyprian 
accordingly  enjoins  that  at  Furni  there  shall  be  no  '  oblation ' 
for  Geminius  Victor,  or  any  '  deprecation  frequented  '  in  the 
church  in  his  name. 

The  next  transaction  in  which  we  mark  the  strong,  con- 
siderate ruler,  is  the  answer  to  Eucratius,  the  bishop  probably 
of  the  distant  seacoast  colony  of  Thenae  or  Tain^     It  furnishes 

^  On  Ep.  3  Rogatiano  see  pp.  234,  concilio  asacerdotibusdatam,' £/.  i.  i, 

235  and  note.  2.     Bunsen,   Hippolytus   and  his   age, 

2  Compare  Tert.  Monog.  lo.  vol.  II.  (1852)  p.  223. 

*  About  28  miles  west  of  Carthage  '  celebraretur,  i.e.  no  gathering  of  a 
which  latter  had  a  Porta  Fumitana;  see  congregation  of  friends  for  the  purpose. 
Appendix  on  Cities.  z-i.  frequentetur  2\%o  \m^\\t.^.     Ep.i.i. 

*  I  avoid  the  word  canon  in  speaking  '^  Ep.  2.  Eucratius  spoke  in  the 
of  Councils  which  had  not  yet  employed  council  of  ten  years  later  in  support  of 
t.      '...statutum  sit' 'formam  nuper  in  the  second  baptism  of  heretics.    [Sentt. 


46  THE  DISCIPLINE   OF  THE  CLERGY. 

an  instance  of  that  careful  weighing  of  individual  cases  which 
lays  the  basis  of  permanent-«fta>ctQienLts^  An  Actor,  who  had 
left  the  profligate  and  corrupting  stage^  as  a  matter  of  course 
in  obedience  to  Christian  principles,  felt  no  scruple  in 
imparting  his  skill  of  voice  and  gesture  to  heathen  youths 
or  slaves.  He  had  no  power  to  enfranchise,  or  withdraw 
them  from  their  profession,  why  hesitate  to  improve  and 
elevate,  perhaps  chasten  their  performance  ?  Similar  casuistries 
every  day  impede  practical  morality,  and  the  Africa  of  the 
third  century  was  rife  with  them.  With  the  touch  of  truth 
Cyprian  exposes  the  man  who  was  ready  to  form  others  to 
take  the  place  from  which  he  had  escaped  conscience-stricken ; 
suggests  his  maintenance,  if  he  really  has  no  other  means 
of  living,  by  the  church  ;  and  offers  him,  if  Thenae  is  too 
poor,  food  and  clothing  at  Carthage. 

The  difficulty  Eucratius  had  felt  in  dealing  with  the  case 
lay  in  the  absence  of  any  rule  excluding  from  the  church 
elocutionists  or  others  who  only  trained  actors.  A  genuine 
fragment  belonging  to  the  second  half  of  the  third  century'"* 
supplied  the  omission.  '  If  one  has  the  mania  of  theatrical 
'  shows,  or  if  he  has  been  a  declaimer  in  the  theatres,  let 
'  him  cease  or  let  him  be  cast  out.  If  he  teach  the  young 
'(in  theatrical  shows)  it  is  good  that  he  should  cease.  If 
'he  does  not  make  a  trade  of  it,  let  him  be  forgiven^'  In 
A.D.  305  or  306  the  Synod  of  Elvira  enacts  the  rule  requiring 
a  converted  performer-*  to    renounce   his    profession    before 

Epp.    •29.)     His   successors   appear    in  forms  the  groundwork  of  that  separate 
Councilsup  to  A.D.  641.   See  Appendix  collection  which  now  appears   as   the 
on  Cities.  Eighth  Book  of  our  Greek  text.    Bunsen 
1  Cf.  Bingham  {1855),  vol.  iv.  p.  85.  {op.  cit.).     Apost.  Constt.  viii.  c.  32  rdv 
^  Bunsen,  Hippolytus  (1852),  vol.  II.  ^iri  (Tkt/v^s  ka.v  ris  ■wpoai-i}  a.vr\p  t)  ywri... 
p.  314;  it  is  later  than  Cyprian's  letter,  17  Travcrdaduffav  rj  airo^aXKiaduiaav . 
if  not  based  upon  it.  *  Cone.  Eliberitan.  can.  62.     Panto- 
3  From  the  Alexandrian  form  of  the  niimus    synonymous    under    the    Em- 
Apostolic   Constitutions  which   is  still  perors  with  histrio.    L.  C.  Purser  ap. 
extant     in    the    Abyssinian    text    and  Smith,  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Rom.  Anti- 
Arabic  translation  therefrom,  as  well  as  quities,  s.v.  (ed.  1891). 
in  the  Coptic  and  Syriac;   and  which 


I.  XI.         THE   EARLY  LETTERS — TUTELA  OF  CLERICS.  47 

reception  into  the  church,  and  to  be  excluded  upon  any 
attempt  to  resume  it. 

In  the  'fourth'  letter  he  appears  with  Caecilius,  the  senior 
bishop  of  the  province,  and  other  bishops  and  presbyters, 
taking  strong  measures  for  the  suppression  of  a  shocking 
fanaticism  which  allowed  a  supposed  purely  spiritual  union 
between  certain  junior  clerics  and  professed  virgins'.  In 
immediate  connection  with  this  subject  appeared  his  treatise 
*  Of  the  DRESS  OF  VIRGINS.' 

In  these  letters  the  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Carthage 
is  invoked  or  exercised  beyond  his  own  diocese,  and  wears 
already  something  of  a  metropolitic  aspect. 

One  more  exemplification  of  the  system  and  appliances  of 
discipline  may  be  mentioned  as  belonging  to  this  interval,  in 
the  investigation  before  the  bishop  and  assessors  of  certain 
charges  of  cruelty  to  a  father  and  a  wife*  which  impended 
over  an  eminent  presbyter,  Novatus,  the  future  schismatarch. 
To  this  we  shall  return  hereafter. 

When  the  persecution  was  past,  Cyprian's  calm  judgment 
of  his  previous  experiences  was  that  '  long  Peace  had  cor- 
'  rupted  a  divinely  delivered  discipline ;  that  Faith  had  been 
'  taking  her  ease  and  half  asleep  ^' 

Of  Clerics  not  to  be  Tutores. 

We  are  bound  to  take  some  of  these  subjects  in  detail,  not  only 
because  of  their  intrinsic  interest  and  importance,  but  because 
they  afford  us  the  first  opportunity  of  weighing  the  objections 
which  have  been  advanced  by  a  clever  writer  against  the  genuineness 
of  the  Cyprianic  letters*.  Mr  Shepherd  repudiates  the  authenticity 
of  the  First  Letter  and  of  the  canon  on  which  it  is  based. 

Against  these  documents  Mr  Shepherd  argues,  that  since  the 
Carthaginian  councils  of  a.d.  348  and  a.d.  419,  in  forbidding  the 
exercise  of  secular  offices  by  the  clergy,  did  not  reenact  this  canon 
it  must  have  been  unknown  to  them^     He  states  also  that  'the  office 

^  The  ffvv€l(TaKTOi.,  v.  p.  54.     £/>.  4.  writings   ascribed   to  Cyprian,'  by  the 

2  £/>.  52.  2.  Rev.  E.  J.  Shepherd. 

*  De  Laps.  5.  <*  Second  letter,  p.  35. 

*  '  Letters  on  the  genuineness  of  the 


48         OF  CLERICS  NOT  TO  BE  TUTORES. 

*  of  Tutor  was  one  which  a  clerk,  if  he  had  no  legal  exemption,  was 
'compelled  to  serve.'  That  again  the  ministers  of  Cyprian's  and 
still  later  times  did  engage  in  business  (a  practice  allowed  by  the 
fourth  council  of  A.D.  398),  and  'were  therefore  very  far  from  being 
'  always  engaged  in  serving  the  altar  and  sacrifices,  and  employed  in 
'prayers  and  supplications.'  That,  although  the  evils  which  flowed 
from  clerics  taking  the  office  of  'Tutor'  were  so  many  that  Justinian 
prohibited  it,  yet  they  were  'at  first'  (in  Mr  S.'s  opinion)  proper 
persons  to  undertake  such  a  charge,  and  actually  did  so  (since  the 
17th  canon  of  the  4th  council  of  Carthage  orders  that,  not  the 
bishop  himself  but,  his  archpresbyter  or  archdeacon  should  take 
charge  of  widows  and  orphans).  It  is  besides  'exceedingly  pre- 
posterous' to  imagine  that  the  bishops  of  Cyprian's  age,  whom  he 
censures  for  secularity,  should  have  passed  '  any  law  against  secular 
pursuits,'  when  meantime  even  Cyprian  himself  was  'the  victim  of 
such  an  appointment  from  his  own  spiritual  father  Caecilius,'  '  to  say 
'nothing,'  he  adds  in  a  note,  'of  the  wife  who  was  also  entrusted 
'  to  him  ;  and  I  suspect  that  a  young  African  widow,  probably  not 
'  much  out  of  her  teens,  would  have  been  quite  as  serious  a  charge 
'as  the  children.' 

It  is  necessary  to  quote  this  passage,  not  because  it  is  flippant, 
but  because  it  evinces  that  the  critic  has  not  possessed  himself 
of  the  most  accessible  information ^  In  the  whole  argument  I 
do  not  detect  one  correct  statement.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
power  of  a  Tutor  or  Curator  had  'respect  to  the  property  and 
pecuniary  interests,  not  the  persons  of  the  pupilli '  or  wards.  He 
was  a  trustee.  His  business  was  'the  preservation  of  property"^ 
during  minority';  to  guard  against  the  minor's  being  defrauded: 
debts  could  not  be  recovered,  nor  were  engagements  vahd,  if 
incurred  by  a  minor  without  his  sanction.  He  was  also  bound  to 
improve  the  property.  The  office  of  Tutor  subsisted  up  to  the 
ward's  fourteenth  year ;  that  of  Curator  between  the  fourteenth  and 
the  twenty-fifth,  at  which  he  came  of  age. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Cyprian  was  Tutor  or  Curator 
of  the  property  of  his  friend's  family.  Pontius  describes  a  deathbed 
scene  (accersitione  jam  proxima)  in  which  Caecilius  commended 
them  (commendavit)  personally  to  his  convert's  affection  (pietatis). 
It  was  improbable  that  Cyprian  should  have  been  named  Tutor 
in  the  will,  for  by  blood  he  was  not  related  to  Cascilius,  and  the 
usage  was  so  invariable  by  which  the  nearest  relations  and  next 
heirs  were  appointed  Tutors,  that  it  was   a  special   slur  if  any  of 

1  E.g.  Mr  G.  Long's  article  Diet.  Gk.       called  upon  'negotia  gerere'  and  'aucto- 
and  Rom.  Ant.  ritatem  interponere.' 

*  The  res  and  the  pecunia.     He  was 


I.  XI.  THE  GENUINENESS  OF  THE   FIRST  LETTER.        49 

them  were  passed  over^.     Incidentally,  we  observe  that  in  this  very 
letter  Geminiiis  Victor  nominates  a  relative  Geminius  Faustinas. 

Thus  much  for  the  legal  criticism.  Into  the  possibility  of 
secular-minded  men  passing  an  anti-secular  statute  I  need  not  enter; 
because  the  letter  speaks  of  the  rule  having  been  made  before  the  age 
of  Cyprian,  and  being  now  enforced  by  him  against  a  secularity  which 
had  grown  up,  as  he  says  elsewhere  2,  during  the  long  security. 

We  must  now  look  into  the  argument  from  the  canons.  Granted 
that  at  this  time  the  clergy  could  not  live  on  their  allowances,  and 
long  afterwards  eked  their  living  out  by  handicraft,  by  farming,  or 
by  literary  occupation  3.  But  the  point  of  canon  after  canon  is  this  :— 
That  they  were  not  to  administer  the  property  of  other  people. 
The  distinction  escaped  Mr  Shepherd.  They  are  not  to  be  agents 
or  stewards*,  nor  farm-bailiffs,  nor  accountants",  nor  contractors, 
factors,  or  managers^,  in  short,  not  '  implicati  obnoxii  alienis 
negotiis'  at  all.  The  reason  is  not  only  obvious,  but  indicated. 
The  opening  for  peculation,  or  at  least  for  suspicion,  caused  the 
church  to  be  ill  spoken  of,  if  they  accepted  such  offices.  The 
grounds  for  the  prohibition  of  these  agencies  applied  tenfold  more 
to  Tutorship  of  minors  with  property.  The  Tutor  in  Persius^  sighs 
for  the  decease  of  the  ward.  And  while  the  church  as  a  corporation 
undertook  from  the  first  not  only  the  tutela,  but  the  maintenance  of 
destitute  orphans  and  widows,  and  appointed  her  proper  officers, 
Deacons  (and  after  a  time  Archdeacons),  to  care  for  them,  it 
became  only  the  more  important  that  her  clergy  should  not  enter 
into  private  relations  of  the  kind. 

Now  the  Council  of  a.d.  348,  which  Mr  Shepherd  alleges  as  the 
earliest  forbidding  secular  employment  to  the  clergy,  supplies 
evidence  worth  attention  that  there  did  exist  an  earlier  rule  forbid- 
ding clergy  to  exercise  tuieia  pupUlornm.  In  that  Council  (c.  6) 
the  bishops  settle  that  the  clergy  are  not  to  become  agents  or 
factors.  They  do  not  exclude  them  from  the  office  of  tutors.  One 
bishop  then  enquires  whether  persons  already  engaged  as  agents, 
factors,  or  tutors,  ought  to  be  admitted  to  orders.  The  Council  allows 
it  (c.  8)  '  if  they  have  first  wound  up  and  exhibited  their  accounts 
and  had  them  approved.'     These   two   canons  are  only  intelligible 

1  Te  sororis  filius...notavit,  quum  in  *  /.  Cone.  Carth.  A.D.  348,  can.  8. 

magno    numero    tutorem    liberis    non  '  Ibid.  can.  9. 

instituit.     Cic.  pro  Sest.  52.  s  ///,  c^„^.  Carth.  A.D.  397  ?  can.  15. 

■  Delaps.  5  '...disciplinam  pax  longa  ^  pg^s.  Sat.  ii.  12  '...pupillumve  uti- 

corruperat.'  nam    quern    proximus    haeres    Impello 

» /K  Co«<r.  Car/A.  A.D.  398,  cann.51,  expungam':     the    next    of    kin   being 

52,  53  'artificium,  artificiolum,  agricul-  tutor  by   the  xii.  Tables,   unless   the 

tura,  literae.'  will  had  nominated  someone  else. 

B.  A 


50  THE  GENUINENESS  OF  THE  FIRST  LETTER. 

if  we  assume  the  reality  of  that  earlier  canon  mentioned  by  Cyprian. 
Unless  it  existed  previously,  the  Council  would  have  left  matters  in 
this  incomplete  position,  that  tutors  could  only  become  clerics  by 
resigning  office,  but  that  clerics  might  freely  become  tutors. 
Assume  however  that  clerics  were  already  forbidden  to  become 
tutors,  and  we  see  why  they  are  not  forbidden  in  canon  6.  Again, 
clerics  being  already  incapable  of  becoming  tutors,  and  others  being 
now  also  excluded,  the  question  naturally  arises,  which  is  settled  in 
canon  8,  '  Is  it  impossible  for  a  tutor,  and  persons  holding  such 
posts,  to  become  clerics .'' '  The  omission  in  the  Sixth  and  the  inclusion 
in  the  Eighth  canon  are  both  simply  explained. 

Lastly,  there  is  a  mistake  even  in  the  assertion  that  a  Tutor 
was  obliged  to  serve  unless  he  had  a  legal  exemption.  Those 
tutors  (called  legitimt)  who  were  appointed  by  magistrates  when 
people  died  intestate  were  so  compelled.  But  a  tutor  appointed 
by  a  will  could  'abdicate,'  or  renounce.  Certain  offices  were  how- 
ever considered  by  the  law  as  exemptions,  and  the  African  bishops 
of  the  third  century  desired  to  make  the  clerical  office  such  an 
exemption  by  internal  regulations,  since  the  government  could  not 
sanction  it,  until  in  the  reign  of  Justinian,  the  canon  was  adopted 
into  the  imperial  legislation.  The  sole  penalty  then  lay  at  this 
time  against  the  testator,  and  none  was  possible  except  the  omission 
of  his  name  from  the  intercessions  for  the  departed.  No  steps 
could  be  taken  against  the  cleric  tutor,  who  might  know  nothing  of 
his  appointment  until  the  will  was  read,  and  who  certainly  could  not 
assign  to  his  heathen  neighbours,  as  a  ground  for  renunciation,  that 
he  was  a  Christian  presbyter. 

Perhaps  none  of  Mr  Shepherd's  '  criticisms '  had  more  force 
in  shaking  confidence  in  Cyprian's  letters  than  his  attack  on  this 
one.  Yet  the  objections  are  merely  legal  and  historical  miscon- 
ceptions. The  circumstances  of  the  letter  are,  as  we  have  shewn, 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  rather  intricate  conditions  of  the  time  ; 
the  early  existence  of  the  disputed  canon  is  demonstrated  by  the 
wording  of  the  later  ones,  and  the  authenticity  of  the  story  illustrated  . 
by  the  very  names. 

And  here,  lastly,  we  must  add  the  consistency  with  which  we 
find  a  member  of  the  same  family  of  Geminii  speaking  as  bishop 
of  the  same  town  of  Furni  {Sentt.  Epp.  59)  several  years  later  in  the 
Council  of  A.D.  256.  It  is  not  impossible  that  it  may  have  been 
Geminius  Faustinus  himself,  and  that  he  too  may  be  the  Bishop 
Geminius  {Ep.  67)  who  signed  the  synodic  letter  in  A.D.  254. 


I.  XII.  CHRISTIANS  AND  THE  STAGE.  5 1 

Of  Christians  not  to  train  for  the  stage. 

Such  passages  as  are  already  quoted  preclude  any  doubt  as  to  the 
legality  of  quitting  the  theatrical  profession  in  the  third  century,  and 
shew  that  a  law  of  Valentinian  in  a.d.  371  {Cod.  Theodos.  XV.  tit.  vii. 
1),  which  (although  it  could  not  place  it  at  the  option  of  any  clergy- 
man to  emancipate  any  master's  slaves  by  communicating  them) 
made  the  reception  of  the  last  sacraments  necessitate  an  actor's 
manumission  in  case  of  recovery,  was  not  (as  asserted)  the  first  step 
which  was  taken  towards  emancipation  of  actors. 

A  more  sweeping  measure  submitted  to  Arcadius  and  Honorius  by 
the  African  episcopate  in  a.d.  401 1,  namely  that  the  adoption  of 
Christianity  should  at  once  release  actors  who  wished  to  relinquish 
the  calling,  operated  towards  the  reformation  of  the  stage  as  well 
as  to  the  redemption  of  individuals  from  its  corruption. 

In  Cyprian's  time  then  it  was  possible  for  an  actor  to  retire  from 
the  stage,  and  yet,  though  a  Christian,  to  set  up  as  a  trainer  of 
actors— a  profession  forbidden  immediately  after ;  so  that  the  Second 
Epistle  is  definitely  fixed  to  Cyprian's  time. 

Yet  Mr  Shepherd,  ignoring  the  Alexandrine  fragment  and  the 
Elvira  canon,  and  supposing  the  law  of  Valentinian  and  the  Synod 
of  401  to  prove  that  no  actor  could  ever  leave  the  stage  ^ — an  absurd 
position,  as  if  all  actors  were  slaves — and  then  assuming  it  to  be  '  a 
moral  impossibility'  that  any  Christian  could  wish  to  exercise  that 
profession ^  or  any  bishop  doubt  how  to  proceed  in  such  a  case, 
has  in  this  superficial  mode  made  his  telling  attack  upon  a  letter 
which  is  as  demonstrably  authentic  as  any  of  Cicero's. 


XII. 

The  Eighteen  MontJu  continued.      Virginal  Life  in  Carthage. 

The  Virginal  Life  as  it  appeared  in  Carthage  was  one  of 
brilliant  light  and  darkest  shade.  While  Cyprian  recognises 
its  evils  both  by  sorrowful  confession*  and  by  actual  legisla- 
tion ^  he  speaks  of  its  devotees  as  the  Flower  of  the  Church. 

^  Cod.  Cann.  Eccles.  Afric.  can.  63.  occupations  exercised  by  Christians  just 

2    This     was     the     extremest     kind  before,  we   find   incense-making,  idol- 

(maxima)  of  tninutio  capitis  to  which  carving  (by  clerics),  idol-paindng,  tem- 

actors  could  be  subject:   to  some  this  pie-building.     Ttn.  de  Idolair.  7,  8. 

disability  was  merely  technical.  *  De  Habit.  Virgin.  19,  20. 

^  How  idle  this  line  of  presumptive  '  Ep.  4. 

argument  is  we  may  think  when  among 

4—2 


52  THE  VIRGINAL  LIFE. 

He  treats  it  as  a  practical  and  precious  institution,  without 
breaking  like  TertuUian  into  wild  reproaches  against  mere 
corrigible  vanities  which  occurred,  nor  yet  glorifying  the  order 
with  the  title  of  Brides  of  Christ.  Self-dedication  to  the 
unmarried  state  was  considered  a  Christian  *  Work '  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  Almsgiving  was  'Work\'  But  there 
were  at  present  no  associations  for  common  life,  no  common 
head,  no  peculiar  dress^  no  special  regulation  for  either 
charity  or  liturgy.  The  right  conception  of  the  '  work '  was, 
says  TertuUian,  (and  that  it  usually  prevailed,  he  implies,) 
that  it  should  be  as  secret  as^  alnisdeed^^and  prayer.  Ob- 
viously we  are  in  the  rudiments  >of  organization  when  Cyprian 
suggests  to  the  elder  women  to  assume  some  position,  and  to 
the  younger  to  pay  them  some  deference^  No  specific  alle- 
giance seems  to  be  expected  from  the  order  even  to  the 
bishop,  for  while  his  assurance  that  he  addresses  them  '  affec- 
tionately rather  than  officially '  indicates  that  his  official  posi- 
tion was  recognised,  he  adds  that  he  is  too  conscious  of  his 
own  inferiority  to  claim  the  right  to  criticized  The  active 
duties  of  all  Christian  women  were  theirs,  only  so  much  more 
widely  as  the  fuller  leisure  allowed — to  visit  the  sick,  to  frequent 
the  offering  of  the  sacrifice  and  the  preaching  of  the  word'. 
The  visiting  of  orphans  and  widows,  whether  poor  or  rich ; 
the  visiting  of  daemoniacs,  with  continuous  prayer  and  fasting 
to  be  enabled  to  use  on  their  behalf  the  gift  of  healing, 
if  they  had  reason  to  believe  that  they  had  received  it ; 
intercession  for  the  church,  for  the  holiness  of  its  clergy  and 
for  its  deliverance  from  false  clergy,  are  employments  suggested 
in  the  early  letters  which  pass  under  the  name  of  Clement®. 
To  speak  in  church,  teach,  baptize  or  do  any  clerical  act  was 


^  Tert.  de  Vel.  Virg.  13;  cf.  de  Or  at.  nioribus  facite  magisterium.' 
I.  17.  *  '...nee  quo...aliquid   ad  censuram 

-  Ibid.  9.     Cf.  3  'Arbitrio  permissa  licentiae  vindicemus,' .^a^.  Virg.  3. 
res  erat.'  ^  Tert.  de  Cult.  Fern.  3.  11. 

^  Hab.  Virg.  24  'Provectse  annis  ju-  ®  See  below,  note  3,  p.  56. 


I.  XII.  THE  VIRGINAL  LIFE.  53 

forbidden  as  of  coursed  They  entered  on  the  life  by  private 
resolution',  not  by  public  vow;  marriage  might  be  looked  on 
as  a  departure  from  holy  purpose,  but  not  as  violating  rule, 
and  in  some  cases  it  was  right'. 

The  order*  of  sexagenarian  'Widows,'  (who  must  have 
married  but  once  and  brought  up  children,)  had  a  seat  of 
honour  in  the  Church',  but  in  Tertullian's  time  was  first  seen 
by  permission  of  the  then  bishop  '  the  monstrous  marvel '  of  a 
maiden  seated  among  them*,  and  unlike  them  sitting  unveiled. 
The  meaning  of  this  was  that,  as  girls  under  the  betrothal  age 
of  twelve  years  wore  no  veils',  a  claim  had  been  made  by 
certain  dedicated  virgins  to  continue  the  symbolic  freedom  of 
the  age  of  innocence,  and  at  least  in  church^  to  lay  aside  the 
covering  which  elsewhere  public  opinion  enforced.  They 
argued  too  that  St  Paul  had  enjoined  veils  for  *  women '  or 
'wives*'  not  for  the  whole  sex.  They  now  treated  as  injurious 
to  themselves  the  assumption  of  a  veil  by  any  of  their  sisters, 
and  finally  obtained  a  general  rule  in  their  own  sense,  to 
the  distress  of  the  more  retired^".  The  avowed  object  was 
to  confer  a  distinction  which  should  make  the  order  more 
attractive". 

The  '  work '  was  '  secret '  no  more.  However  by  general 
and  Scriptural  arguments,  appeals  to  the  use  of  other  churches, 
and  unhappily  to  wrecks  which  had  increasingly  marked  the 
history  of  the  order,  TertuUian  seems  to  have  effected  the 

»  Tert.  o'^  V.   K  g.  8  Tert,  de  Orai.  21,22. 

2  Decreverint,  Ep.  4.  i.  ^  jrao-a  5e  7W77,  k.t.\.   i   Cor.  xi.  5. 

*  Ep.  4.  2.  Tertull.  disposes  of  this  in  Z>^  Ora/.  c.  22. 

*  The  Viduatus,  Tert.  de  V.  V.  9.  Jerome  dwells  in  an  unadvised  sense  on 
'  ...ad   quam    sedem   praeter    annos  the  distinction  between    'mulier'  and 

sexaginta  non   tantum  univirae,  id  est  *virgo,'     De    perpetua     Virginit.    B. 

nuptte,     aliquando    eliguntur,    sed    et  Maries,    20. 

matres,  et  quidem  educatrices  filiorum,  ^^  It  will  be  observed  that  '  to  take 

Tert.  de  V.  V.  9.     Their  functions  {IV.  the  veil '  meant  originally  to  adopt  the 

Cone.    Carth.    c.    12)  were   to   baptize  usual  dress  of  young  women  of  their 

and  catechize  women.  own  age. 

«  Tert.  de  V.  V.  9.  "  Tert.  de  V.  V.  14. 

'  Ibid.  II.  16. 


54  PERILS. 

restoration  of  the  usual  dress\  Cyprian  has  no  complaint 
against  departures  from  the  rule.  And  if  this  be  so  we 
may  remark  here  one  of  the  instances  in  which  Tertullian's 
Montanism  was  no  bar  to  his  catholic  influence. 

Christian  women  had  now  refrained  as  a  rule  for  half  a 
century  from  public  festivals  and  arena  spectacles  as  well  as 
from  temples.  But  an  incipient  tendency  to  reform  society 
appears  when  the  Virgins  are  desired  to  stay  away  from 
weddings  on  account  of  the  coarseness  of  the  customs,  and 
from  the  baths  in  which  both  sexes  appeared  in  undress ^ 

The  popularity  and  sentimental  admiration  which  now 
attended  the  order  led  to  vast  evils.  Even  Cyprian  with  all 
his  moderation  ranks  the  Virgin  next  to  the  Martyr.  Vanity, 
exaltation,  sense  of  security,  led  many,  the  solitary  converts 
of  heathen  hearths,  or  of  circles  in  which  Christian  doctrines 
had  not  yet  dissipated  heathen  indifferentism  on  such  sub- 
jects, or  which  shared  their  blind  confidence  in  the  magic  of 
a  vow,  to  seek  homes  in  the  houses,  and  even  share  the  cham- 
bers of  Christian  men  and  clerics  who  had  bound  themselves 
under  the  same  obligation  ^  The  power  of  ecstatic  feeling 
may  confessedly  sometimes  overpower  even  continuous  tempta- 
tion, and  Cyprian  wishes  in  dealing  with  this  dreadful  scandal 
not  to  assume  that  every  such  case  was  one  of  actual  guilts 

^  It  is,  as  Bingham,  vol.  II.  p.  404  lous  belief  that  only  Christian  maidens 

(ed.  1855),  writes,  true  that  Tertullian's  then  took  the  bath, 

object  was  to  induce  all  virgins  to  use  ^  Ep.  4. 

the   grave   habit   of  matrons;    but   he  ■*  ...dum   adhuc   separari  innocentes 

has  also  in  view  a  body  of  virgins,  who  possint,  Ep.  4.  ■2.    Chrysostom  {Contra 

though  they  did  not  live  in   a  society  eos  qui  ap.  se  habent  virg.  subintrod.) 

were  distinctly  dedicated.    De  V.  V.  16  does    assume     it,     and     scouts    every 

'  Nupsisti  enim  Christo.'     Cf.  14.  plea     of     'Perfection,'     'Philosophy,' 

2  Bunsen   must  have   forgotten   this  *  Piety,' or  '  Brotherhood.'      Gregory  of 

passage,   De  Hab.    Virg.    19,   when  in  Nyssa  de  Virginitate,  23,  and  Jerome, 

Hippolytus  and  his  age,  vol.  II.  p.  273  Ep.  zi,ad Eustochium,  and  Epiphanius, 

(ed.  1852),  he  refers  an  apostolic  canon  Hceres.  78,  ri,  agree  with  him.     Basil, 

to   the   East   on  account   of  this  pro-  setting  aside  any  such  question,  treats 

miscuous    bathing.       Rettberg's    anti-  the  mere  fact  as  a  scandal,  deserving 

monasticism  leads  him  into  the  ridicu-  excommunication,  Ep.  55   (198).     See 


I.  XII.  'THE  DRESS  OF  VIRGINS.'  55 

He   however    adds    to    the    instant    separation    a    dreadful 
ordeaP. 

The  repetition  of  similar  griefs  for  a  century  and  a  half 
in  the  councils  of  Carthage,  their  prevalence  in  Spain  and 
reappearance  in  Constantinople^  establish  the  inevitable 
dangers  of  a  position  which  the  coenobitic  or  conventual 
system  arose  to  fortify.  The  earliest  formation  of  such 
societies  was  intended  perhaps  to  meet  the  case  of  homeless 
virgins^  But  at  present  lacking  the  finality  of  a  recognised 
vow,  lacking  fixity  of  discipline  or  prescribed  occupation,  the 
Virginal  Life  was  little  more  than  the  expression  of  a  fresh 
intense  sentiment^  a  revolt  against  the  universal  degradation 
which  enveloped  city  life.  Its  own  corruption  is  a  warning  as  to 
the  danger  of  revivals  attempted  under  incomplete  conditions. 

In  his  treatise  upon  'THE  DRESS  OF  THE  VIRGINS ' 
Cyprian  is  concerned  with  what  seems  less  important  yet 
in  reality  lay  nearer  to  the  fountain  of  the  mischief.  He 
applies  himself  not  only  to  the  correction  of  vanity,  but  to 
purify  and  exalt  the  influence  of  women  on  the  community. 
The  privacy  and  subjection  of  the  married  limited  their 
influence.  That  of  an  order  professed  yet  free  to  come  and 
go  might  be  almost  boundless.  Many  of  the  Virgins,  as  is 
natural,  belonged  to  the  wealthiest  class,  and,  without  re- 

Suicer  j.  v.  Zweiffaicros.     In  /.  Cone.  ■*  Freppel,  p.  159,  incorrectly  repre- 

Carth.  cc.  3,  4  A.D.  348  excommunica-  sents  the  advice  of  Cyprian  as  'a  series 

tion  is  pronounced  against  laics  guilty  of  rules  '  preparatory  to  an  expansion  of 

of  the  practice.     It  was  forbidden  by  the  'religious'  life  in  better  times,  and 

Cone.    Niean.    3,   by  civil    law   under  supports  the  illusion  by  construing  the 

Honorius,  and  again  and  again  by  canon  interference   with  the  scandals   into   a 

for  several   centuries.      See  Canon  E.  prohibition  '  to  live  under  the  same  roof 

Venables  in  Diet.  Chr.  Antiq.  s.  v.  sub-  as  men  '  and  a  recommendation  '  to  dis- 

introductse.  linguish  themselves  from  the  rest  of  their 

^  Ep.  4.  4.     A  treatment  which  Am-  sex'  by  more  modest  dresses.     All  that 

brose,   Ep.  5    {Syagrio),  condemns    in  he  does  require  is  that  they  should  dress 

the  strongest  manner.  like  other  staid  Roman  ladies  of  their 

^  When  Chrysostom  speaks  of  them  own  age  and  live  in  proper  homes.     So 

as  'fresh,  paradoxical  and  inexplicable.'  Augustine,  Ep.  in  (al.  122),  speaks  of 

Op.  cit.  I.  a  Sanctimonialis  taken  captive  by  bar- 

^  ///.  Cone.  Carlh.  can.  33.  barians  and  restored  to  her  parents. 


$6  'THE  DRESS  OF  VIRGINS.' 

signing  rank  or  home  (which  indeed  no  existing  organization 
enabled  them  to  do),  sought  in  their  resolution  protection 
against  social  corruption  with  independence  and  respect 
among  the  Christians.  To  them  no  occasion  presented  itself 
obviously  requiring  a  change  in  their  dress  or  ornaments. 
In  fashions  half  Roman,  half  Tyrian  they  still  'buried  the 
neck^'  in  masses  of  gold  chain  and  pearl,  still  piled  the  hair 
in  grape-like  clusters,  loaded  arms  and  feet  with  bracelets, 
outlined  the  almond-like  eye  with  antimony,  dyed  the  cheeks 
'  with  crimson  falsehood,'  tipped  toes  and  fingers  with  henna. 
A  strange  sketch  of  a  sister !  Modes  against  which  Cyprian 
alleges  Scripture,  sense  and  feeling.  Yet  this  can  have  been 
but  a  small  portion  of  the  picture.  We  may  be  sure  there 
was  much  to  reverence  and  much  to  love  in  that  which 
excited  in  the  great  organizer,  in  the  world-worn  lawyer, 
such  intense  enthusiasm. 

Grave  matter  for  reflection  in  this  essay  are  the  '  reverence 
and  fear'  with  which  he  scarce  reproves,  the  self-abasement 
with  which  he  asks  their  prayers^  The  motives  are  at  once 
too  low  and  too  lofty  upon  which  he  lauds  their  choice  of  a 
virgin-life, — the  escapes  namely  from  marriage-trouble,  their 
union  with  Christ,  their  anticipated  superiority  in  the  resur- 
rection-life. There  is  latent  in  these  motives  a  subtle  selfish- 
ness and  pride,  such  as  it  seems  true  foresight  might  have 
shunned  without  waiting  for  experience.  But  woman's  un- 
approached  power  in  alleviating  human  wretchedness,  and  in 
the  revival  of  aspirations  after  purity ;  the  influence  of  great 
examples  of  self-sacrifice  upon  a  sordid  and  luxurious  age ; 
the  effective  operation  of  frequent  intercession,  are  more 
substantial  and  less  obtruded  motives.  They  were  real  then, 
and  they  are  real  for  ever ;  still  destined  to  be  at  last  as 
effective  as  they  are  sound  in  shaping  the  nobler  monasti- 
cisms  of  the  future'. 

^  De  Hab.  Virg.  14,  15,  ai.  ^  The  two  Epistles  to  Virgins,  extant 

'  De  Hab.  Virg.  3,  cf.  24.  in  Syriac,  ascribed  to  Clement  of  Rome, 


I.  XIII.  ITS   LITERARY  CHARACTER.  57 

XIII. 

Literary  character  of  the  Book  '  Of  the  Dress  of  Virgins' 

This  book  is  less  analogous  to  TertuUian's  very  Mon- 
tanistic  tract  '  Of  the  Veiling  of  the  Virgins '  than  to  that 
author's  two  books  on  the  *  Apparelling  of  Women.'  Those 
obligations  to  eschew  frivolity  and  purify  their  own  society, 
which  Tertullian  had  drawn  out  for  the  sex,  are  here  specialised 
for  a  single  class. 

We  have  found  already  that  the  amplest  plagiarism  was 
permissible;  and,  this  assumed,  there  is  much  literary  interest 
in  observing  how  a  master  of  style  like  Cyprian  deals  with 
the  rocky  genius  of  his  own  '  Master.' 

A  more  delicate  taste  abjures  the  coarser  appeals  and 
modifies,  though  unable  to  abandon,  the  materialism.  Thus 
still,  equality  with  angels  is  literally  begun  for  those  who  'are 
not  given  in  marriage^';  wool-dyeing  is  unnatural  because 
there  are  no  purple  or  scarlet  sheep ;  hair-dye  unlawful 
because  '  we  cannot  make  one  hair  white  or  black,'  His  own 
sufficiently  bold  phrase  that  cosmetic  arts  are  '  the  siege  and 
storming  of  the  Truth  of  the  face'  is  worked  up  with 
TertuUian's  passionate  '  they  lay  hands  upon  God.'     Like  his 

werefirstprintedin  J.J.Wetstein's  A^.  7^.  as  to  shew  what  the  dangers  of  the  pro- 

vol.  II.     The  first  is  both  from  its  read-  fession  of  Virginity  unprotected   were 

ings  of  Scripture  (Bp.  Westcott,  Canon  of  before  the  time  of  Cyprian.    The  second 

Scripttire,  p.  i86  n.  (ed.  1881)),  and  also  epistle  is  not  to  Virgins,  but  prescribing 

from  its  topics  and  omissions  (see  Wetst.  caution  and  decorum  to  travelling  clerics 

Proleg.    pp.   iv — vii),    a   work    of   the  (somewhat  too   minutely)  exhibits  the 

second   century,    and  probably  of  the  same  dangers   from    another   point   of 

first  half  of  it.     The  pretences  to  purity  view.     Freppel  (/'^^j  ^/o.f/'o/.,  pp.  214 

under   similar   though   less    outrageous  sqq.)  holds  these  to  be  genuine,  as  do 

conditions  {Ep.  i.  10)  are  not  accepted,  other  Roman  divines.  See  Bp.  Lightfoot, 

and    are    so    coupled    with    warnings  Apostolic  Fathers,  I.,   Clement,  vol.  I. 

against  idleness,   roaming,  pretexts   of  pp.  407  sqq.  (1890). 
visiting.  Scripture  reading  and  exorcizing  ^  De  Hab.  Virg.  22.     Cf.  14,  15,  17. 


58  CYPRIAN'S  MANIPULATION 

predecessor  he  ascribes  the  invention  of  the  toilet,  '  woman's 
world,'  to  apostate  angels  who  lived  before  the  flood ;  but  he 
spares  us  Tertullian's  Byronic  picture  of  spirits  sighing  for  a 
lost  heaven  yet  scheming  an  eternal  hell  for  their  beloved. 
He  cannot  part  with  'the  evil  presage'  of  the  then  fashion- 
able *  flame-colour '  of  hair,  but  avoids  suggesting  the  horror 
of  wearing  'the  despoilment  of  the  strange  woman,  of  the 
head  devoted  to  gehenna.' 

The  warning  to  the  innocent  though  over-drest  girl  '  thy 
'  beholder  hath  in  heart  gratified  his  lust ;  thou  art  become  a 
'sword  to  him^'  is  softened  into  'though  thou  fall  not  thyself 
'  thou  destroyest  others,  and  makest  thyself  as  it  were  a 
'  sword  and  a  poison  draught  to  the  beholders  I'  '  Modesty 
is  sacristan  and  priestess  of  the  shrine '  becomes  '  in  those 
shrines  the  worshippers  and  priests  are  we^' 

So  he  preserves  the  fine  turn  '  Plainly  the  Christian  will 
'  glory  even  in  the  flesh, — but  only  when  it  has  endured, — torn 
'  for  Christ's  sake ;  that  the  spirit  may  be  crowned  in  it,  not 
'  that  it  may  draw  the  eyes  and  sighs  of  youth  after  it,' — but 
preserves  it  more  gracefully,  '  If  we  are  to  glory  in  the  flesh  it 
'  must  plainly  be  then,  when  it  is  tormented  in  the  confession 
'  of  the  Name,  when  woman  proves  stronger  than  torturing 
'  man,  when  she  suffers  fires  or  crosses  or  sword  or  wild  beasts 
'that  she  may  be  crowned'*.' 

The  gain  and  loss  of  the  Master  in  the  disciple's  hand  are 
evident ;  the  chief  gain  was  that  he  became  more  readable : 
but  Cyprian's  merit  was  not  limited  to  the  turn  of  a  phrase  or 
the  smoothing  of  a  '  Postremissimus '  into  an  '  Extremi  et 
minimi*,'  or  the  inweaving  of  expressions  as  beautiful  as 
his  '  Law  of  Innocence*.'  To  Augustine,  who  in  him  and 
Ambrose  finds  the  leaders  of  Christian  eloquence,  though  he 
criticizes   severely  the    richness    of  his    earlier  writing,  this 

1  Tert.  de  Cult.  Fern.  2.  2,  *  Tert.  C.  F.  2.  a  —  H.  V.  6. 

2  £>e  Hab.  Virg.  9.  '  Tert.  C.  F.  2.  \\  —  H.  V.  3. 

3  Tert.  C.F.2.i;—H.V.2.  «  De  Hab.  Virg.  2. 


III. 


OF  tertullian's  style. 


59 


treatise  must  have  appeared  very  perfect   in  style 
nishes  him  with  illustrations  both  of  the  '  grand '  or 
style,  and  of  the  '  temperate  ^' 


i.     It  fur-/ 

'  moving^'/ 


^  Viz.  de  Hab.  Virg.  15  Si  quis 
pingendi  artifex,  to  \(>  auspicaris. 

2  Viz.  de  Hab.  Virg.  3  Nunc  to 
augescit,  and  23  Quomodo  to  end. 
Aug.  de  Doctr.  Christiana  iv.  21  (47, 
48,  49),  'Quos  duos  ex  omnibus  pro- 
ponere  volui.'  The  classification  (iv.  17 
(34)),  adopted  perhaps  from  Cic.  de  Orat. 


II.  xxix.  128,  129,  is  (i)  ut  doceat, 
poterit  parva  submisse;  (2)  ut  delectet, 
modica  temperate ;  (3)  ut  flectat,  magna 
granditer  dicere.  In  ecclesiastical  elo- 
quence all  the  topics  are  'magna,'  but 
the  '  submiss '  style  is  for  instruction, 
the  'temperate'  for  praise  or  blame,  the 
'grand'  for  arousing  energy. 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE  DECIAN    PERSECUTION. 


TJie  Roman  Theory  of  Persecution. 

The  disorder  and  worldliness  which  have  been  described 
were  such  as  in  Cyprian's  convictions  were  past  correction 
from  within.  Possessed  with  this  idea  he  was  visited  by 
intimations  of  coming  trial  which  wore  a  supernatural 
character^  And  it  came.  The  Decian  persecution  was  co- 
extensive with  the  Empire,  and  aimed  at  the  suppression  of 
Christianity  by  the  removal  of  its  leaders.  It  was  not  per- 
ceived that  it  had  passed  the  stage  in  which  it  depended  on 
individuals. 

But  before  we  enter  on  this  scene  of  our  history,  it  may  be 
well  to  lay  down  the  principles  upon  which  harmless  people 
were  so  cruelly  handled  on  account  of  their  opinions  by  the 
law-loving  and  tolerant  state  of  Rome.  The  question  admits 
of  a  less  simple  answer  from  the  fact  that  the  Christian  legists 
of  the  Theodosian  and  Justinian  codes  have  expunged  the 
obsolete  statutes.  If  the  chapter  of  Ulpian  'Of  the  pro- 
consul's office,'  which  recited*  the  provisions  applicable  to 
Christians  in  the  middle  of  the  3rd  century,  were  extant  we 
should  have  the  answer  to  our  hand.  We  can  however  frame 
one  correctly  though  circuitously. 

(i).  In  the  first  place  the  Julian  Law  of  Treason  included 
among  state  offences  and  in  very  general  terms  the  holding 

^  On    the    visions  of   Cyprian    and  ^  Lactant.  Div.  Instit.-v.  11. 

others  see  infra. 


II.  I.  THE  DECIAN   PERSECUTION.  6l 

of  any  assembly  with  evil  intent^;  then  too  it  promoted  by 
every  means  the  laying  of  informations  under  this  head,  ad- 
mitting evidence  inadmissible  in  other  cases,  that  of  infamous 
persons,  soldiers,  women  ^  and  of  a  man's  own  slaves'.  These 
enactments  seem  prior  to  the  time  of  Alexander  Severus,  or 
even  contemporary  with  the  Antonines,  while  from  Marcus 
Aurelius  dates  the  post  mortem  trial  for  treason  and  the 
confiscation  of  the  estate  of  heirs. 

Now  provincials  could  secure  the  freedom  of  their  religious 
meetings  by  registration  of  their  cultus  as  a  religio  licita. 
But  there  was  no  province  for  which  Christianity  could  be 
registered.  It  was  a  tertium  genus,  not  ethnic,  nor  Judaic*; 
and  any  other  associations  for  religious  rites,  save  only  unions 
for  securing  funeral  celebrations  for  their  members,  were  illicit. 
It  is  strange  to  think  that  the  Church  must  have  subsisted 
for  some  time  at  Rome  under  the  external  aspect  of  a  Burial 
Society ;  occupied  its  catacombs,  had  its  staff  of  fossors,  and 
entombed  its  martyrs  in  this  light.  No  clubs  except  those  of 
very  poor  persons  were  allowed  to  have  common  funds ;  they 
might  not  assemble  oftener  than  once  a  month ;  and  no  per- 
manent '  Master  of  sacred  rites''  was  allowed.  The  State'  was 
the  one  society  which  should  engross  every  religious  and 
social  interest  beyond  those  of  the  family.  Monotheism  even 
when  licensed  was  looked  on  as  anti-national  and  anti- 
imperial.  A  monotheistic  society  tjien,  understood  to  have 
adherents  from  all  classes  of  society,  branches  everywhere, 
daily  meetings,  permanent  religious  chiefs,  was  on  all  sides 

'  Quo  {crimine  majestatis)  tenetur  is,  *  See  E.  Kenan's  excellent  account 

cujus  opera  dolo  malo  consilium  initum  of  the  restrictions  on  collegia,  Les  Ap6- 

erit...quove   coetus    conventusve   fiat...  tres,   c.  xviii.     The   following  are  the 

Ulp.  ap.  Dig.  xlviii.  4  (i).  most  important  of  his  citations:  Digesta 

*  Dig.  xlviii.  4  (7,  8).  i.  12,  De  officio  Praefecti  urbi ;  iii.  4, 

'  Cod.  ix.  8  (4,  6,  7).  Quod  cujusc.  universitatis... ;  xlvii.  22, 

■*    Tertull.    ad   Nationes    i.    8.    20.  De   collegiis  et   corporibus.     See   also 

Scorpiace   10.  Mommsen,  De  Collegiis  et  Sodalitatibtis 

'  Magister    sacrorum,    cf.    Tert.    ad  Romanorum  (1843). 
Nat.  i.  7. 


62  THE   DECIAN   PERSECUTION. 

amenable  to  laws  of  Treason.  Delation  was  easy  and  en- 
riched. 

(2).  The  application  of  tests  was  familiar  to  the  Roman 
magistracy.  While  a  slave  or  provincial  could  be  tortured, 
a  freeman,  suspect  of  religious  engagements  hostile  to  the 
State,  could  be  summoned  to  take  part  in  a  sacrificial  feast, 
or  at  least  to  offer  incense  before  an  imperial  statue,  to  which 
the  least  mark  of  disrespect  was  treason.  Whatever  other 
scruples  were  allowed  for,  none  might  doubt  the  present 
divinity  of  the  emperor ;  no  beliefs  could  interfere  with  a 
mechanical  act  of  obedient  veneration. 

Imperial  edicts  possessed  by  the  Lex  Regia^  the  force  of 
Law.  Such  were  issued  from  time  to  time  to  require  the 
general  application  of  this  test.  It  was  further  competent  for 
any  magistrate  who  feared  the  growth  of  a  dangerous  class  in 
his  district,  or  was  pressed  by  popular  feeling,  to  summon  a 
neighbourhood  or  any  residents  in  it  to  take  the  test  under 
former  edicts.  This  mode  of  action  is  exhibited  in  far  the 
larger  number  of  arrests  which  led  to  confessorship  and 
martyrdom.  '  Persecution '  of  this  kind,  as  the  Christians 
very  naturally  called  it,  was  incessantly  simmering  in  some 
province  or  other,  intensified  by  the  policy  of  one  emperor, 
moderated  by  the  broader  policy  of  another,  at  times  ceasing 
for  years  in  particular  districts. 

(3).  The  difficulties  of  soldiers.  To  quit  the  army  pre- 
maturely without  approved  cause  was  treason.  For  a  Christian 
to  remain  unsuspected  or  if  suspected  to  avoid  disobedience 
was  scarcely  possible.  The  sacrifices  to  the  standards,  the 
military  oaths,  the  religious  decorations,  the  festivities,  the 
wreaths  distributed  not  simply  in  honour  of  the  emperor  but 
in  honour  of  his  divinity,  were  endless  snares.  Thus  the 
martyrologies  name  many  soldiers.     And  if  the  victims  of 

1  Quod  principi  placuit  legis  habet  (i) ;  Gaume,  Rhjolution,  torn.  vi.  c.  i. 

vigorem  utpote  cum  Lege  Regia..  popu-  Justinian,  Instt.  I.  tit.  2.    On  which  see 

lus  ei  et  in  eum  omne  suum  imperium  et  J.  B.  Moyle's  note  (ed.    1883),  vol.  i. 

potestatem  conferat.    Ulp.  ap.  Dig.  i.  4  p.  95. 


II.  I.  THE   THEORY  OF   PERSECUTION.  63 

a  town  persecution  were  easily  multiplied  by  report,  the 
deaths  of  disloyal  privates  in  a  regiment  would  seldom 
transpire. 

(4).  The  application  to  Christians  of  repeated  torture  was 
represented  from  such  different  points  of  view  and  involved 
so  singular  a  dilemma  that  we  must  pause  to  consider  the 
theory  of  it.  It  was  no  new  thing.  It  was  constantly  applied 
to  slaves  and  provincials  to  induce  them  to  confess  suspected 
crime.  It  was  applied  to  Christians  because  to  be  a  Christian 
was  equivalent  to  having  gross  crimes  to  confess.  A  secret 
society  which  could  not  ask  for  a  license,  which  at  Rome 
pretended  to  be  a  burial  society,  and  was  evidently  much 
more,  lay  under  charges  of  hideous  unnatural  orgies. 

Then  again  the  usage  did  not  allow  confessions  wrung  out 
by  the  first  torture  to  be  acted  on  :  it  must  be  repeated  lest 
perhaps  the  first  avowal  should  have  been  only  obtained  by 
pain\ 

The  confessor  confessed  his  religion  at  once  and  con- 
sistently. Then  he  was  tortured  to  make  him  deny  it,  for 
denial  in  this  case  amounted  to  a  promise  to  be  guilty  no 
more,  since  it  was  well  understood  that  denial  would  involve 
exclusion  from  his  sect. 

Thus  then  to  the  magistrate  torture  appeared  a  lenient 
discipline  for  such  criminals.  He  could  not  understand  their 
declining  to  be  let  off  so  cheaply.  He  did  not  consider  it 
a  punishment  at  all,  but  a  condonation  of  the  past  while  it 
sufficiently  secured  the  State  from  a  repetition  of  the  offences. 
The  secret  crimes  whatever  they  might  be  were  allowed  to 
pass  in  the  account.  The  magistrate's  sense  of  his  own 
benevolence  is  quite  characteristic  of  genuine  Acts  of  mar- 
tyrdom. 

But  to  the  Christian  who  knew  there  were  no  crimes  to  be 


^  Interrogavi  ipsos,  an  essent  Chris-       verantes    duci    jussi.     Plin.    ad    Traj. 
tiani:   confitentes    iterum   ac  tertio  in-       96. 
terrogavi,   supplicium   minatus:   perse- 


64  THE  OUTBREAK  OF  THE  PERSECUTION. 

divulged  the  tortures  seemed  iniquitous  indeed.  TertuUian' 
and  Cyprian"  justly  exclaimed  against  a  ferocity  which  actually 
reversed  the  law,  by  applying  to  those  who  without  hesitation 
confessed  the  crime  of  Christianity  tortures  which  in  all  other 
cases  were  reserved  for  such  as  denied  the  legal  charge. 

Finally,  as  their  numbers  grew  the  fruitless  attempt  at  re- 
pression was  aggravated  almost  to  desperation  lest  the  whole 
system  of  public  worship  and  of  that  domestic  religion,  on 
which  rulers  relied  for  sobriety  of  morals  among  a  large  class 
of  the  population,  should  go  down  before  the  undisguised 
•contempt  of  men  who  acknowledged  none  of  the  authorised 
sanctions  and  were  believed  to  live  in  private  shamelessness. 

II. 

The  Outbreak  of  the  Decian  Persecution. — Rome. 

Philip  had  been  so  tolerant  of  these  Christians  that  he 
appeared  in  their  approved  legends  as  a  penitent  on  Easter 
Eve^.  Decius  was  as  antichristian  as  he  was  virtuous*.  He 
was,  we  are  told,  *  in  life  and  in  death  worthy  to  be  ranked 
with  the  Romans  of  old  time^'  The  luxury  of  his  pre- 
decessors, the  mustering  of  the  Goths,  the  prevalence  of 
•Christianity,  were  all  alike  to  him  hateful  forms  of  dissolution 
in  society,  government  and  religion.  He  was  to  correct,  to 
arrest,  to  repress  them  all.  His  '  knowledge  and  universal 
forethought®'  failed  him  in  the  one  great  sign  of  the  times. 
But  he  knew  how  to  strike.  It  is  amazing  that  one  man, 
even  a  Roman  emperor,  should  after  thirty-eight  years  of 
religious  liberty  have  been  able  in  a  moment  to  deal  blows 

^  Tert.  ApoL  ii.  'hoc  imperium,  cujus  authority  of  Dionysius  ap.  Eus.  vi.  41. 
magistri  estis,  civilis  non  tyrannica  do-  *  Zosimus  i.  21   ...yivei  irpo^x'*"'  *"' 

minatio  est. '     Cf.  £p.  31.5  (fonff.  ad  d^iufiari  irpoirlTi.  5i  Kal  irdcratj  Siairpdiruv 

Cyp.)  'nefarias  contra  veritatem  leges.'  ratj  dpercus. 

^  Ad  Demetr.  12.  ^  Fl.  'W o\>\2,c\x%  Aurelianus  c.  42. 

3  Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  34.    His  pa<n\ela  *  Zosimus  i.  22  ...ry  AeKlov  ireiroidb- 

■^iixeviffrepa,   ^/*«'    rests    on    the   sound  rej  iviffTijpqi  kolI  irepl  xdcra  irpovoi^. 


II.  II.  THE  PERSECUTION — ROME.  6$ 

s 

so  rapid  and  accurate.  In  October  A.D,  249  he  reluctantly  but 
successfully  headed  his  confiding  master's  legions  against  him, 
and  by  the  following  January  his  edict^  was  doing  deadly 
execution.  This  edict  seems  to  have  fixed  capital  penalties 
in  the  first  instance  on  the  bishops  only''.  The  great  Origen 
indeed  was  held  no  less  important,  and  was  subjected  to 
extreme  tortures  with  care  to  avoid  releasing  him  by  death. 
The  new  bishop  of  Alexandria,  Dionysius,  after  awaiting  the 
soldiers  four  days  in  his  house,  as  they  roamed  the  neighbour- 
hood in  search  of  him,  fled  at  last  upon  some  divine  intima- 
tion. Gregory  Thaumaturgus  took  many  of  his  flock  into  the 
wilderness.  The  two  patriarchs  of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem 
died  speedily  in  prison,  namelyBaJbylasand  '  the  bright  age 
and  hoary  head  of  Alexander'.'  At^ome  Fabian,  who  four- 
teen years  before  had  been  chosen  upon  the  descent  of  a 
Dove  on  his  head  in  the  elective  assembly*,  was  executed  a.d.  250. 

1  1         T  R  A.U.C. 

on  the  20th  January  A.D.  250  .  1003.  Coss. 

The  dismay  caused  by  this  blow  was  very  great.   His  people  ^""^^^^3 
elected  no  successor  to  Fabian  when  they  laid  him  behind  Qu.  Traj. 
the  stone  which,  still  bearing  the  contemporary  record,  pre-  p.  f.  Aug. 
serves  a  slight  but  certain  memorial  both  of  their  dejection  "vettius 
and  of  the  order-loving  spirit  of  that  Church.     The  name  Gratus. 
'  Fabian   Bishop '  is  cut  deep  with  rude  firm  strokes.     Not 
much  later,  but  after  the  stone  had  been  placed  against  the 


^  irpSffTay/ia  Dionys.  ap.  Eus.  vi.  41  '  C(U.Li6erian.:  Fa.hi\isann.  xiili  rn. 

et    passim.     Greg.    Nyss.    FiV.    Greg:  id.  X...   Passus  Xll  kl.  Feb...  Ca^ /V- 

7%a«w.  gives  an  exaggerated  summary  lician.:    Fabianus...Sedit   annus    XIIII 

of  it.    (See  Fechtrup,  p.  44.)     On  the  mense  I  dies  Xi...et   passus   est   Xiili 

forged  edict  see  Tillemont,  note  ii.,  Sur  KL  feb...qui  sepultus  est  in  cimiterio 

la  Persecution  de  Dice,  vol.  III.  p.  699.  calesti  uia  appia  Xlll  KL  febr.     The 

2  Rettberg,  p.  54.     In  Ep.  66.  7  the  xiiii   and   the   Xli   kl.    feb.   are  both 

bishops  are   spoken   of  in  connection  mistakes  for  xiii,  and  the  real  length 

with  this  persecution  as  suffering  pro-  of   the  see-tenancy   14   years   and    ro 

scription,    imprisonment,     banishment  days.     See  R.  A.  Lipsius,   Chronolog. 

and  death.  der  Romisch.  Bisckbfe  {1869),  pp.  199, 

»  Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  39.  263,  ^()(>,  267,  275. 

*  Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  29. 

B.  5 


66 


THE  CONFESSORS  AT  ROME. 


hollow  cell.the  addition  of'  Martyr'  has  been  deeply  scratched  \ 
Without  proper  authentication''  or  in  the  vacancy  of  the  see 


the  appellation  could  not  be  attached  even  to  so  sacred  a 
grave  in  the  catacomb  chapel.  The  age  in  which  martyrs 
were  lightly  multiplied  was  not  come. 

Neither  was  the  fanatic  zeal  for  martyrdom  at  flood.  The 
Roman  Church  would  not  now  select  one  of  her  leading  men 
for  immediate  death,  and  for  sixteen  months  elected  no  bishop'. 
The  clergy  of  the  metropolis  was  a  regularly  organized  body, 
well  able  to  act  in  concert,  and  requiring  more  than  a  passing 
notice  to  enable  us  to  understand  their  remarkable  relations 
with  Carthage  and  her  bishop. 

The  wisdom  of  the  Church  was  everywhere  not  to  traverse 
or  break  up,  but  to  adopt  administrative  lines  and  civil  areas 


^  The  letter-cutter  of  Fabian's  in- 
scription was  not  a  good  one  like  his 
predecessor's.  The  letters  are  unequal, 
the  apices  not  elegant  or  exact,  the 
punctuation  ugly.  The  inscription  is 
not  a  later  honorary  one,  like  Anteros's. 
The  abbreviation  is  unusual,  (in  an 
honorary  inscription  it  would  have  been 
fiill  MAPTTP,)  and  is  weakly  cut  or 
rather  scratched  after  the  slab  was  in 
its  place. 

'  I  believe  this  explanation  of  de 
Rossi  (/!.  S.  vol.  II.  pp.  58  sqq.)  to  be 


real.  Compare  Optat.  i.  16  '...et  si 
martyris,  sed  necdum  vindicati,''  and 
Cyp.  Ep.  13.  1. 

^  The  ultramontane  statement  of 
this  fact  is  that  'it  appeared  to  the 
pagans  that  the  most  terrible  blow 
they  could  inflict  on  the  Church  was 
to  hinder  the  election  of  a  successor  to 
Saint  Peter.'  Freppel,  .S".  Cyprien, 
p.  173.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  there 
is  no  evidence  for  any  of  the  three 
assertions  involved. 


II.  II. 


THE  CONFESSORS  AT  ROME. 


67 


which  had  already  impressed  characters  and  unities  on  groups 
of  population.  The  '  City  of  God  '  thus  grew  so  firmly  with 
its  organization  in  accord  with  the  ideas  of  the  people,  that 
in  after-time  the  ecclesiastical  division  was  often  thought  to 
be  original.  In  fact  it  remained  as  a  sort  of  original  while 
fresh  delimitations  succeeded  one  another  on  its  surface. 
One  of  the  earliest  examples  seems  to  belong  to  this  time. 

Augustus  had  divided  the  City  into  fourteen  Regions,  each 
with  its  Curator,  and  for  some  purposes  grouped  in  pairs*. 
Alexander  Severus  (A.D.  232 — 235)  amplified  the  powers  and 
rank  of  these  curators  and  attached  them  as  a  bench  for 
certain  causes  to  the  Prefect  of  the  City. 

Very  soon  after  their  reconstitution  by  Alexander,  Fabian 
(236 — 250) 'divided  the  Regions  to  the  Deacons".'  That  is, 
apparently,  he  assigned  two  Regions  to  each  of  the  Seven 
Deacons.  But  he  is  also  said  to  have  created  the  seven  sub- 
deacons.  He  thus  took  the  municipal  divisions,  to  which 
attention  had  recently  been  drawn,  either  singly  or  in  pairs, 
into  the  church  organization,  and  also  retained  the  apostolic 
number  of  deacons. 

The    Presbyters   a   few  months    later^  were  forty-six  in 


^  Diet.    Gk.    and  Roman   Antt.    II 

p.  54 1  b- 

*  '  Hie  regiones  divisit  diaconibus. 
Liberian  Catal.  ed.  Mommsen,  op.  cit. 
p.  635.  Lib.  Pontif.  adds  'et  fecit 
septem  subdiaconos.'  Augustus'  cura 
tors  had  certain  religious  functions 
and  were  chosen  annually  by  lot  (see 
Sueton.  Augzisttts  30 ;  Dio  Cass.  Iv 
8).  Alexander  required  them  to  be 
consulares  (Lamprid.  Akx.  Sev.  33) 
Before  the  appointment  of  various 
kinds  of  governors  he  put  their  names 
up  for  objections  to  be  made,  'as 
Christians  and  Jews  did,'  he  said,  ^in 
prczdicandis  sacerdotibus.'  Ibid.  ^f^.  His 
organization  soon  passed  away,  but 
not  so  the  Christian,  which  apparently 


adopted  it.  See  Harnack,  On  the  Origin 
of  the  Readership,  &'c.,  and  Essay  by 
J.  Owen,  with  supplementary  note. 
London,  1895. 

When  the  Felician  Catalogue  {cod. 
Bern.  Lipsius  op.  cit.  p.  275)  has  '  Hie 
(Fabianus)  regiones  dividit  diaconibus  et 
fecit  septem  subdiaconibus.  viiq  notariis 
inrainirent  ut  gesta  martyrum  fideliter 
coUegerent...'  may  we  not  remove  the 
stop  after  '  subdiaconibus  '  and  render 
'and  caused  them  (the  deacons)  to  super- 
intend seven  subdeacons  and  seven 
notaries  in  order  to  collect  the  Acts  of 
the  martyrs'? 

3  Letter  of  Cornelius,  Eus.  H.  E.  vi. 
43- 

5—2 


68 


THE  DECIAN  PERSECUTION. 


number ;  and  since  in  the  persecution  of  Diocletian  (half  a 
century  later)  there  were  'upwards  of  forty  basilicas^'  it  has 
been  concluded  too  hastily''  that  each  presbj^er  had  charge 
of  one  basilica.  This  is  contrary  to  all  we  know  of  early 
organization.  Only  in  the  smallest  country  places  were  churches 
anything  but  collegiate.  To  each  of  the  deacons  there  was  a 
subdeacon  and  six  acolytes.  Exorcists,  readers  and  door- 
watchers  amounted  to  fifty-two. 

Such  was  the  administrative  body  required  for  the  fifty 
thousand^  Christians  of  Rome  in  the  middle  of  the  third 
century,  and  such  as  remained  at  liberty  of  the  seven*  great 
Treasurers  or  Visitors,  called  Deacons,  together  with  the  forty 
or  more  Presbyters,  now  took  in  commission  the  Episcopal 
conduct   of  internal  affairs  and  of  the  relations  with  other 


^  Optatus,  ii.  4.  Neander  thinks  this 
number  must  be  exaggerated ;  but  these 
basilicas  were  not  public  buildings,  but 
those  which  were  frequently  attached 
to  great  houses. — R.  Bum,  Rome  and 
the  Campagna,  p.  1.  The  need  for  dis- 
persion and  small  congregations  entirely 
explains  the  number.  Many  of  these 
would  be  like  private  chapels,  while  in 
the  regularly  used  ones  there  would  be 
always  a  consessus. 

2  By  Routh,  Hel.  S.  vol.  III.  p.  60. 

3  This  estimate  formed  by  Bishop 
Burnet  {Travels  in  Switzerland,  Italy... 
(1685-86),  ed.  1724,  pp.  217-210),  ap- 
proved by  W.  Moyle  ( IVorks,  11.  p.  152) 
and  accepted  by  Gibbon  c.  xv.  to  il- 
lustrate the  insignificance  of  the  Chris- 
tians, who  thus  amounted  to  less  than 
one  twentieth  of  the  population,  seems  to 
me  too  large  rather  than  too  small.  Bur- 
net estimates  from  the  1 500  widows,  vir- 
gins and '  thlibomeni '  or  afflicted  people 
who  received  relief.  (Cornel,  ap.  Eus. 
H.  E.  vi.  43.)  His  reckoning  is  roughly 
verified  by  the  ascertained  proportion, 
three  per  cent,  at  Antioch,  of  the  widows 


and  virgins  receiving  alms  (3000)  to  the 
whole  number  of  Christians  (100,000). 
Chrysostom,  ed.  Bened.  vii.  pp.  658, 
810.  The  population  of  Antioch  was 
200,000,  id.  II.  p.  597.  But  we  must 
consider  that  the  incessant  wars  would 
tend  to  make  the  proportion  of  widows 
and  dependent  children  larger  in  the 
capital.  From  the  monuments  also  Bp. 
Lightfoot  thinks  we  might  conclude  the 
Christians  to  be  fewer  in  proportion 
at  this  time.  Address  on  Missions, 
S.P.G.     (Macmillan,  1873.) 

••  A  later  opportunity  will  occur  for 
illustrating  the  importance  of  these  high 
officers  (p.  114).  At  present  we  may 
notice  that  seven  remained  at  Rome 
the  fixed  number  of  deacons.  The 
college  of  cardinals  retains  the  form  of 
seven  deacons  still.  Until  the  9th 
century  the  Elect  to  the  See  of  Rome 
was  always  a  priest  or  deacon,  the  latter 
by  preference.  See  Duchesne,  Orig.  du 
Culte  Chretien,  p.  349  n.  On  the  other 
hand  Constantinople  in  Justinian's  time 
had  a  hundred  deacons.  Routh,  vol.  in. 
p.  61. 


II.  II.  THE  CONFESSORS  AT  ROME.  69 

Churches,  particularly  that  of  Carthage.  Their  tone  was  at 
first  chiefly  influenced  by  the  powerful  character  of  one  whose 
stern  uncharity  severed  him  at  last  from  a  Church  which  he 
seemed  born  to  govern,  and  by  others  whose  rigid  counsels 
sounded  more  impressively  from  their  dungeon  depth,  and 
who  were  saved  to  the  cause  of  unity  only  through  the  affec- 
tionate wisdom  of  Cyprian.  Of  the  first  great  Puritan,  Novatian, 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more  fully.  Two  of  the 
Presbyters,  the  aged  Moyses,  probably  of  Jewish  birth,  and 
Maximus,  whose  gravestone  possibly  still  confronts  us  in 
the  Vatican^;  two  of  the  Deacons,  Rufinus  and  Nicostratus, 
the  latter  afterwards  an  active  propagator  of  Novatianism  in 
Cyprian's  own  diocese,  were  thrown  into  prison  at  the  time**  of 
Fabian's  execution,  along  with  the  laymen'  Urbanus,  Sidonius, 
Macarius^  and  with  one  Celerinus,  who  deserves  more  than 
passing  mention.  This  man's  story  not  only  is  a  remarkable 
illustration  of  the  time,  but  tessellated  together,  as  it  requires 
to  be,  out  of  many  distant  allusions  in  scattered  letters,  it  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  proofs  of  the  genuineness  of  the 
whole  correspondence.  It  is  morally  impossible  that  such  a 
complete  tale  could  be  recomposed  out  of  such  slight  touches, 
were  those  touches  not  truthful ;  morally  impossible  for  the 
most  ingenious  forger  to  have  constructed  a  character  and 
then  to  have  dotted  it  about  so  fragmentarily  as  not  to  support 
his  aim  by  one  cross-reference.  It  is  only  by  writing  out 
every  passage  in  which  his  name  occurs,  comparing  these  with 
the  African  commemorations  of  confessors,  and  with  a  passage 
of  Eusebius^  that  we  extract  the  following  narrative. 

Celerinus  was  a  native  of  Carthage,  established  in  Rome. 
His  grandmother  Celerina  had  died  by  martyrdom  in  some 

1  The   loculus   MA3EIM0T   nP(e<r-  presbyterum... ceteris...' 

^vripov),  de   Rossi,  R.  S.  vol.  I.  tav.  *  Probably  a  Carthaginian.     Ep.  ii. 

xix.  5.    See  below  p.  162,  note  4.  4;  51.   i.     Tillemont,  vol.  ni.  p.  441, 

■■^  £p.  28. 1  '...primores  et  duces. ..sur-  confuses  him  with  Celerinus. 

gentis  belli  impetus  primes... fregistis.'  '  H.  E.  vi.  43. 

3  Note   in  Ep.  49.    ^  '...Maximum 


JO  THE  DECIAN   PERSECUTION. 

earlier  persecution:  so  had  her  son  and  son-in-law,  Laurentinus 
and  Egnatius,  both  of  them  soldiers  in  the  Roman  army. 
They  were  commemorated  in  the  African  Church  as  Cyprian 
records \  and  the  African  kalendar  yet  retains  their  names 
on  the  3rd  of  February.  Augustine  preached'^  in  a  church 
dedicated  to  Celerina,  and  it  was  given  up  to  the  Arians 
under  Genseric'. 

At  the  time  when  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was  executed, 
Celerinus  was  tortured  in  the  presence  it  would  seem  of  Decius 
himself  A  Carthaginian  friend  of  his,  Lucian,  a  man  of  humble 
birth  and  small  reading^  congratulates  him  in  a  misspelt,  un- 
grammatical  letter^  upon  having  prevailed  against '  the  chief 
Snake,  the  Quarter-master  of  Antichrists'  Cornelius,  bishop  of 
Rome,  mentions  this  same  Celerinus  in  a  Greek  letter  to  Fabius^ 
of  Antioch  as  having  'borne  every  sort  of  torture  and  mightily 
overcome  the  adversary,'  and  he  mentions  him  in  company 
with  Sidonius  (a  Punic  name)  and  others  with  whom  the 
former  allusion®  in  Cyprian  also  connects  him.  What  these 
tortures  were  we  learn  from  a  quite  different  source^  He  was 
liberated  from  prison  in  the  course  of  the  year  A.D.  250,  and 
A.D.  250,  about  December  conveyed  letters  from  Moyses  to  Cyprian", 
'  who  by  this  time,  as  we  shall  see,  was  in  retirement.  Cyprian 
mentions  having  seen  the  terrible  scars  of  his  torture,  and 
witnessed  the  broken  health  which  had  resulted  from  nineteen 
days  in  the  stocks  under  irons  almost  without  food  or  water. 
He  speaks  of  him  as  the  earliest  of  the  Roman  sufferers  in 
this  persecution,  'the  first  at  the  conflict  of  our  time,'  'the 
standard-bearer  in  front  of  Christ's  soldiers.'  His  history  and 
that  of  his  family,  as  well  as  his  personal  character,  which 

^  Ep.  39.  3.  p.  xlviii.,  on  the  vulgar  tongue. 

2  Aug.  Serm.  48.  *  Ep.  22.  i  'Metatorem.' 

"  Morcelli,    vol.    II.   p.    65.     Victor  ^  Eus.  Lc. 

Vit.    I.  9  (3).  8   £p_  ^g.    1,2. 

*  Ep.  1-.  I.  »  Ep.  39.  2. 

5  It    should    be    read    in    Hartel's  ^"  Ep.  37.  i. 

edition  with  the  remarks  in  his  preface 


II.  II.  CELERINUS   CONFESSOR.  /I 

Cyprian  describes  as  that  of '  an  honest  and  sturdy  confessor, 
'  self-restrained,  guarded  and  shamefast,  with  all  the  lowliness 
'  and  awe  that  befit  our  religion,'  made  the  Bishop  desirous  to 
enrol  him  among  the  clergy  of  his  native  place,  and  he  proposed 
to  make  him  a  Reader\  But  as  he  had  been  in  a  manner 
naturalised  at  Rome,  Cyprian  explains  the  step  somewhat 
laboriously  to   the   clergy  there.     The  'glorious  looks  and 

*  modest  bearing  of  one  who  now  lived  only  through  a  kind 

*  of  resurrection'  would,  at  his  daily  reading  of  the  Gospel ^  stir 
the  brethren  to  some  imitation  of  his  faith.  A  vision  which 
the  young  man  had  overcame  some  scruples  of  his,  and  he 
was  ordained  along  with  the  young  Aurelius,  who  had  himself 
been  a  'Victor'  before  both  the  native  magistracy  and  the 
proconsul'.  To  each  were  assigned  at  once  the  daily  com- 
mons and  monthly  dividends  of  a  presbyter,  and  they  were 
designate  for  seats  on  Cyprian's  Bench,  when  they  should  be 
of  age  to  take  that  rank. 

The  martyr  spirit  however  had  not  nerved  every  member 
of  the  family.  His  sister  Candida  had  offered  sacrifice.  His 
sister  Etecusa  or  Numeria,  while  actually  on  the  ascent  of 
the  Capitol,  found  at  the  Chapel  of  The  Three  Fates  some 
officer  to  whom  she  paid^  a  sum  of  money  to  be  excused. 
Both  were  cut  off  from  communion,  and  then  full  of  remorse 

^  Ep.  39,  and  compare  38.  46   n.)   says,  close   to   the   Temple   of 

^  ...cottidic.evangelica  lectio...  Ep.  Janus,    but   higher   up,   for   the  Papal 

39.  4.  procession   on    Easter   Monday  in   the 

^  Ep.  38.  I.  middle  ages  'intrat  sub  arcu  triumpha- 

*  'Numeria...thisis  what  I  have  ever  li  [sc.  Sept.  Severi]  inter  tcmpltim  Fa- 

called  Etecusa,  because  she  counted  out  tale  et  templum  Concordice,^  Ordo  Rom. 

(numeravit)  bribes  for  herself  to  avoid  xi.  Auct.  Benedict,    ap.    Mabillon  and 

sacrificing.'     I  fear  Celerinus  cannot  be  Germain  Mus.  Ital.  il.  p.  143;  and  with 

acquitted  of  this  bitter  jest.     Ep.  ■21.  this  agrees  Procopius  de  Bella  Gotth.  i. 

3.     This  passage  does  not  seem  to  have  25,  who  says  the  temple  of  Janus  is  h 

been  taken  into  account  in  illustrating  t%  ayopq.  irp6  tov  ^ovXevrrjplov  (i.e.  Con- 

the    topography    of    the   slope    of   the  cord)  dXiyov  vTrep^avn  tA   rpla   (para. 

Capitol.     See   Burn's  Rome    and   the  When   Anastasius   in   the  passages  al- 

Campagna,  p.  131.     The  temple  of  the  luded  to  by  Pearson  (^««.  Cypr.  A.T). 

Tria  Fata  was  not,   as  Goldhorn  (p.  250,  s.  xiv,  which  will  be  found  in  Vit. 


72  THE  DECIAN   PERSECUTION. 

devoted  themselves  to  the  sufferers  whom  now  they  envied, 
and  especially  to  the  relief  of  their  compatriots,  the  refugees, 
who,  driven  from  Carthage  by  the  edict,  found  like  other 
foreigners  their  obscurest  hiding-place  among  the  crowds  of 
Rome.  These  they  met  upon  their  landing  at  Portus^  and 
had  no  less  than  sixty-five  of  them  under  their  care  at  one 
time.  Celerinus  pleaded  for  their  restoration  ;  and  their  case 
was  heard  by  the  Roman  presbytery*.  But  their  readmission 
was  postponed  until  the  election  of  a  new  bishop.  The 
temporary  adhesion  of  Celerinus  and  his  friends  to  Novatian 
at  that  election  will  be  noticed  in  its  place. 
Ap.  7,  It  was  close  on  Easter  A.D.  250  when  his  sisters  yielded,  so 

that  the  'Day  of  Joy'  and  its  whole  season  were  spent  by  him 
in  sackcloth  and  ashes  and  tears.  At  last  in  utter  agony  for 
Candida's  '  Death  to  Christ,'  he  wrote  an  affecting  but  ill- 
judged  appeal  to  Lucian  at  Carthage'.  He  prevailed  on  the 
suffering  confessors  there  to  interpose  their  unmeasured 
popularity  in  subversion  of  the  judgment  of  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  Church. 

A  fatal  system  thus  simply  originated,  which  presently 
began  to  threaten  the  whole  organization  of  the  Church. 

Of  Genuineness  in  Nomenclature. 

We  must  pause  upon  certain  exceptions  to  the  genuineness  of 
the  correspondence  in  which  the  above  account  is  extant.  We  may 
first,  however,  ask  whether  it  is  possible  that  a  tale  such  as  this 
could  be  sown  in  such  minute  fragments  over  such  a  number  of 
epistles  as  a  glance  at  the  footnotes  exhibits  unless  that  tale  were 

Honor,  i.  Labbe,  vol.  vi.  c.  1419  and  Crist.,  anno  iv.  p.  50,  for  interesting 

Vit.  Hadriani  i.  Labbe,  vol.  vin.  cc.  illustrations  of  the  necessity  for  such 

505  and  512),  speaks  of  S.  Adrian  and  provision  at   Portus  :    particularly  the 

of  SS.  Cosmas  and  Damian  as  being  erection   by  the  senator   Pammachius, 

'in  Tribus  Fatis,' this  can  only  mean,  S.  Jerome's  friend,  of  a  hostelry  there 

as  Bunsen  saw,   that    the    lower  end  for  Peregrini. 

(or  ?  north  side)  of  the  Forum  came  to  ^  Prsepositi,  Ep.  21.3. 

be  so  called.  ^  £p^  21.  2. 
^  See    Rossi,   Bollettino  di  Archeol. 


II.  II,  (THE   LETTERS   GENUINE.)  73 

true;  and  then  again  that  Eusebius  should  have  preserved  such  a 
corroboration  of  it,  and  that  even  a  title  of  a  sermon  of  Augustine 
should  incidentally  illustrate  it  ?  or  what  object  could  possibly  have 
been  served  by  inventing  such  a  character  and  then  taking  such 
extraordinary  pains  to  avoid  presenting  it  as  a  whole  ? 

The  critic^  ingeniously  argues  against  the  genuineness  of  the 
letter  of  Celerinus  from  Rome  and  the  reply  of  Lucian  from  Car- 
thage 2,  on  the  ground  that  they  would  evince  an  incredibly  'close 
and  intimate  connexion'  between  the  two  Churches.  'The  Roman 
'  confessor,'  he  says,  'supports  his  prayer  (to  the  African  Confessor)  by 
•  stating  that  Statius  and  Severianus,  and  the  Sixty-five  African  Con- 
'fessors  who  had  been  cared  for  by  his  lapsed  sisters,  joined  in  it.' 
He  then  quotes  the  greetings  sent  from  Rome  by  '  Macarius  and  his 
'  sisters  Cornelia  and  Emerita,  by  Satuminus  [a  confessor],  your 
'  brethren  Calpumius  and  Maria,'  &c.,  and  Lucian's  counter-greetings 
to  the  same  persons,  and  to  'Collecta,  Sabina,  Spesina,  Januaria, 
'Dativa,  Donata,  Saturus  with  his...^  Bassianus  and  all  the  clergy, 
'  Uranius,  -A.lexius,  Quintianus,  Colonica,  &c.,  Alexius,  Getulicus'  and 
from  his  own  '  sisters  Januaria  and  Sophia.'  From  these  extracts  he 
argues  that,  if  they  ever  formed  portions  of  real  letters,  the  Churches 
must  have  been  neither  more  nor  less  than  one  family:  that  these 
common  names  without  further  description  would  have  conveyed  no 
distinctive  information  between  Rome  and  Carthage :  that,  as  it  was 
impossible  that  there  could  be  such  intimacy  between  such  places, 
the  letters  cannot  be  authentic. 

The  ingenious  critic  conceives  a  letter  in  some  persecution  in 
England  to  a  Christian  in  New  York  and  writes  out  a  parallel  list 
of  vulgar  names  and  surnames. 

This  was  no  doubt  more  diverting  than  to  trace  laboriously  the 
history  of  Celerinus,  and  to  arrive  at  the  fact  that  he  was  not  'a  Roman 
Confessor'  writing  to  a  Carthaginian,  but  a  Carthaginian  resident  in 
Rome,  whose  family  were  eminent  sufferers  among  the  Christians 
of  Carthage  and  who  must  have  been  well  and  widely  known  among 
them.  All  the  names  mentioned  on  both  sides  are  but  twenty-two, 
and  of  these  several  are  brothers  and  sisters,  surely  not  a  very 
large  circle.  Then,  it  must  be  observed  as  natural,  that  the  more 
numerous  remembrances  are  those  sent  from  Carthage  ;  which  the 
refugees  had  been  quitting  for  Rome,  and  they  are  sent  through  the 
persons  who  were  receiving  and  caring  for  them.  One  of  those 
saluted  is  Bassianus  a  cleric.  Now  mark  that  in  Ep.  8.  3  the 
Roman  clergy  advise  the  clergy  of  Carthage  of  the  arrival  at  Rome 

1  Mr  Shepherd's  First  Letter,  p.  12,  ^  Ep.  22.  3.     Cum  suis  'with  their 

^c.  friends '  is  sufficiently  familiar. 

^  Epp.  21  and  22. 


74  THE   DECIAN    PERSECUTION. 

of  Bassianus  seemingly  as  bringing  letters  and,  according  to  usage^, 
a  Cleric 

Mr  S.  thinks  it  suspicious  that  the  'most  common  names  in 
Carthage '  are  used.  The  argument  tells  the  other  way.  They  are 
Carthagitiian  names,  much  more  common  in  Carthage  (as  inscrip- 
tions testify)  than  elsewhere.  This  is  true  of  those  he  quotes — 
Victor,  Donatus,  Donata,  Januaria.  He  should  have  added  Dativa. 
Names  expressive  of  '  God's  Gift '  are  as  Phoenician  as  they  are 
Hebrew.  But  also  Getulicus,  Satuminus,  Uranius  point  to  the 
country  and  to  the  Punic  worship  which  they  represent.  How 
should  'a  Gaulish  Bishop  in  the  5th  century,  a  stranger  to  Africa, 
in  the  days  of  Caesarian,  Bishop  of  Aries,'  forge  with  such  nicety 
as  to  evolve  so  appropriate  a  list  of  names  ?  But  again  the  names  are 
not  all  common.  Is  Spesina  a  familiar  name  to  Mr  S.?  He  will 
not  find  it  in  all  the  thousands  of  inscriptions  in  Muratori  and 
Gruter.  Yet  it  does  occur  just  where  it  should  if  these  letters 
are  genuine.  It  is  the  name  of  a  martyr  in  the  African  Kalendar^. 
[And  since  this  was  written  it  has  appeared  in  several  African 
inscriptions^] 

On  Eteaisa  and  Numeria. 

Etecusa  the  Carthaginian  obtained  exemption  from  sacrificing  at 
Rome  by  payment.  Her  brother  Celerinus  entreats  that  the  first 
martyrs  selected  for  death  among  the  prisoners  at  Carthage  may 
'  istis  sororibus  nostris  NutnericB  et  Candidae  tale  peccatum  remit- 
'tant.  Nam  hanc  ipsam  Eteaisam  semper  appellavi...^«za  pro  se 
'dona  7inmeravit  ne  sacrificaret'  {Ep.  21.  3).  As  translated  by 
Dr  Wallis  'our  sisters  Numeria  and  Candida,  for  this  latter  I 
have  always  called  Etecusa... because  she  gave  gifts,'  the  passage  is, 
as  he  observes,  'altogether  unintelligible.'  Hence  the  conjectures 
et  aecusam  {aeKovaav),  arvxova-av  (Dodwell,  Diss,  ad  Ep.  21),  and 
Hartel's  excusatam.  No  various  reading  except  Ettecusam  and  et 
recusant. 

Let  us  observe  however  that  Nunieria  is  not  a  real  praenomen 
(Varro,  Ling.  Lat.  ix.  55)  ;  that  the  whole  letter  fails  in  taste  and  in 
grammar ;  that  hanc  ipsafn  may  perfectly  well  be  predicative ;  and 
that  hajic  need  not  refer  to  the  last  named,  who  in  this  Latin 
would  more  commonly  be  istam.  Hence  we  may  understand  that 
Numeria  is  the  sobriquet  which  Celerinus  says  he  has  affixed  to 

"^  See   Epp.    7,    8,    9,    35,    36,    44,  ^  C.I.L.vm.  \.  Spesina 2 if)2.^^i^2. 

45,  &c.  4687.  4935.  5804.     Spessinia  5190.    Is- 

2  ap.  Morcelli,  vol.   Ii.  p.  369  'M.  pesina  150,  all  Numidian. 
Jun.  vii.  Id....Spisin3e.' 


II.  III.  THE  PERSECUTION   AT  CARTHAGE.  75 

his  sister  because  she  paid  {numeravit)  for  immunity.    *  Ask  re- 

*  mission  for  these  sisters  of  mine  Numeria  and  Candida,  for  so 
'indeed  {hanc  ipsam — by  this   particular  name  Numeria)  have  I 

*  always  called  Etecusa,  because  she  paid  down  bribes  to  be  excused 

*  from  sacrificing.' 

We  find  Tecusa  in  de  Rossi,  R.  S.  vol.  ll.  tav.  Ivii.  (6),  in 
conjunction  with  Laurentius,  which  (or  Laurentinus)  was  the  name 
of  a  martyred  uncle  of  Celerinus  in  the  same  persecution,  Ep.  39.  3 
(Laurentius,  omn.  edd.  exc.  H '  Laurentinus  '). 

[In  the  indexed  volumes  of  C.  Inscrr.  Latt.  Tecusa  (Taecusa  once) 
occurs  in  6  inscriptions,  of  which  3  are  African,  vol.  viii.  i.  3306  at 
Lambzese,  8261  Aziz  ben  Tellis,  viii.  ii.  10505  Hadrumetum  ;  2  Sar- 
dinian (vol.  X.  ii.)  7590,  7943;  and  i  at  Ostia  (vol.  XIV.)  1657.  There 
is  a  martyr  Tecusa  at  Ancyra  (.■*  under  Diocletian),  18  May,  Basil 
Menolog.,  Migne'/'«/r.  Gr.  v.  117,  c.  464.  Acta  Sanctt.  Bolland. 
(j.  die)^ 

There  is  no  instance  of  Etecusa  and  to  read  Et  Tecusam  from  T(^ 
may  be  best.  The  v.l.  et  recusant  strongly  supports  it.  And  it  suits 
Celerinus'  emphatic  style. 

We  should  then  have  an  interesting  trace  of  the  family  at  Rome 
and  of  Tecusa's  restoration. 


III. 

The  Perseaition  at  Carthage. — i.     The  '  Stantes.' 

The  episode  of  Celerinus  links  together  the  sufferers  of 
the  two  cities.  Great  had  been  the  dismay  caused  by  the 
arrival  of  the  edict  at  Carthage.  It  required  from  everyone 
some  simple  test  of  unchristianity  before  a  specified  day\ 
The  '  Bishop  of  the  Christians '  was  expressly  named,  and 
probably  he  alone.  But  anyone  who  failed  to  'profess'  might 
be  legally  summoned  and  interrogated.  Some  were  dragged 
before  the  magistrates  and  some  maltreated  by  the  populace. 
The  numbers  who  suffered  were  possibly  not  great,  but 
their  sufferings  were  intense.  The  edict  prescribed  confisca- 
tion, banishment,  mine-labour,  imprisonment  with  starvation 
as  penalties,  and  torture  as  the  means  of  inquisition.     In  each 

^  De  Lapsis  3  '...quisque  (  =  quisquis)  professus  intra  diem  non  est  Christianum 
se  esse  confessus  est.' 


76 


THE  DECIAN   PERSECUTION. 


April, 
A.D.  350. 


town  five  commissioners'  were  associated  with  the  magistrates. 
The  tortures  were  not  used  until  the  arrival  of  the  Proconsul 
in  April'.  He  found  the  severities  so  much  abated  that  some 
of  the  exiles  had  returned,  but  after  presiding  over  this 
tribunal  in  the  capital',  he  made  a  tour  of  the  province, 
with  his  twelve  dreaded  fasces*,  exercising  such  rigour  that 
some  conspicuous  confessors  yielded,  while  others  died  under 
his  engines". 

While  the  persecution  of  Diocletian  was  based  on  the 
determination  that,  cost  what  it  might,  Christianity  should 
be  extirpated,  that  of  Decius  at  first  assumed  that  it  might 
be   dissipated   by  a   mingling   of  ferocity  with  forbearance. 


1  Primores,  Ep.  43.  3.  '  Persecutio 
est  hsec  alia,  et  alia  est  temptatio,  et 
quinque  isti  presbyteri  nihil  aliud  sunt 
quam  quinque  primores  illi  qui  edicto 
nuper  magistratibus  fuerant  copulati,  ut 
fidem  nostram  subruerent,  ut  gracilia 
fratrum  corda  ad  letales  laqueos  prse- 
varicatione  veritatis  averterent.  eadem 
nunc  ratio,  eadem  rursus  eversio  per 
quinque  presbyteros  Felicissimo  copula- 
tos  ad  ruinam  salutis  inducitur,  &c.' 
That  is,  'The  five  presbyters  are  as 
ruinous  to  the  Church  as  ever  the  five 
magnates  were.'  To  interpret  it  of 
visions,  or  of  the  presbyters  actually 
torturing  martyrs,  is  absurd  indeed.  It 
is  only  just  as  obscure  as  a  Cyprian, 
wanting  to  say  so  strong  a  thing,  would 
feel  bound  to  make  it. 

We  may  compare  Ep.  52.  2  where  he 
says  of  Novatus  ''qui  in  ipsa  persecu- 
tionc.alia  quaedam  persecutio  nostri 
fuit.' 

^  See  note  on  xiii  Epistles,  Ep.  11 
infr.  pp.  102  sqq.  Morcelli,  vol.  11.  p.  12 
and  p.  102,  calls  him  Fortunatianus. 
The  Greek  Mena:a  (April.  Venet.  1614) 
Ap.  10  describe  an  African  martyr 
Terentius  as  suffering  under  Fortunati- 
anus as  Tiyefiuv,  i.e.  '  Prseses ';  rightly 
so  rendered  in  Bo//.  Acta  SS.  p.  860. 


P.  F.  Zinus'  Latin  version  of  Greek 
MS.  at  Venice  calls  him  '  prsefectus '; 
Galesinius  {Acta  SS.  p.  861)  'prse- 
fectus  seu  praeses';  Martyrol.  Rom. 
Baronii  '  praefectus.'  Sirlet  (ap.  Cani- 
sius,  Thes.  Montiinm.  vol.  III.  pp.  422 
and  482)  has  '  praeses '  Ap.  10  and 
Oct.  28.  The  Menologium  of  Emp. 
Basil  has  ijyenwv  (Migne,  Patr.  Gr.  V. 
117,  c.  396).  The  extant  Latin  Acta 
comes  from  Greek  versions  of  the  ori- 
ginal Latin,  Terentius'  relics  having 
been  preserved  at  Constantinople. 

These  references  to  the  sources  of 
Morcelli's  knowledge  I  owe  to  the 
research  and  kindness  of  the  Rev.  Chas. 
Hole. 

But  I  must  conclude  from  them  that 
Terentius  belonged  to  Numidia  or  the 
Mauretanias  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
2.  prases  or  prafectus  (ijyefubv) :  and  not 
to  Africa  Proper  under  its  Proconsul  or 
avdiiiraroi ;  and  that  hence  the  grounds 
are  not  sufficient  for  placing  Fortuna- 
tianus on  the  Roll  of  the  Proconsuls. 

'  Ep.  10.  4. 

*  Ep.  37.  2.  The  proconsuls  of 
Africa  and  Asia  bore  these  insignia  : 
others  but  six. 

■>  Ep.  37.  I ;  Ep.  56.  I. 


II.  III.  STEDFASTNESS  AT  CARTHAGE.  TJ 

visiting  the  leaders  with  uncompromising  sternness,  while 
allowing  implicit  understandings  with  many  of  the  inoffensive 
followers. 

There  were,  however,  many  who  instantly  sacrificed  pro- 
perty and  citizenship  by  voluntary  exile  :  many  who  sought 
hiding  in  the  crowds  of  Rome.  The  first  inmates  of  the 
prison  at  Carthage  were  a  presbyter  Rogatian,  'a  glorious 
old  man '  who  had  been  left  by  Cyprian,  during  his  absence, 
trustee  of  his  charities,  and  a  '  quiet  soberminded  man '  by 
name  Felicissimus\  These  were  dragged  thither  by  the 
multitude.  Regular  committals  soon  swelled  the  number. 
Women  and  even  lads  were  imprisoned^  who  had  met  with 
equal  defiance  the  threats  and  the  kindly  persuasions  of  the 
magistrates^  They  declined  to  taste  the  sacrificial  victim, 
or  sprinkle  the  incense,  or  to  put  on  the  liturgic  veil.  Two 
terrible  cells  were  assigned  to  them  where  hunger,  thirst  and 
intense  heat  soon  did  their  work*.  After  a  short  time  fifteen 
persons  had  perished  there,  of  whom  four  were  women,  be- 
sides one  in  the  quarry,  and  two  under  torture.  Mappalicus' 
was  one  of  the  latter.  His  limbs  and  sides  streaming  from 
repeated  blows  of  the  torture-claw,  he  said  to  the  proconsul 
as  he  was  remanded  to  the  cell,  'To-morrow  you  shall  see  a  April  17, 

A.D.  2.^0. 

contest  indeed.'     Next  day  he  was  tortured  again  and  died. 

Some  scenes  were  yet  more  dreadful.  Maidens  were  not 
spared  the  Lupanaria^  Subordinates  were  allowed  to  invent 
new  tortures^  Numidicus*,  a  presbyter  of  the  neighbourhood, 
prepared  many  for  death,  and  then  with  his  wife  was  tortured 

^  Ep.  6.  4  ;  Epp.  7,  41,  4'2,  43-    See  i,  2. 

Pearson  Ann.   Cypr.  A.D.  250  s.  vi.  as  *  Ep.  22.  2. 

to  the  Roman  Martyrologies  and  Ba-  ^  Ep.    10.    2.      xv   Kal.    Mai    com- 

ronius  following  Bede's  error  in  making  memorates    Mappalicus    in    Martyrol. 

Rogatian  and  Felicissimus  Martyrs  and  African.     Morcelli,  op.  cit.  11.  p.  365, 

assigning  a  day  for   their  martyrdom,  and  the  date  suits  this  letter, 

whereas    their    living   example  is   the  «  De  Mortalitate  15. 

point  of  Cyprian's  address.  ^  Ad  Demetrian.  12. 

2  Ep.  6.  3.  8  Ep.  40. 

^  Blanditia2...voce  libera.      Ep.   10. 


A.D.  250. 


y^  THE  DECIAN   PERSECUTION. 

by  fire.  The  wife  was  actually  burnt  alive,  and  he  was  left 
for  dead,  a  shower  of  stones  having  been  hurled  upon  him  at 
the  stake.  His  daughter  found  him  breathing  still ;  he  was 
revived,  and  afterwards  enrolled  in  the  presbyterate  of  the 
capital. 

Many  were  after  double  torture  dismissed,  some  into 
banishment^  some  to  bear  the  brand  for  life,  as  a  second 
*  seal  in  their  foreheads^'  some  to  resume  former  occupations, 
beggared  of  all  they  possessed.  Some  quailed  and  fell,  who 
on  second  thoughts  returned  to  avow  their  faith,  forfeit  their 
all,  and  undergo  their  torture'.  Bona*  was  dragged  by  her 
husband  to  the  altar,  there  to  justify  her  reappearance  from 
abroad;  but  exclaiming  'The  act  is  not  mine  but  yours'  as 
the  incense  fell  from  her  hand,  she  was  exiled  again.  No 
martyrs  were  more  honoured  than  Castus  and  ^milius,  who 
May  22,     for  such  recantation  were  burnt  to  death^ 

The  devouring  passion  for  martyrdom  was  still  in  the 
future,  yet  already  survivors  envied  '  The  Crowned.'  The 
fervid  temperament  of  Africa  was  aflame.  Rhetoric  apostro- 
phised '  The  Happy  Prison !  Gloom  more  brilliant  than 
the  Sun  himself^ ! '  yet  even  such  rhetoric  seems  colder  to 
us  than  the  everyday  terms  of  their  common  speech  which 
called  every  such  death  a  '  Confession  in  blossom,'  a  '  Purple 
Confession^' 

Still  at  the  very  summit  of  their  enthusiasm  their  leader 
never  suffered  them  to  forget  that  enthusiasm  was  not  the 
solid  height  itself  but  only  a  glory  which  bathed  it,  'He  that 
'  speaketh  the  things  that  make  for  peace  and  are  good  and 


^  £pp.  14.  21.  mon  cclxxxv.  on  their  day.     This  was 

^  Pont.   Vit.  7 '...tot  confessoresfron-  May  22,  Morcelli,  vol.  II.  p.  368. 

tium    notatarum    secunda    inscriptione  ®  Ep.  6.  i. 

signatos  et  ad  exemplum  martyrii  super-  ^  ...in  tam  florida  confessione  Ep.  21. 

stites  reservatos...'  i;    floridiores    {i.e.   martyres)...floridi- 

'  Ep.  24.  orum  ministerium,  21.  3.     Rutilorum, 

*  Ep.  24.  Ep.  42. 

•  De  Lapsis  13,  see  Augustine's  ser- 


II.  III.  FAILURE  AT  CARTHAGE.  79 

'just,  according  to  the  bidding  of  Christ,  he  it  is  who  is  the 
'  daily  Confessor  of  Christ  V 

But  how  great  a  step  had  been  gained  in  human  thought 
and  feeling  when  numbers  of  delicate  and  educated  persons 
surrendered  all  that  made  life  beautiful  or  even  tolerable  and 
accepted  all  that  was  hideous  and  unendurable,  simply  because 
immortality  had  become  a  certainty,  and  the  revelation  of 
God's  character  and  Christ's  presence  a  reality  amid  a  world 
of  scepticism  and  vice. 


The  Persecution  at  Carthage, — 2.     The  '  Lapsi.' 

Nevertheless,  where  these  sober  truths  rose  into  passionate 
sentiment  there  also  the  sensibilities  to  suffering  and  to 
ridicule  were  equally  high-strung.  Nor  had  the  recent  life 
of  the  Church  been  so  rigorous  or  disciplined  as  to  make 
constancy  under  trial  characteristic  of  its  masses.  Yet 
Cyprian,  in  spite  of  long  forebodings  of  what  under  such 
circumstances  would  be  the  result  of  the  worldly  habits  of 
the  bishops  and  the  gentile  associations  and  extravagance  of 
the  laity,  was  not  prepared  for  the  first  spectacle  upon  the 
arrival  of  the  edict.  Even  he  was  appalled  at  the  rush  of 
faithless  Christians  to  the  CapitoP  or  to  the  Forum  to  sacrifice 
amid  the  jeers  of  the  populace ;  their  unwillingness  to  be 
deferred  till  morning,  when  darkness  closed  upon  their  throng, 
their  piteous  production  of  children  and  newly-baptized  infants 
to  drop  incense  from  their  small  fingers.     Most  of  the  clergy 

^  £/>.  13.  5.  160)   upon   it.      At   Cologne  the   old 

*  De  Laps.  8,  cf.  Ep.  59.  13.     The  Capitol  is  still  so  called. 
Byrsa   or    Bozrah.      So    elsewhere    in  Compare  with  the  scenes  just  touched 

municipia  the  '  Idolura  Capitolii '  is  a  by  Cyprian  the  painfully  graphic  narra- 

recognised  term.     See  Council  of  El-  tive  of  Alexandrian  events  by  Dionysius. 

vira,    canon   59,    and    Hefele   {H.   d.  Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  41. 
ConciL    ed.    Delarc,   vol.  I.    pp.    159, 


80  INCENSERS  AND  SACRIFICERS. 

»>/fledS  some  lapsed';  there  remained  in  the  city  scarce  enough 
to  carry  on  the  daily  duty*.  Many  provincial  bishops  fled  to 
Rome*.  One  at  least,  Repostus  of  Tuburnuc,  carried  the  main 
part  of  his  flock  back  to  paganism*. 

Even  in  Rome  there  were  fears  at  one  moment  lest  'the 
'  brotherhood  should  be  completely  rooted  out  by  this  head- 
'  long  return  to  idolatry'.'  Although  it  may  or  may  not  be  a 
literal  statement  that  the  lapsed  at  Carthage  were  'the  majority 
of  the  flock V  yet  their  Bishop  may  well  have  felt  'like  one 
sitting  amid  the  ruins  of  his  house.' 

Thus  were  being  formed  the  vast  classes  of  'the  Incensers' 
and  'the  SacrificersV  whose  self-excision  from  the  body  of 
Christ  was  palpable.  The  act  of  the  latter  class  was  held  the 
more  odious  whether  from  the  fuller  ceremonial,  or  from  the 
material  pollution  ascribed  to  the  victim's  flesh.  Yet  greater 
perplexity  resulted  from  the  conduct  of  others  who,  although 
not  stronger  to  confess  their  faith,  were  less  bold  to  abjure  it. 
The  constitution  of  the  courts  which  had  to  enforce  uniformity, 
and  the  number  of  inferior  officials  employed  in  a  service  which 
attempted  to  deal  with  individual  beliefs,  opened  a  door  to 
any  evasions  which  friendship,  favour,  or  cupidity  could  devise. 
As  in  the  days  of  Trajan,  the  approved  form  of  profession  was 
still  to  take  part  in  sacrifice,  but  it  was  possible  also  to  tender 
allegiance  in  writing^   The  name  of  one  who  'professed'  in  this 

^  Ep.  34.  4.  VIII.  I,  p.  121).     G.  Wilmanns  assigns 

^  Ep.  40.  the  bishops 'Tubumicenses' of  A.  D.  411 

^  Ep.  29.  and  646  to  the  latter.     Morcelli,  vol.  I. 

^  Ep.  30.  8.  p.  333,  gives  them  to  the  former.    One 

*  Ep.  59.  10.     Tuburnuc  was  a  small  would   naturally   place   Cyprian's    Re- 

municipium  and  Hot-Wells,   about  12  postus  nearer  to  him.    No  trace  remains 

miles  south  of  the  Gulf  of  Tunis,  or  22  of  any  place  answering  to  Hartel's  Su- 

from  Carthage.     Tissot  II.  780  (by  in-  tunurcensis,   or   the  readings   Sutumu- 

advertence?)   makes    this    see   one    of  censis,  Quoturnicensis,  Sutun-urcensis,, 

'emplacement  inconnu,'  but  in  pi.  viii.  Utunurcensis. 

marks  the  place,  which  is  no  doubt  the  ®  Ep.  8.  2. 

see.     In  Numidia  was  a  Bov^oijpviKa  '  -^PP-  n.  '  ;   14.  i- 

KoXuvia  (Ptol.),  an  oppidum  civium  Ro-  ^  Thurificati,  Sacrificati. 

manorum  (Plin.),  {Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.  '  See  below  the  note  on  the  Libelli. 


II.  III.  'LIBELS'  OF  CONFORMITY.  8l 

form  was  subscribed  either  to  a  renunciation  of  Christianity, 
or  to  a  denial  of  that  crime,  or  else  to  a  statement  of  having 
recently  or  habitually  attended  sacrifice,  and  sometimes  (unless 
Augustine^  has  fallen  into  an  unlikely  error)  to  a  mere  declara- 
tion of  readiness  to  comply.  This  document  was  delivered  to 
a  magistrate,  entered  on  the  Acta,  and  finally  published  in  the 
Forum. 

In  the  persecution  of  Diocletian  timid  Christians  were 
sometimes  represented  at  the  altar  by  a  slave^  or  by  a 
heathen  friend ;  sometimes  attendants  connived  at  their 
slipping  past  the  altars  without  actually  making  the  ob- 
lation ^  It  would  seem  that  in  the  Decian  persecution  too  a 
proxy*  sometimes  performed  the  act  which  the  accused  after- 
wards claimed  as  his  own  ;  while  in  heartrending  cases,  which 
came  later  to  light,  the  heads  of  families  often  dechristianized 
themselves  to  deliver  wife,  children  and  dependants  from 
beggary  and  torture^ 

Venal  or  kindly  fraud  provided  further  a  different  security 
from  molestation.  Certificates  at  high  rates  of  payment 
were  offered  and  almost  thrust  on  persons  who  believed 
themselves,  after  a  private  avowal  of  their  faith,  to  be 
simply  purchasing  exemption  from  the  obligation  to  con- 
form. This  is  a  species  of  confiscation  and  has  seldom 
given  offence";  but  it  is  evident,  from  the  endeavours  of 
Cyprian  to  awaken  penitence  on  account  of  them,  that  the 
contents  of  these  certificates  or  'libels'  were  not  unobjection- 
able. Indeed  it  is  impossible  that  they  can  have  sanctioned 
exemption  without  some  grounds  being  alleged.  Nor  can 
those  grounds  have  been  any  other  than  that  the  certifying 

^  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  iv.  4  (6).         Routh,  op.  cit.  p.  28. 

2  Petr.  Alex.  cc.  6,  7.    The  slave,  *  See  note  on  Libelli,  p.  82. 

if  a  Christian,  received  in  such  a  case  '  Ep.  55.  13.    T&vt.defug.  5,  12,  13. 

one  year's  penance  and  his  master  three.  *  On  the  Montanist  view,  however, 

Routh,  Rel.  S.  vol.  iv.  pp.  29,  30.  see  Tillemont,  Notes  sur  la  PersScut. 

3  Petr.  Alex.  Can.  5.     For  this  of-  de  Dice,  n.  iii.,  vol.  ill.  p.  702. 
fence  the  penance  was  of  six  months, 

B.  6 


82  THE  LIBELLATICS. 

magistrate  had  satisfied  himself  of  the  sound  paganism  of 
the  recipient. 

The  unworthiness  of  these  transactions  must  not  mislead 
us  into  conceiving  that  Christian  truth  had  little  hold  upon 
those  who  were  concerned  in  them\  '  Parliamentary  certi- 
ficates'  of  conformity  were  in  our  strictest  age  given  and 
received  by  the  strictest  Puritans  and  churchmen  without  any 
pretext  of  fact.  Intense  devotion  to  formal  truth  has  to  the 
southern  and  eastern  temperament  seemed  often  not  incon- 
sistent with  insensibility  to  fine  veracity.  To  detect  that 
lurking  source  of  so  much  false  doctrine  and  false  practice 
was  a  part  of  Cyprian's  moral  office,  and  he  speaks  of  the 
tears  of  sorrow  and  surprise  with  which  many  first  recognised 
the  gravity  of  the  fault.  Even  Peter  of  Alexandria,  in  the 
midst  of  similar  displeasure  with  the  Lapsed  under  Dio- 
cletian, cannot  forbear,  before  he  passes  on  to  place  the  sin 
in  its  true  light,  to  glance  at  its  aspect  as  a  mockery  of 
heathen  power ;  calling  his  flock  '  clever,  designing  children 
befooling  dull  ones.'  When  we  are  treating  of  Africans  or 
Romans  in  the  third  century  we  cannot  infer  that  there  was 
no  truth  of  conviction  because  we  find  that  conviction  was 
dissembled.  To  them  the  system  came  so  naturally,  that 
when  enquiries  began  it  was  found  that  the  numbers  of  these 
'  Libellatics '  or  certificated  persons  with  whom  Cyprian  him- 
self had  to  deal  amounted  to  some  thousands^ 

0}i  the  Form  and  Contents  of  the  Libelli. 

I  have  in  the  text  presented  a  correct  account,  I  believe,  of  the 
various  ways  in  which  the  vast  class  of  Libellatici  arose.  The  diffi- 
cuhies  raised  by  various  authors  have  arisen  from  their  assuming 
that  the  Libelli  were  all  of  one  kind,  or  that  there  could  be  any 
systematic   and  regular  procedure   for  the  evasion  of  procedure^. 

^  De  Laps.  27.  I'autre.'    Dom  Maran  thought  the  dis- 

^  Ep.  10.  1.  tinction  was  only  whether  persons  had 

^  Tillemont  (vol.   in.  p.   702)  alone  been  present  or  not  at  the  registering  of 

perceived  there    might  be  two  ways.  their  names.    Vit.  Cypr.  vi.   Rigalt  (ap. 

'Peut-estre  que  Ton  faisait  et  Tun  et  Fell,  iff/.  30)  that  the  libelli  were  decl,ara- 


II.  III.  s  (ON   THE   LIBELS.)  83 

On  the  contrary,  every  conceivable  means  would  of  course  be 
adopted.  Accounts  are  not  irreconcilable ;  they  only  describe 
different  things.  Cyprian's  language  is  accurate  to  technicality  in 
the  use  of  professional  terms. 

L  (i)  The  libellus  which  the  suspected  men  tendered  is  clearly 
characterized  in  De  Laps.  27,  *  et  ilia  professio  est  denegantis,  contes- 
tatio  est  christiani  quod  fiierat'^  abnuentis.'  In  Ep.  30.  3  '^  Professio 
libellorum'  is  again  the  exhibition  or  putting  in  of  such  statements. 
Profiteri  is  elsewhere  the  technical  term,  '  Christi  negationem  sc7-ip- 
tam  profiteri^  Act.  SS.  Agapes,  Chionae,  Irenes,  &c.,  Ruinart,  Acta 
Mart.,  Ratisb.  1859,  pp.  424 — 52.  Again,  contestatio  means  the  plea 
or  statement  of  his  own  case  made  by  either  party  to  a  suit ;  it 
answers  to  the  Biufioala  of  the  Athenian  Courts  ;  the  Roman  clergy 
correctly  argue  in  Ep.  30.  3,  that  although  a  man  may  not  have 
approached  the  altar,  he  must  take  the  consequences  (tenetur)  if  he 
has  put  in  a  legal  affirmation  {contestatus  sit)  that  he  had  done  so. 

In  the  above  passages  a  Libellus  is  plainly  a  document  emanating 
from  the  recanting  Christian.  Such  persons  are  in  Peter  of  Alex- 
andria (Can.  V.)  described  as  giving  a  libellus,  x^poypa^jjo-airef. 
The  nature  of  the  contents  of  it  is  indicated  in  the  passage  of  the  De 
Lapsis  27,  '  He  has  declared  himself  to  have  done  whatever  evil 
another  actually  did'  {faciendo  commisit),  which  implies  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  sacrificial  act. 

The  offence  of  the  Bishop  Martial  {Ep.  67.  6)  who  was  '  stained 
with  the  libellus  of  idolatry,'  is  explained  by  the  use  of  the  word  con- 
testatus.  In  the  public  proceedings  before  the  Ducenary  Procurator 
(actis  publice  habitis  apud  D.  P.)  he  had  appeared,  and  put  in  a 
declaration  that  he  had  denied  Christ  and  adopted  a  heathen  cultus. 
He  is  not  accused  of  having  ever  actually  sacrificed,  and  the  libelli 
of  others,  as  Augustine  says,  contained  only  a  declaration  of  readiness 
to  do  so. 

(2)  A  second  class  {sed  etiam)  are  spoken  of  by  Novatian  and 
the  Roman  clergy  in  Ep.  30.  3  as  having  virtually  'given  acknow- 
ledgments, quittances  or  discharges^'  (accepta  fecissent),  though  not 

tions  either  of  heathenism  or  of  Chris-  4  (6)  '...se  thurificaturos  pro/essi  erant.^ 
tianity,  but  tendered  (the  latter  with  ^  Accepta  fecissent  is  apparently  the 
bribes)  only  by  the  people,  and  not  best  authenticated  reading.  Accepta  fa- 
given  by  magistrates :  Fechtrup  that  cere  is  a  common  term  (Dirksen,  Mann- 
they  were  magisterial  certificates  only.  ale,  s.v.  accepto  acceptum).  But  the 
Fechtrup's  special  pleading  is  matched  other  reading, arfa/zffr<f,  which  Neander 
by  his  inscience  of  every  technical  law  adopts,  is  equally  possible  here  in  mean- 
term,  pp.  66 — 76.  ing.  It  is  'to  put  in  a  plea  in  a  legal 
^  This  peculiar  phrase  occurs  again  process.'  '  Inter  quem  et  creditorem  acta 
ad Demetr.  13,  'id  quod  prius  fueram.'  facta  sunt.'     Scaevola  ap.  Forcellini. 


2  So  Aug.  de  Bapt.   c.  Donatt.  iv. 


6—2 


84  THE  RETIREMENT  OF  CYPRIAN. 

present  in  person  (cum  fierent).  They  had  put  in  a  legal  appearance 
{...prasentiam  suam...fecissent)  by  commissioning  a  proxy  to  register 
their  names  on  the  magistrates'  list  of  conformity  («/  sic  scriberentur 
mandandd).  Novatian  argues  that  as  one  who  orders  a  crime  is 
responsible  for  it,  so  one  who  sanctions  (consensu)  the  reading  in 
public  (publice  legitur)  of  an  untrue  statement  about  himself  is 
liable  to  be  proceeded  against  as  if  it  were  true. 

II.  The  other  kind  of  libellus  which  emanated  not  from  the 
renegade  but  from  the  magistrate  is  described  with  equal  precision. 

In  the  letter  to  Antonian  {Ep.  55.  14)  Cyprian  says  some  of  the 
Libellatici  had  received  {acceptus)  such  a  libellus.  An  opportunity 
for  obtaining  one  had  presented  itself  unsought  {pccasio  libelli 
oblata...ostensa\  and  they  had  in  person  or  by  deputy  {mandavt) 
gone  to  a  magistrate,  informed  him  that  they  were  Christians  and  paid 
a  sum  to  be  exempted  from  sacrificing.  But  as  no  magistrate  could 
issue  an  order  simply  staying  the  execution  of  an  edict,  his  certificate 
must  have  contained  a  statement  of  the  satisfactory  paganism  of  the 
holder.  This  is  why  Cyprian  tries  to  awaken  their  consciences, 
while  they  themselves  were  disposed  to  plead  that  they  had  avowed 
their  religion  and  that  the  form  of  the  document  was  the  magistrate's 
affair. 

Again,  in  the  Ad  Fortunatum  c.  11  Christians  are  urged  if  a 
libellus  is  offered  them  {libelli... oblata  sibi  occasione)  not  to  embrace 
the  gift  {decipientium  malum  munus),  by  the  example  of  Eleazar 
who  refused  the  facilities  offered  him  by  the  officers  {a  ministris 
regis  facultas  offerretur)  for  eating  lawful  flesh  as  a  make-believe 
for  swine's  flesh.  The  official  connivance  in  each  case  would  have 
enabled  them  to  seem  to  do  what  they  did  not.  The  libellus  is  here 
something  offered  and  is  a  munus. 

Nothing  is  more  clear  than  that  the  libel  included  two  kinds  of 
documents.  Whether  any  document  was  issued  in  cases  of  registra- 
tion is  not  clear,  but  all  three  sorts  of  persons  are  included  in  the 
name  Libellatici.     [See  Appendix,  p.  541.] 

IV. 

The  Retirement  of  Cypriati. 

While  these  scenes  were  passing  Cyprian  was  away  from 
the  city..  He  had  left  it  before  the  end  of  the  month  of 
January^;  so  suddenly  that  Caldonius  writes  to  him  as  if 
unaware  of  his  departure^     The  place  of  his  retreat  is  un- 

^  Lipsius,  op.  cit.  p.  200.  ^  Ep.  ^\. 


II.  IV.  THE  REASONS  FOR  IT.  85 

known  \     He  made  over  part  of  his  still  large  property  to    Dec. 
one  of  the  presbyters  Rogatian,  for  the  use  of  the  sufferers,    j^^"*^' 
forwarding  further  instalments  to  him  as  need  arose*.     The  ^■^-  ^S©' 
populace  sought  for  him  with  cries  of  *  Cyprian  to  the  Lions/ 
and  the  government  published  a  Proscription  of  him  and  of 
his  trustees^ 

Nothing  in  his  career  is  more  remarkable  than  the  calm 
decision  with  which  he  took  a  step  which  to  many  would 
seem  questionable,  and  which  his  'Master'  had  beforehand 
branded*  with  disapproval.  His  own  rational  view  that  a 
course  sanctioned  by  Christ  was  legitimate, — was  fo^  some 
men  a  duty,  the  neglect  of  which  aggravated  the  guilt  of  any 
subsequent  wavering', — was  not  the  only  consideration  which 
determined  his  action.  Clerics  engaged  daily  in  ministrations, 
spiritual  and  corporeal,  were  not  free  to  depart,  such  absentees 
had  forsaken  their  special  calling.  The  absent  bishop  re- 
served their  restoration,  upon  their  returning,  for  the  decision 
of  the  whole  plebes,  and  suspended  during  the  interval  their 
*  monthly  dividend*.'  So  wide  was  the  line  which,  like  a  true 
statesman,  he  inevitably  and  unshrinkingly  drew  between 
their  functions  and  his  own.  The  presence  of  the  bishop  on 
any  one  spot  was  infinitely  less  important  than  uninterrupted 
government.     It  was  not  the  martyrdom   of  a  saint   which  1 

was  in  question  but  the  maintenance  of  rule.     Some  years 
later,  when  his  death  seemed  to  him  likely  to  be  at  last  more 


^  Pearson  and   Tillemont   in   giving  spondence  was  large, 

him  Victor  the  Deacon  for  a  companion  -  £p.  7. 

must  rely  on  the  spurious  close  of  £j>.  *  -^//-  66.  4 ;  59.  6 ;  Pont.  Vii.  7. 

13,   which   is   given    only  in    Rigalt's  ■•  Tertull.  de  Fuga  in  Persecutione. 

'codex  remensis,'  yet   taken  into   the  '  De  Laps.  10.     The  words  'Domi- 

text  by  Baluze,  and  on  Ep.  5,  where  nus  in  persecutione  secedere  et  fiigere 

the  name  is  spurious,  omitted  by  Hartel.  mandavit '    referring   to    Matth.   x.   23 

The  scientific  construction  of  history  shew  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  interpret 

without   evidence  is  illustrated   by  O.  jE/.  16. 4 '...Dominus,  qui  ut  secederem 

Ritschl's  statement  that  the  place  must  jussit '  of  'visions,  &c.'  rather  than  of 

have  been  known  to  the  magistrates,  or  Scripture, 

easily  discoverable  because  his   corre-  *  Ep.  34.  4. 


86  WORK  OF  RETIREMENT. 

useful  than  his  energies,  he  remained,  against  all  solicitations, 
to  die  among  his  people.  And  gladly  now  would  he  have 
braved  danger  in  the  activity  of  the  presbyterate  'if  the 
conditions  of  his  place  and  degree  had  permitted*.'  But  his 
presence  in  Carthage  would  have  attracted  danger  upon 
others 2 ;  would  have  provoked  riots  in  the  aroused  state  of 
heathen  feeling'.  Tertullus*,  the  devotee  of  prisoners  and 
martyrs,  was  himself  the  prime  mover'  and  most  strenuous 
advocate  of  the  concealment  of  Cyprian.  Yet  such  a  charm 
invests  even  the  most  rash  exposure  of  life,  that  there  possibly 
will  never  be  wanting  suggestions  that  the  first  duty  of 
Cyprian's  life  was  to  throw  it  away.  Leaving  fanaticism 
however  to  its  doubts,  and  scepticism  to  its  sneers  on  this 
particular,  we  pass  to  the  use  he  made  of  that  life.  His  pre- 
eminent work  sprang  into  light  before  him.  Instantly  we 
find  him  blending  a  life  of  devotion  and  eucharist^  with 
intensest  and  widest  activity.  We  find  him  not  only  swaying 
and  sustaining  the  Church  of  Carthage;  he  forms  and  guides 
the  policy  of  the  West.  Repelling  a  singular  aggression  of 
the  Roman  clergy,  he  suggests  to  Rome  the  measures  of  the 
Church.  The  faith  and  polity  of  the  Church  are  menaced 
simultaneously  by  the  two  worst  dangers :  by  Indifferentism 
bidding  for  popular  support  with  newly  invented  indulgences 
and  saintly  merits,  and  by  Puritanism  armed  with  specious 
ideals,  "^o  the  victorious^  firmness  and  sweet  persuasiveness 
of  Cyprian  it  was  due  that  in  his  age  Christianity  did  not 
melt  into  an  ethnic  religion  or  freeze  into  a  sect. 

^  Ep.  12.  I ;  cf.  Epp.  5.  I  ;  6.  i.              nobis  oblationes   et  sacrificia  ob  com- 

"^  Epp.  7;  14.  I.  memorationes  eorum.'     A  painful  inci- 

*  Ep.  43.  4.  dent  of  one  of  his  communions  is  related 

*  Ep.  12.  2.  De  Laps.  25,  see  p.  108  infr. 

^  Ep.  14.  I.  "^  '  Victoriosissimus  Cyprianus,' Aug. 

*  Ep.   12.   2   *...et  celebrentur  hie  a 


II.  V.  ROMAN   INTERFERENCE.  87 

V. 

Interference  of  tJie  Church  of  Rome. 

We  must  pursue  these  lines  in  detail.  Immediately  upon 
his  retirement  the  Roman  presbyters  and  deacons,  then  holding 
the  administration  of  their  see^  in  commission  during  its 
vacancy,  despatched  two  letters  to  Carthage,  one  detailing  to 
Cyprian  himself  very  fully  the  glorious  martyrdom  of  their  Jan.  20, 
own  bishop,  and  evidently  pointing  hints  from  his  example^ ;  '  '  ^°' 
the  other  exhorting  Cyprian's  clergy  to  supply  by  their 
devotion  the  void  created  by  the  fugitive^  '  The  unfaithful 
'  shepherds  of  Ezekiel  and  the  hireling  shepherd  of  the  Gospel, 
'  the  Good  Shepherd  Himself  and  the  faithful  pastorate  of 
'  Peter  must  be  their  warning  and  their  pattern.  They  them- 
'  selves  at  Rome  have  reaped  the  reward  of  not  deserting  the 
'  brotherhood,  in  the  general  fidelity  of  their  Church  in  spite 
'  of  the  lapse  of  some  eminent  and  timorous  persons.*  This, 
after  the  remark  that  Cyprian's  clergy  justified  his  absence 
as  being  an  '  eminent  person/  persecution  impending^  Such 
a  sarcasm  might  perhaps  have  seemed  intelligible  had  it 
followed  the  return  of  their  own  envoy,  sent  with  the  news 
of  Fabian's  martyrdom  to  Cyprian,  and  bringing  back  the 
startling  news  of  his  disappearance.  Ultramontane  ingenuity 
has  indeed  so  narrated  the  facts^  But  it  was  Carthage 
which  had  communicated  both  fact  and  justification,  and 
unfortunately  the  two  Roman  letters  were  sent  together  by 
the  same  hand,  nor  can  the  former,  which  has  not  survived, 

^  Cf.  Ep.  14.  2  '...gerenda  ea  quae  the  more  exposed.'    Ep.  8.  i.     Hartel 

administratio  religiosa  deposcit.'  spoils  the  sense  by  his  comma  before 

2  Ep.  9.  I.  'certa  ex  causa.' 

*  Thisis^/.  8.  That  on  Fabian  is  lost.  '  Freppel,  p.  174.     Full  of  admira- 

*  N.  Marshall  (London,  1717)  cor-  tion  of  his  Church's 'traditions  of  vigil- 
rectly  '  hath  retired  for  a  certain  reason,  ance  and  universal  solicitude '  he  mag- 
wherein  you  seem  to  think  he  hath  nanimously  sympathises  with  Cyprian's 
acted  well  and  rightly,  as  being  a  dis-  sensitiveness  to  what  might  have  seemed 
tinguished  person,  and  standing  as  such  'an  indirect  censure.' 


88  ROMAN  INTERFERENCE. 

have  been  less  wounding  than  the  latter.  Cyprian  responds 
however  with  fervour  to  the  eulogy  on  Fabian,  but  returns 
to  them  their  other  letter  with  a  dignified  hope  that  it  may 
Feb.,  prove  to  be  a  forgery,  since  it  lacks  both  authentication  and 
A.D.  250.  a(j(jj.ggg^  j^jj^j  surprises  him  equally  by  its  matter,  its  style 
and  even  the  paper  it  was  written  on\  It  is  indeed  a  singular 
document.  We  might  have  wished  to  share  Cyprian's  sus- 
picion, did  not  a  later  letter  of  his  shew  that  his  delicate 
doubt  was  but  a  criticism  of  the  missive^  It  is,  when  printed 
according  to  the  genuine  text,  a  remarkable  illustration  of 
what  has  been  often  pointed  out,  the  deficiency  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  at  that  period  in  literary  cultivation.  The  inelegance 
of  its  style  and  the  incorrectness  of  its  constructions  and 
forms  of  words  place  it  by  the  side  of  the  four  other  epistles^ 
which  emanate  from  less  cultivated  persons,  and  distinguish 
these  from  all  the  rest  of  the  correspondence.  No  further 
caustic  criticism  was  provoked.  He  had  awakened  them  to 
the  sense  of  his  position  and  their  own.  Their  answer  gave 
him  full  assurance  of  support,  and  with  a  vigorous  letter 
from  the  Roman  to  the  Carthaginian  Confessors*,  came  op- 
portunely and  helpfully.  Their  third  Epistle  was  from  the 
strong,  clear,  pedantically  clear,  pen  of  Novatian^  and  was 
sent  after  a  consultation  with  '  Bishops  Present '  as  they  were 
called — neighbouring  bishops  and  bishops  then  in  Rome  on 

^  Ep.  9.  2.  gladly  learn  what  honour  was  covertly 

2  In  Ep.   20.   3    he   calls   it   plainly  intended  for  the  Church   of  Rome  by 

'vestra  scripta '  and  quotes  a  passage  this  composition,  upon  the  theory  that 

from  it  with  a  slight  improvement  in  the    whole    Cyprianic    correspondence 

the  wording.    Fechtrup  (p.  47)  ponder-  was  forged  in  her  interest, 

ously  thinks   he  had  made  and   now  *  These  two  crossed  his  Ep.  20,  see 

detected  the  mistake.  Ep.  27.  4,  and   are   lost   like  that  on 

^  Epp.  21 — 24.     The  errors  are  not  Fabian.     The  principal  contents  of  the 

due  to  the  inaccuracy  but  to  the  cor-  former  are  given  in  Ep.  30.  3,  and  it 

rectness  of  the  text,  which  elsewhere  was    widely    circulated    with    two    of 

exhibits  no  such  phenomena.    See  Har-  Cyprian's.     Their  letter  to  Sicily  {Ep. 

tel's   Preface,   p.    xlviii.     Does  charta  30.  5)  is  also  lost  (see  p.  95). 

ipsa  in  Ep.  9.  2   further  indicate  the  *  Ep.  30 ;  compare  Ep.  55.  5.     On 

poverty  of   the    scribe?     One   would  Novatian's  style  see  p.  122  and  note. 


II.  VI.  THE   LAPSED.  89 

account  of  the  persecution  or  other  causes,  for  before  it  was 
written  they  had  learnt  how  much  they  and  the  Church  owed 
to  Cyprian's  preservation.  It  is  possible  too  that  the  need 
for  seclusion  which  Novatian^  felt  in  his  own  case,  as  we 
shall  see,  had  something  to  do  with  the  change  or  at  least 
the  suppression  of  opinion  from  Rome  on  this  subject,  so 
soon  as  Novatian  became  their  scribe. 

Their  last  letter  also  penned  by  Novatian  is  in  thorough 
accord  with  the  vigorous  steps  which,  as  we  shall  see,  Cyprian 
took  and  proposed  to  take  as  difficulties  developed^ 


VI. 

The  Lapsed  and  tlie  Martyrs. 

For  in  the  meantime  mightier  issues  had  blazed  out.  The 
merit  of  confessorship  and  the  remorse  of  the  lapsed  had 
come  face  to  face,  and  the  conception  had  been  entertained 
that  the  faithful  might  mediate  for  the  fallen.  Even  in  Ter- 
tuUian's  time  certain  penitents  had  by  their  intercession  pro- 
cured restoration  to  communion  for  others.  He  intimates  a 
doubt  of  the  validity'  of  this  system  in  his  earliest  work, 
while  apparently  implying  that  it  was  of  no  long  standing; 
but  as  a  Montanist,  however  exaggerated  his  language,  he 
shews  that  it  had  become  more  common  under  the  patronage 
of  the  contemporary  bishop  whom  he  attacks^ 

Now,  however,  the  question  was  no  longer  one  of  the 
dispensation  of  private  sin.  No  contrast  could  be  stronger 
than  that  between  the  Confessors  and  the  Lapsed,  and  it 
was  exhibited  on  a  great  scale.     The  sufferers  were  not  only 

^  See  pp.  121,  122.  dam  and  si  forte. 

^  Ep.  36;  see  p.  122,  n.  3.  •*  Jam  et  in  martyras  tuos  effundis 

3  Ad  Mart.  i.     Note  the  words  qtii-       banc  potestatem.    De  Pudic.  c.  22. 


90  THE  MARTYRS. 

faithful  to  the  Church,  they  were  saving  its  existence \  and  at 
the  same  time  demonstrating  that  the  attractions  and  the 
terrors  of  heathenism  were  not  powerful  enough  to  hold  the 
world.  Gratitude  to  them  knew  no  bounds.  Ministers  to 
their  wants  flocked  to  the  prisons*.  Men  prayed  all  night 
upon  the  earth  that  they  might  themselves  be  captured  so 
as  to  attend  on  those^  who  had  been  tortured.  '  The  Offering' 
was  made  regularly  in  their  cells.  From  his  retirement  Cyprian 
has  to  recommend  less  demonstrative  sympathy*,  and  to 
enjoin  that  only  one  presbyter  with  one  deacon  should  per- 
form that  service,  and  that  these  should  so  succeed  one 
another  as  not  to  cause  the  constant  attendance  of  any  to 
be  remarked.  Every  death  among  them  was  communicated 
to  him  that  he  might  'celebrate  the  oblations  and  sacrifices' 
of  commemoration,  and  was  calendared  for  future  observance". 

At  Rome  the  martyred  Fabian  himself  had  made  the 
compilation  of  such  registers  a  duty  of  the  subdeacons  with 
their  clerks*.  A  few  years  later  began  under  Gregory 
Thaumaturgus  the  substitution  for  pagan  feasts  of  wakes 
over  the  martyred  remains  which  he  conveyed  to  various 
localities''. 

Thus  everywhere  the  veneration  for  the  martyrs  rose  in 
proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  interests  at  stake.    Cyprian 

^  Ep.  37.   4  '...nutantem  multorum  Opt.  i.   16.      The   delay  necessary  for 

fidem  martyrii  vestri  veritate  solidastis.'  such  enrolment  is  a  probable  explana- 

^  Ep.  5.  2.  tion  (as  has  been  already  observed)  of 

^  The  only  intelligible  sense   I  can  the  title  Martyr  being  added,  though 

give  to  ^.21.  3.  not   much   later,    to    the    epigraph    of 

*  Hefele  suggests  that   some  of  the  Fabian,  about  whose  martyrdom  there 

calumnies  against  Csecilian  arose  from  can  be  no  question ;  see  pp.  65,  66  and 

his  requiring  similar  prudence.     H.  des  notes. 

Conciles  (ed.  Delarc)  vol.  I.  p.  172.  ®  'Notarii,'  Felkian  Catalogue  (Lip- 

'  Ep.  12.  2.     From  the  recitation  of  sius,    op.  cit.  p.    275).      Cf.   Pearson, 

their  names  in  the  list  or  canon  arose  Minor  Theolog.  Works,  vol.  11.  pp.  314, 

the  term    'canonize.'     Csecilian,   a.d.  315. 

312,  rebukes  Lucilla's  veneration  for  a  '  Greg.  Nyss.  0pp.  t.  III.  p.  574,  ed. 

relic  of  a  martyr,  '...et  si  martyris,  sed  Morell. 
necdum  vindicaii^  not  yet  acktunvledged. 


II.  VI.        GROWING   VENERATION    FOR  CONFESSORS.  9I 

himself,  who  was  not  without  some  apprehension  of  the 
coming  mischief;  who  had  written  so  wisely,  '  He  who 
'speaketh  things  peaceful  and  kind  and  righteous  after  the 
'  precept  of  Christ,  is  every  day  a  Confessor  of  Christ ' ;  who 
elsewhere  so  invariably  softens  Tertullian's  rhetoric,  himself 
now  exaggerates  it  even  to  bad  taste*  in  addressing  the 
confessors. 

A  significant  change  had  taken  place  even  in  the  common 
use  of  terms.  Only  seventy  years  before  this  the  sufferers  of 
Lyons  and  Vienne  had,  in  their  last  prison,  after  their  last 
contests  with  the  wild  beasts,  sharply  reproved  the  application 
to  themselves  of  the  name  of  Martyr,  ascribing  it  to  those 
alone  who  had  followed  to  the  death  '  the  Faithful  and  True 
Martyr'  of  the  Apocalypse-.  At  the  end  of  the  second 
century  we  have  indeed  a  fragment  from  one  who  styles 
himself  '  Aurelius  Cyrenius  Martyr^';  whom,  if  we  rightly  un- 
der^gjttl'ljim,  the  men  of  Lyons  would  have  disowned.  But 
Tegt^iliaia ,  early  addressed  imprisoned  Christians  only  as 
'  martyrs  designate*'  and  seems  much  later  to  repudiate  and 
ridicn^iJle  growing  fashion  by  his  question,  '  What  martyr  is 
'  a  ii^yfillct  in  this  world,  a  petitioner  for  pence,  a  victim  to 
*  doi^flffi  itod  money-lender^'''  But  now  Cyprian  uses  it  freely 
of  fdi  vftbol  are  in  prisons  or  in  mines®,  while  'Confessor,'  once 
res^tj^ri^-fcr  those  awaiting  death,  is  applied  to  any  sufferer, 
and  4w*riE0ight  is  honoured  as  a  '  private  confession ^' 

idS^  «4ptives  were  in  Cyprian's  eyes  '  the  friends  of  the 
LoijAjv^f  would  sit  with  Him  in  judgment,'  whose  inter- 
cc^cteififcjready  avail^  in  the  unseen  world.     But  the  faction 

^  Although  allowance  must  be  made  adopt  the  common  explanation  of  this 

for    the   then   freshness  of   metaphors  savage  passage. 

now  ttbe,9J^  cannot    share    Freppel's  ^  Epp.  15.  i  ;  76.  6. 

traa^jpOits^f)  Ep.    10,    '...ce    langage  ^  De  Laps.  3. 

toutSrewSasftit  de  poesie  lyrique.'  ^  ...pnerogativa  eorum  adjuvari  apiid 

'h^fiibicnaH.  E.  v.  2.  Deum  possimt  {Ep.  18.    i)  ;  ...adjuvari 

X^^Kll^^ell.  Sac.  I.  p.  451.  apud  Dojninwn  in  delictis  suis  possunt 

*  Ad Martt.  i.  [Ep.  19.  2).     Rettberg,  who  belongs  to 

^  £^  .Mitdia'i.  22.     I  am  unable  to  that  class  of  historians  which  thinks  in- 


92  RECOURSE  TO   THEIR   MEDIATION. 

which  had  at  all  times  been  unfriendly  to  him  attributed  to 
them  such  spiritual  supremacy  on  earth  as  threatened  to 
disorganize  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Church. 

Among  the  Lapsed  there  had  at  once  set  in  a  violent 
revulsion,  a  passionate  desire  to  recover  or  to  reassert  their 
place  in  the  forsaken  Church.  Some  reappeared  at  the  tri- 
bunals, and  received  sentence  of  exile^;  some,  like  Castus 
and  .^milius,  of  torture  and  death  ;  some,  like  the  sisters  of 
Celerinus,  dedicated  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  con- 
fessors'- ;  others  entered  unmurmuringly  on  penance  of  inde- 
finite duration  I  Unhappily  most  preferred  to  rely  on  a 
vicarious  and  imputed  merit.  At  first  a  letter  from  a  '  martyr' 
to  a  bishop  prayed  only  that  the  case  of  a  fallen  friend  might 
after  the  restoration  of  peace  be  examined  into ;  a  due  period 
of  penitence  and  the  imposition  of  hands  being  understooH 
to  be  at  least  as  necessary  as  after  other  open  falls.  Some, 
like  the  torn  and  tortured  Saturninus,  forebore  even- tikis- ^ti- 
tion.  Mappalicus  in  dying  requested  it  only  for  his  Bisifcti^nd 
mother*.  b  zi^ii^ 

But  the  factious  presbyters,  who  in  the  simplittl^^nd 
devotion  of  these  men  saw  so  promising  a  weapaftna]|riinst-. 
the  absent  bishop,  ventured  now  to  anticipate  not  sucfls  flDi^iry/ 
only,  but  even  the  death  of  the  martyr  which  alo^fe' ifcftild 
have  given  validity  to  his  appeal.  Upon  the  stl'dh^ds  of 
papers  signed  by  still  living  confessors  they  '  c^Ctfei^  Ithe 
names®'  of  lapsed  persons  at  the  Eucharist  as  of  du^  rtdSbred 
penitents  and  gave  them  communion''.  Then  thedy  USibels 
began  to  be  carelessly  drawn:  they  sometimes  spe(^fWiJ)Cfftly 

rfgoorfJiA 

sight  consists  in  the  ascription  of  low  ^  Ep.  i6.  3.                    nadJ   adi 

motives  to  great  minds,  sees  in  this  Ian-  ®  On    Nomen    offerre    Jbe,3Ai0   cor- 

guage  the  bidding  for  support  against  rect  though  not  very  lucid«ei»ijks  of 

the  factious  clergy.  L'Aubespine,    Obsci-vatt.  \BixkthiL.    I. 

^  Ep.  24.  §  vii.  (1623),  reprinted  in  "ftisdEsfitwn  of 

-  Ep.  21.  3,  4.  Optatus,  1679.   (P'ieur's  0]pt^bu9JI676, 

3  Ep.  56.  2.  p.  21.)                                 A^rt6H>K 

^  Ep.1T.  I.  ">  Ep.  34.  t.     Cf.  Ep.  i^^  <A 


II.  VI.  THE   MISUSE  OF  IT  SYSTEMATIZED.  93 

one  of  a  group  to  whom  they  were  granted,  '  Allow  such  an 
one  and  his  family  to  communicate  V  They  were  issued  in 
the  name  of  a  dead  confessor,  of  a  confessor  too  illiterate  to 
write';  issued  so  copiously',  that  some  thousands  were 
believed  to  be  circulating  in  Africa,  and  the  very  sale  of 
them  was  not  beyond  suspicion*.  The  chief  author  of  this 
issue  was  Lucian,  the  old  friend  of  Celerinus,  but  very 
unlike  him,  says  Cyprian,  in  delicacy  of  feeling  though  an 
honest  man,  and  *  scantily  versed  in  the  literature  of  the 
Lord'.'  Lucian  had  been  charged,  as  he  announced^  by  a 
revered  confessor  Paul  before  his  death  in  prison  to  bestow 
'  Peace '  in  his  name  on  whoever  asked  it,  and  he  did  so  with 
only  the  proviso,  that  the  recipient  should,  when  the  persecu- 
tion ended,  present  himself  to  his  bishop  and  confess  his 
lapse.  He  used  similarly  the  name  of  Aurelius.  When 
remonstrated  with  by  Cyprian,  he  seems  to  have  replied 
almost  at  once  by  promulgating  in  the  name  of  '  All  Con- 
fessors^' an  indulgence  to  '  All  Lapsed,'  and  desiring  Cyprian 
himself  to  communicate  this  to  the  provincial  bishops.  A 
condition  was  annexed,  seemingly  meant  for  a  concession, 
that  they  should  satisfy  their  bishop  as  to  their  conduct  since 
their  fall.     This  extraordinary  document  is  extant^ 

Cyprian  regarded  it  as  an  outrage  on  discipline*.  The 
Roman  presbyters  exposed  its  inconsistencies,  but  partly 
excused    it   as   shewing  a  desire  to  escape  from  their  false 


^  '  Communicet  ille  cum   suis,'  Ep.  ^  Ep.  ■22.  2. 

15-  4-  '  Compare  oo'TrafiETat  y/i.a$  xo/>^y  aTras 

'  Ep.  27.  I.     On  this  ground  Lucian  o^uoC    fjMpT'upuv    at    end    of    cent.    iii. 

justified  his  use  of  the  name  of  Aurelius,  Lucian,   ap.    Routh,    R.    S.    vol.    iv. 

'quod  literas  non  nosset^',    yet   it  can  p.  5. 

scarcely  have   been   true  in   his   case,  ^  Ep.  23. 

since   Aurelius   was   immediately  after  ^  ...quasi  moderatius  aliquid  et  tem- 
ordained  Lector  by  Cyprian.    Ep.  2,^.  I.  perantius  fieret...epistolam  scripsit  qua 

?  ...gregatim... passim...  Ep.  27.  i.  psene  omne  vinculum  fidei...et  evangelii 

•*  Ep.  20.  2.     Ep.  15.  3.  sanctitas  et  firmitas  solveretur.   Ep.  27. 

'  Ep.  27.   3  '  ...circa  intellegentiam  2. 
dominicse  lectionis.' 


94  THE  MISUSE  OF  MEDIATION   SYSTEMATIZED. 

position  by  throwing  the  final  responsibility  on  their  bishop — 
which  is  not  an  unfair  view\ 

It  may  for  a  moment  be  worth  our  while  to  glance  at 
the  modern  ultramontane  explanation  of  this  step.  'Their 
'imprudent  charity'  says  Freppel  'had  forgotten  that  In- 
*  dulgences  have  for  their  object  to  supplement  the  insufficiency 
'  of  works  of  satisfaction,  but  not  to  replace  them,'  How  was 
it  then  that  not  only  Cyprian,  but  his  supposed  directors,  the 
Roman  presbyters,  left  after  all  the  definition  of  an  Indul- 
gence so  incomplete  ? — No  stronger  refutation  of  ultramon- 

tanism  exists  than  its  attempts  to  write  history. 

» 

The  Lapsed  and  the  Presbyters  who  encouraged  them 
soon  despised  the  condition  that  they  should  satisfy  the 
bishops- ;  but  beyond  the  direct  evils  of  the  confessors' 
action  lay  the  unpopularity^  which  it  ensured  for  the  bishops, 
if  they  did  their  duty.  They  must  presently  be  seen  rejecting 
Avholesale  both  penitents  and  martyrs.  Discipline  was  vio- 
lated, but  harmony  too  and  reverence  and  affection  would 
have  no  place  under  the  random  domination  of  merits.  It 
is  not  surprising  that  in  some  of  the  provincial  towns  there 
was  something  like  actual  riot"*,  and  that  the  Lapsed  extorted 
communion  from  the  weaker  presbyters  by  force. 

From  the  Cyprianic  correspondence  it  would  seem  that 
these  disorders  did  not  exist  at  Rome.  This  was  no  doubt 
due  at  least  in  part  to  the  powerful  influence  of  Novatian 
in  the  exactly  contrary  direction  over  the  confessors  whom 
he  commends  for  maintaining  '  Evangelical  discipline ' '  and 


^  ...quia  a  multis  urguebantur,  dum  attestation  clause    'prsesente    de  clero 

ad  episcopum  illos  remittunt,  &c.     Ep.  et  exorcista  et  lectore.' 

36.  2.     Fechtrup  and  Ritschl  take  'op-  ^  Ep.  35. 

tamus  te  cum  Sanctis  martyribus  pacem  '  Invidia,  Epp.  15.  4;  27.  2. 

Tiabere,'  Ep.  23,  as  a  threatening.   The  *  ...impetus  per  multitudinem,   Ep. 

confessors  were  too  literal  so  to  write.  27.  3. 

So  also  it  is  impossible  to  credit  them  *  Ep.  30.  4. 
with  parodying  the  usual  forms  in  the 


II.  VII.  CYPRIAN'S  SCHEME.  95 

who  at  first  adhered  to  him  rather  than  to  the  milder 
Cornelius.  These  clergy  sympathize  with  Africa  and  evi- 
dently with  Sicily\  and  deplore  the  revolt  not  only  there  but 
in  'nearly  all  the  world,'  but  of  themselves  they  state  'we 
seem  so  far  to  have  escaped  the  disorders  of  the  times^' 
The  vacancy  of  their  See  was  an  adequate  reason  both  for 
postponement  and  for  patience.  It  was  prudently  employed, 
and,  as  a  rule,  sensibly  accepted.  Celerinus  was  the  excep- 
tion*. Cyprian's  correspondents  among  the  Roman  confessors 
take  Cyprian's  view,  urge  humility  on  the  Carthaginian  mar- 
tyrs, and  at  last  go  beyond  him  in  strictness*. 

VII. 

The  Cyprianic  Sdieme  for  Restorative  Discipline. 

For  Cyprian  had  lost  no  time.  A  distinct  policy  had 
become  essential.  The  temper  of  the  Lapsed,  the  increasing 
dangers  which  it  threatened,  the  fitness  of  conciliating  the 
martyrs'^,  and  the  approach  of  the  feverous  malarious  autumn 
of  the  old  world  city  or  the  stagnant  offensive  water  of  the 
Lake  of  Tunis*,  would  brook  no  delay  on  the  part  of  the 

^  This  seems  to  be  the  first  mention  gus...'     Even  blood  was  shed,  he  pro- 
of a  Christian  Church  in  that  island.  ceeds. 
Ep.  30.  5.  Seede  Rossi,  Inscrr.  Christ.  II.  p.  66, 

^  Ep.  30.  5,  6.     Under  Diocletian's  102 — 3,    138;   also   R.    S.  11.  p.   201. 
persecution  the  Roman  church  was  not  Migne,  Patr.  Lat.  xiii.  cc.  384,  385. 
exempt.     A  page  of  unwritten  history  Peter  Alex.  Can.  5,  speaks  of  confessors 
is  indicated  in  the  epitaphs  of  Damasus  giving  remission  to  the  Lapsed  under 
upon   the   popes  Marcellus  and  Euse-  the  persecution  of  Diocletian,  but  in  a 
bius.     He  borrows  the  sentiments  and  mild  form,  and  he  appoints  them  a  pen- 
words  of  Cyprian  to  express  the  similar  ance  notwithstanding, 
rebellion.   Dam.  Carm.  xi.  De  S.  Mar-  3  £p^  •21.3. 
cello  Martyre,  'Veridicus  Rector  lapsos  *  Epp.  2-j,  31,  32. 
(^uia  crimina  Jiere  Pradixit  miseris  fuit  "  Notes  3  and  4  on  p.  94. 
omnibus    hostis    amarus    Hmc    furor,  «  Ep.  i8.  i   'jam  aestatem  coepisse, 
hinc  odium...'    Carm.  xii.  De  S.  Euse-  tempus  infirmitatibus  assiduis  et  gravi- 
bio  Papa,  'Heraclius  vetuit  lapsos  pec-  bus  infestatum...'     Kui-As  5'  t\v  iin.To\r] 
cata  dolere:  Eusebius  miseros  docuit  sua  ...iirl  \ifiVT}  aradepoO  xai  /Sop^os  OSaros, 
crimina  flere.     Scinditur  in  partes  vul-  Appian,  de  Rebus  Punic,  viii.  99. 


96  CYPRIAN'S   RULES  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

church  in  dealing  with  the  anxious  multitudes  who  besieged 
her  gates.  So  soon  as  the  Libels  appeared  he  wrote 
despatches  to  the  confessors  at  Carthage,  to  his  clergy, 
and  with  peculiar  warmth  and  confidence  to  his  laityS  to 
Bishops  in  all  directions ^  to  a  remarkable  group  of  Roman 
confessors,  and  to  the  Roman  clergy^  who  were  still  under 
the  leadership  of  the  able,  high-minded  and  austere  Novatian. 
This  man,  had  he  lived  in  some  brief  halcyon  day  when 
orthodox  speculation  and  asceticism  were  in  the  ascendant, 
might  have  been  a  scholastic  saint.  That,  in  times  of  conflict 
and  in  the  most  practical  of  all  cities,  some  tinge  of  ambition 
shot  across  his  higher  qualities,  made  his  position  false  and 
his  memory  unenviable.  At  present  however  nothing  had 
appeared  in  him  but  the  clear  and  somewhat  hard  decisive- 
ness which,  giving  point  to  his  nobler  characteristics,  made 
him  regarded  as  the  possible  head  of  the  Roman  church, 
when  Fabian's  successor  should  be  elected.  Moyses,  Maximus 
and  their  fellow  prisoners  were  as  yet  earnestly  attached  to 
him. 

To  all  whom  he  now  addressed  Cyprian  proposed  one 
simple  method  :  To  reserve  the  cases  of  the  Lapsed  intact, 
whether  the  martyrs  had  given  them  Letters  of  Peace  or 
not*,  until  councils  of  bishops,  assembling  both  at  Carthage 
and  at  Rome'  on  the  abatement  of  persecution,  should  lay 
down  some  general  principles  of  restoration  for  those  who 
deserved  compassion:  Then  the  cases  to  be  heard  individually 
by  the  bishops  with  the  assistance  of  their  presbyterate, 
diaconate  and  'commons^':  Full  confession  without  reserve 

^  Epp.  15,  16,  and  17.  as  to  the  part  which  the  Plebes  were  to 

*  Ep.  26.  have  on  account  of  the  magnitude  of 
3  Epp.  27  and  28.  the  affair,  'consults  omnibus  Episcopis, 

*  Ep.  20.  3.  Presbyteris,  Diaconibus,  confessoribus, 

*  Epp.  10.  3 ;  55.  4.  sed  ei  ipsis  stantibus  Laicis,  ut  in  tuis  li- 
'  Ep.  17.  4  Fratribus  in  plebe  con-       teris  et  ipse  testyis.'    Ep.  17.  i   '...ex- 

sistentibus.      Ep.    31.    6   puts   in   the       aminabuntur    singula    praesentibus    et 
strongest  light    the   opinions    both*  of     judicantibus  vobis.*     Cf.  Ep.  30.  5. 
Cyprian  and  of  the  Roman  Confessors 


II.  VII.  THE  CYPRIANIC  POLICY.  97 

to  be  required  in  the  presence  of  those  most  conversant  with 
the  circumstances:  Readmission  to  Communion  to  be  given 
by  the  imposed  hands  of  the  bishop  and  clerus  :  Meantime  to 
concede  to  mercy  and  to  the  martyrs  thus  much — that  any 
lapsed  person  in  danger  of  death  or  in  serious  trouble,  who 
had  been  provided  with  a  Libel,  might  be  readmitted  to  com- 
munion with  imposition  of  hands  by  any  presbyter,  or  in 
desperate  cases,  even  by  a  deacon^:  until  general  resolutions 
shall  have  been  come  to,  all  others,  who  had  not  obtained 
Confessors'  Letters,  must  even  in  the  hour  of  death  be 
commended  to  the  forgiveness  of  God  without  earthly  com- 
munion and  be  assisted  in  their  repentance.  It  was  not 
for  the  ordinary  officers  to  restore  them  to  communion 
without  directions  from  the  bishop,  or  recommendation  from 
martyrs.  To  all  it  was  still  open  publicly  to  recant  their 
denial  of  Christ,  and  to  abide  the  issue  from  the  heathen 
authorities.  Thus  they  would  be  not  merely  restored  but 
crowned. 

The  grounds  of  the  course  he  advised  were  these  : 

1.  That  so  general  a  question  should  be  dealt  with  upon 
some  general  principle  not  by  individual  discretion  ^ 

2.  That  the  Lapsed  if  restored  at  once  would  have 
fared  better  than  the  Constant  who  had  borne  the  loss  of 
all  things. 

3.  That  some  regard  should  be  had  to  the  '  prerogative ' 
of  confessorship. 

These  principles  he  insists  upon  in  his  letters  and  in  his 
pamphlet  Of  the  Lapsed  I     The  concession  to  confessors  is 


'  Epp.  18.  I  and  19.  2.  '  Freppel    calls    the    De    Lapsis    a 

2  ...non  paucorum  nee  ecclesiae  unius  resume  of  the  letters: — fairly,  but  it  is 

nee  unius  provinciae   sed   totius  orbis  of  their  latest   views,  for  these  views 

haec  causa  est,  Ep.  19.  •2,  cf.  Ep.  30.  5.  gradually  alter,  as  we  shall  see. 

B.  7 


98"  ROMAN  DEDUCTIONS  FROM  FACTS. 

not  unnatural*.     His  assurance  of  the  divine  acceptance  of 
the  iinaneled  penitent  is  nobly  expressed'.    'They  that  in 

*  gentleness  and  lowliness  and  very  penitence  shall  have  per- 

*  severed  in  good  works  will  not  be  left  destitute  of  the  help 

*  and  aid  of  the  Lord.     They  too  will  be  cared  for  by  a  divine 
'  healing.' 


On  the  '■Proof  of  Roman  Confession  which  is  derived 
from  these  events. 

Some  theory  of  '  development '  applied  to  the  principles  both  of 
discipline  and  doctrine  is  no  less  essential  to  the  progress  (and  even 
to  the  construction)  of  ecclesiastical  than  of  civil  estates.  The  mis- 
fortune of  Rome  is  not  only  that  her  constructiveness  has  been  in- 
consequent and  has  incorporated  usages  subversive  of  the  original 
theory,  but  that  she  does  practically  repudiate  schemes  of  'develop- 
ment '  erected  in  her  behalf.  Her  scholars  are  required  to  prove  her 
most  modem  inventions  to  be  primitive.  For  instance — The  word 
Confession  {exomologesis)  is  still  so  far  from  bearing  a  technical 
sense  in  Cyprian,  that  it  is  applied  in  the  same  page  (i)  to  the  Song 
of  the  Three  Children,  (2)  to  the  Monody  of  Daniel,  and  (3)  to  the 
public  acknowledgment  of  apostasy  {de  Laps.  28,  31),  as  well  as  (4)  in 
Testim.  iii.  114  to  Confession  of  sin  to  God.  The  word  'Sacerdos' 
in  Cyprian  invariably  signifies  a  Bishop.  But  a  judicious  limitation 
of  these  two  terms  to  the  sense  of  '  sacramental  confession '  and 
'  presbyter  or  priest '  yields  to  the  ultramontane  mind  the  product 
of  auricular  confession  as  now  used  in  the  church  of  Rome.  Is  it  not 
Exomologesis  before  a  Sacerdos  ? 

A  similar  concatenation  is  made  of  (i)  Cyprian's  argfument  that 
*  since  even  ordinary  penitents  could  be  restored  only  through  the 
imposition  of  hands  by  bishop  and  clergy,  after  less  offences  than 
apostasy,  the  Lapsed  cannot  be  admitted  more  easily'  with  (2)  his 
requirement  oi exomologesis  from  the  latter  class,  and  (3)  with  examples 
drawn  from  some  tender  consciences  which  had  revealed  a  merely 
contemplated  desertion.  From  these  passages  is  drawn  the  inference 
that  Cyprian  '  demanded  sacramental  confession  of  a// the  less  serious 
faults '  as  '  obligatory '  and  '  as  extending  even  to  bad  thoughts^ 

^  ...cumvidereturet honor martyribus  ^  Ep.  18.  2. 

habendus,  Ep.  lo.  3.    Cf.  Ep.  18.  r. 


II.  VIII.      THE  POLICY  NOT  ROMAN  BUT  CARTHAGINIAN.      99 

Again,  in  extreme  cases  a  presbyter  '  without  waiting  for  our  pre- 
sence '  or  *  even  a  deacon '  might  on  approach  of  death  lay  his  hand 
on  a  penitent  who  has  confessed  his  lapse,  and  give  him  that  *  Peace' 
which  the  martyrs  had  requested  for  him.  This  simple  natural  per- 
mission is  by  the  ultramontane  expanded  into  the  following  diffi- 
culties :  (i)  that  confession  to  a  deacon  who  was  'not  the  minister  of 
the  sacrament  of  penance '  was  *  an  act  of  humility  which  could  not 
fail  to  be  very  meritorious ' ;  (2)  that  '  as  indulgences  are  conferred 
apart  from  the  sacrament '  so  '  at  that  date  apparently  deacons  had 
the  power  to  apply  to  the  sick  such  spiritual  favour';  (3)  this  par- 
ticular 'spiritual  favour'  is  defined  to  be  'a  remission  to  the  mori- 
bund of  all  the  temporal  pains  due  to  their  sins,'  '  it  was  what  we  call 
a  plenary  indulgence  accorded  in  the  hour  of  deaths 

This  then  is  the  way  to  demonstrate  the  primitive  character  of 
confession  private,  sacramental,  obligatory,  extending  to  the  thoughts, 
and  favoured  with  plenary  indulgence.  This  almost  incredible  jug- 
gling is  from  Freppel's  tenth  Lecture  on  S.  Cyprian  at  the  Sorbonne, 
1863,  4. 

Fechtrup  notes,  p.  83,  that  Exomologesis  in  Tertullian  signifies  the 
whole  course  and  process  of  public  penance ;  which  is  no  nearer  to 
the  Roman  Use  (see  de  Poenitentia,  c.  9). 


VIII. 

The  adopted  policy  was  Carthaginian  7iot  Roman. 

The  modern   Ultramontane  ascribes  this  policy  to  '  the 

*  distinguishing  wisdom  of  that  church,  mother  and  mistress 
'of  all  others,  which  indicates  to  Carthage  the  only  courseV 
and  assigns  to  Cyprian  the  merit  of  '  fully  adopting  this  line 
of  conduct.' 

The  honest  Tillemont  truthfully  wrote  '  Cyprian  regulates 
'  in  a  council  the  business  of  the  Lapsed,  and  is  followed  in  it 

*  by  Rome  and  by  the  whole  churchl'  There  is  no  possibility 
of  doubt  as  to  the  origination  of  the  whole  policy. 

*  Freppel's  S.   Cyprien,   pp.    195 —  ^  Vol.  iv.  S.  Cyprien,  Art.  23. 

«I5;  PP-  235—241- 

.7—2 


ICX)  THE  POLICY  NOT  ROMAN 

» 

"^    All  that  the  Roman  clergymen  have  to  recommend  in 

their  first  coarse  letter^  is  mere  restoration  of  the  Lapsed  if 
sick  and  penitent :  to  the  rest  they  offer  no  prospect  but  that 
of  exhortation.  Conception  of  the  world-wide. importance  of 
the  crisis,  conception  oi  policy  they  have  none.  There  is  no 
suggestion  of  investigation  by  the  Bishops,  of  councils  or 
committees,  of  the  assistance  of  the  laity,  of  modification 
of  discipline  in  accordance  with  circumstances,  of  reservation 
until  quieter  times.  Yet  these  are  the  important  lines.  With- 
out them  the  plan  is  featureless. 

And  it  is  Cyprian  who  step  by  step  develops  them  all  in 
the  three  letters  seventeenth,  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  to 
the  Clergy  and  People  of  Carthage.  In  his  twentieth  he 
communicates  his  views  and  the  action  he  had  already  taken, 
to  the  Roman  clergy.  He  observes  that  he  has  seen  their 
letter^  '  recommending  the  restoration  of  sick  penitents,' 
and  agreed  with  it,  *  considering  united  action  very  im- 
portant' This  is  the  commonplace  with  which  he  proceeds 
to  develop  his  own  far  greater  scheme.  Less  he  could  not 
say  in  introducing  it'.  As  the  plainest  exposition  of  it  he 
encloses  to  them  a  budget  of  Thirteen  Letters*  which  he  had 
from  his  retirement  despatched  to  Carthage,  containing  his 
successive  comments  and  instructions  upon  the  progress  of 
affairs,  and  he  adds  a  connected  outline  of  their  purport.  He 
repeats  his  own  three  observations  which  had  led  him  to 
direct  that,  while  others  should  be  deferred  till  the  councils 
could  be  held,  those  who  possessed  martyrs'  Libels  should, 

^  Ep.  8.  3,  see  above,  sect.  v.  tentia,   ne  actus  noster,   qui  adunatus 

*  Ep.  10.  3.     Meaning  Ep.  8,  iden-  esse  et  consentire  circa  omnia  debet,  in 

tified  by  the  mention  of  Crementius,  &c.  aliquo    discreparet.     platK    ceterorum 

The  lost  one,  named  in  Ep.  27.  4,  had  causas,   quamvis   libello  a   martyribus 

not  yet  reached  him.  accepto  differri  mandavi,  et  in  nostram 

3  Observe  in  the  same  complimen-  prczsentiam  reservari,  ut  cum,  pace  a 

tary  sentence  hov?  he  mentions  the  quali-  Domino  nobis  data,  plures  convenire  in 

fications,  introduced  by  himself,  which  unum  caperi7nus,^  d^c. 
made    all    the  difference :    Ep.   20.   3  *  Ep.  20.  2.   On  the  Thirteen  Letters 

'...standum  putavi  et  cum  vestra  sen-  see  note  at  close  of  this  section. 


II.  VIII.  BUT  CARTHAGINIAN.  lOr 

if  in  peril  of  death,  be  restored  by  the  imposition  of  hands\ 
He  promises  the  Romans  a  full  share  in  the? future  regu- 
lation of  details*.  They  in  their  answer,  composed -by 
Novatian  and  read  aloud  to  the  rest  for  their  signatures, 
acknowledge  the  whole  scheme  to  be  entirely  Cyprian's,  and 
adopt  it  with  a  patronising  deference.  '  He  allows  them,  say 
'they,  by  virtue  of  their  approval  to  share  his  credit,  to  be 
'  thought  of  as  "  coheirs  "  in  his  counsels  because  they  reaffirm 
'themV  'Too  hasty  remedies,'  such  as  they  had  themselves 
at  first  advised,  are  deprecated ;  point  by  point  the  Cartha- 
ginian scheme  is  restated  and  adopted.  They  are  only 
solicitous  to  point  out  that  in  their  former  letter  they  had 
themselves  'lucidly'  differenced  three  classes  among  the 
Lapsed.  The  more  plain-spoken  Confessors  of  Rome  ac- 
knowledged the  debt  more  candidly  and  less  obsequiously*. 
Lastly,  in  a  note  to  them  which  relates  a  new  presumption 
of  the  '  martyrs '  Cyprian  adds  that,  if  '  neither  his  own  nor 
their  letters'  bring  them  to  their  senses,  'we  shall  act  as, 
according  to  the  gospel,  the  Lord  charged  us  to  act^'  The 
Roman  clergy  in  their  last  letter,  also  by  Novatian's  hand, 
admiringly  acknowledge  his  '  vigour '  and  enforce  with 
arguments,  as  he  wishes,  the  action  that  has  so  far  been 
taken*. 

^  £/>p.  17 — 19.  •*  Ep.  31.  I,  6,  and  cf.  £j>.  27.  4. 

^  Ut...communicato  etiam  vobiscum  ^  £p.  35. 

consilio  disponere  singula  et  reformare  "  £p.  36,  see  p.  122.    It  touches  also 

possiraus,  £/>.  20.  3.  topics  of  Cyprian's  in  £p.  20. 

=•  £p.  30.  I ;  see  £/>.  55.  5. 


I02  (OF  DOCUMENTS.) 

On  the  Thirteen  Epistles  of  which  Cyprian  sent  copies  to  the 
Romans. 

In  Epistle  20.  2  Cyprian  gives  precis  of  the  contents  of  these  his 
Thirteen  Letters,  with  some  chronological  notes,  in  somewhat  of  the  same 
way  in  which  Pontius  ( Vit.  c.  7)  gives  in  a  few  sentences  a  consecutive 
outline  of  Cyprian's  Treatises.  By  writing  out  this  sketch  in  clauses  and 
lines,  and  placing  opposite  to  these  our  own  abstract  of  certain  epistles, 
we  shall  form  an  opinion  (i)  as  to  whether  any  of  the  thirteen  are  lost, 
(2)  as  to  the  order  in  which  Cyprian  himself  had  them  arranged,  and 
wished  them  to  be  read.    Thus — 

Cyp.  Ep.  20.  2.    Et  quid  egerim  locuntur  vobis  Epistulae  pro  temporibus 
emissae  numero  Tredecim  : 

in  quibus  nee  'clero'  consilium, 


nee  '  eonfessoribus '  exhortatio, 

nee  'extorribus'  quando  oportuit  objurgatio, 

nee  universae  fratemitati  ad  deprecandam  Dei  miserieordiam,  allo- 
cutio  et  persuasio  nostra  defuit. 
Posteaquam  vero  et  'tormenta  venerunt,' 


sive  jam  tortis  fratribus  nostris, 

sive  adhuc  ut  torquerentur  'inclusis,' 

ad  corroborandos  eos  et  confortandos  noster  sermo  penetravit. 


II.  VIII.  (OF  DOCUMENTS.)  IO3 


^PP-  5>  7)  U-  Three  letters  to  Presbyters  and  Deacons,  on  their 
duty :  use  his  funds  :  keep  the  prisons  quiet :  Ep.  7  regrets  own 
absence,  which  is  for  general  good  :  care  of  widows,  sick,  poor, 
foreigners  :  additional  supplies  :  Ep.  5.  2  speaks  of  the  present  as 
the  initia  of  persecution  as  in  Ep.  6.  4  and  Ep.  13.  2  :  Ep.  14  is  the 
fullest  and  strongest  about  'pauperes'  {and  so  precedes  Ep.  12  q.  v. 
inf. ;  its  order  otherwise  unfixed) :  quotes  Ep.  5. 

Ep.  6.  To  Confessors,  '...gratulor  pariter  et  exhortor....'  Exube- 
rant joy  in  their  confession  :  they  the  first  prisoners :  note  too  in- 
gressi,  initiis,  and  expressions  coincident  with  those  of  Ep.  5. 

Ep.  13.  To  Confessors.  Speaks  of  his  former  'exsultantia  verba' 
(i.e.  Ep.  6).  Exhorts  to  perseverance.  Severe  objurgation  of  faulty 
confessors,  returned  extorres  and  others.  Theirs  is  a  prima  con- 
gressio  (2). 

Ep.  II.  To  Presbyters  and  Deacons,  with  directions  (7)  that  it  be 
read  to  the  Brethren.  One  continuous  Exhortation  to  Prayer. 
He  uses  the  phrase  'tormenta  venerunt^'  and  describes  these  as 
devised  not  to  be  fatal  but  to  convert.  (Fechtrup  pp.  39,  40  well 
argues  that  this  Epistle  precedes  the  severest  stage  under  the  pro- 
consul, but  is  an  advance  from  the  imprisonment  and  confiscation 
stage.)  From  the  allusion  in  Ep.  13.  6  to  the  vision  described  in  Ep. 
1 1.  6,  Ep.  13  probably  followed  Ep.  1 1  in  time  though  not  in  Cyprian's 
logical  order. 

Ep.  12.  To  Presbyters  and  Deacons.  Some  have  died  in  prison,  not 
from  tortures  ;  are  no  less  martyrs  (Tortures  therefore  have  not 
been  extreme,  but  might  have  been — which  exactly  corresponds  with 
the  rest.  It  belongs  to  same  moment  as  Ep.  11):  refers  verbally  to 
Ep.  5.  This  speaks  of  having  '•often  written'  about  the  Poor,  '...ut 
saepe  jam  scripsi,'  which  leads  to  placing  not  Ep.  5  and  Ep.  7  only, 
but  also  Ep.  14,  somewhere  in  the  group  above  Ep.  12. 

Ep.  10.  To  Martyrs  and  Confessors.  This  and  remaining  Epistles 
all  dwell  on  Torture  as  in  full  use  ;  only  imprisonment  or  exile 
having  been  used  hitherto.  These  then  belong  to  the  Visitation  of 
the  Proconsul.  This  is  later  than  April  17,  from  its  mention  of 
Mappalicus'  death  under  torture,  whose  commemoration  is  that  day 
in  the  African  Kalendar.  This  Epistle  could  not  be  summarised  more 
exactly  than  by  Cyprian  opposite.    Various  expressions  coincide  also. 

^  Ep,  II.  I.     Compare  De  Laps.  13  '  Sed  tormenta  postmodum  venerant.' 


I04  (OF  DOCUMENTS.) 

Item  cum  comperissem  &c.  the  distribution  oflibelli, 

litteras  feci  quibus  martyres  et  confessores  ad  dominica  '  praecepta ' 
revocarem  ; 

Item  presbyteris  et  diaconibus  non  defuit  sacerdotii  vigor  ut  'quidam' 
disciplinae  minus  'memores,'  receiving  Lapsed  to  Communion  without 
authority,  comprimerentur. 

Plebi  quoque  ipsi...animum  composuimus  et  ut  ecclesiastica  disciplina 
servaretur  mstruximus. 

Postmodum  vero  {the  Lapsed  having  violently  extorted  communion)..  At, 
hoc  etiam  BIS  ad  Clerum  litteras  feci... si  qui  'libello  a  martyribus 
accepto'  de  saeculo  excederent  'exomologesi  facta'  et  'manu  eis  in 
paenitentia  imposita  cum  pace'  sibi  *a  martyribus'  promissa  'ad 
Dominum'  remitterentur. 

Sed  cum  videretur  i.  necessary  to  respect  Confessors.,  i.  quiet  the  Lapsed., 
3.  reconcile  sick  penitents,  he  had  ordered  the  libelli  to  be  complied 
with  in  this  last  case,  as  effecting  tJie  three  points:  all  other  cases  to 
be  reserved  for  a  Council  when  Peace  returns. 


II.  VIII.  (OF  DOCUMENTS.)  IO5 

Ep.  15.  To  Martyrs  and  Confessors.  Observe  Christ's  'precepts,' 
i.e.  discipline  as  well  as  faith,  even  though  presbyters  and  deacons 
be  rash.  This  (4)  mentions  Ep.  16  to  the  clergy,  and  Ep.  17  to  the 
laity,  as  sent  same  time  on  same  subject.    (?  June;  severities  abating.) 

Ep.  16.  To  Presbyters  and  Deacons.  Accompanies  Ep.  15:  is 
precisely  described  opposite. 

Ep.  17.  To  Laity.  Accompanies  Ep.  15.  A  precise  account  of  it 
opposite. 

Ep.  18.  To  Presbyters  and  Deacons.  Dated  to  late  July  or  August 
by  the  ''jam  astatem  coepisse '  ( i )  and  malaria.  Postmodum,  opposite, 
places  the  above  earlier ;  also  accurately  excerpted,  and  expressions 
correspond. 

Ep.  19.  To  Presbyters  and  Deacons.  Accurate  precis  in  Ep.  20,  as 
opposite. 


It  is  clear  from  the  above  comparison  that  no  letter  described  by 
Cyprian  is  missing  from  the  budget.  He  wished  the  Romans  to  read 
Ep.  14  \vith  Ep.  5  and  Ep.  7,  and  Ep.  13  before  Ep.  11,  out  of  their 
chronology,  on  account  of  their  subjects. 

The  chronological  order  stands  thus,  so  far  as  it  determines  itself, 
Epp-  5.  6,  7,  II,  13,  14.  12,  10,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19. 

Tillemont  iv.  pp.  66 — 69,  604,  605  and  Dom  Maran  Vit.  S.  Cypr.  ix. 
have  doubts,  but  Pearson  saw  that  we  had  all.  Fechtrup  (pp.  40,  41) 
agrees  with  Pearson,  and  verifies  with  care  and  clearness. 


I06  DIOCESAN   DISQUIETUDES. 

IX. 

Diocesan  Disquietudes. 

Throughout  the  earlier  part  of  Cyprian's  correspondence 
is  perceptible  a  reliance  upon  his  laity,  a  dissatisfaction  with 
his  clergy.  These  omit  to  answer  his  letters'.  Some  act 
independently  of  his  aims.  Some  compromise  themselves  by 
entire  deference  to  the  injunctions  of  the  Confessors'*  or 
adopt  them  as  the  strongest  barrier  against  superior  authority. 
In  one  letter*  he  throws  himself  on  the  Plebes  with  an  almost 
impassioned  appeal.  '  My  presbyters  and  deacons  should 
'  have  warned  them.  I  know  the  quietude,  the  shrinking- 
*ness  of  my  people.  How  watchful  would  they  have  been 
*  had  not  certain  presbyters  in  quest  of  popularity  deceived 
'  them  !  Do  you  then  yourselves  take  the  guidance  of  them, 
'  one  by  one.  By  your  own  counsel  and  moderation  refrain 
'the  spirits  of  the  lapsed.' 

When  he  has  at  length  obtained  the  entire  concurrence 
of  the  Roman  clergy,  Novatian  included*,  of  their  confessors^ 
and  of  the  whole  episcopate  African  and  Italian®,  he  assumes 
a  stronger  tone  with  his  own  clergy^  and  requires  them  to 
circulate  the  whole  correspondence  of  which  he  forwards 
them  copies.  This  was  done^  The  affair  seemed  settled 
for  the  present.  All  the  Lapsed  except  death-stricken  persons, 
however  armed  with  Martyrs'  papers,  even  Clergy  penitently 
ready  to  return  to  their  charge^  were  reserved  for  the  de- 
cision of  the  organic  authority — the  united  Episcopate. 

Lastly,  in  accordance  with  the  severer  tone  already  assumed 


1  Ep.  i8.  I. 

7  Ep.  32. 

2  Ep.  27.  I. 

«  Ep-  55.  5- 

3  Ep.  17.  2,  3. 

*  Ep.  34.  4.     They  were  to  cease  to 

4  Ep.  30. 

draw  their  monthly  dividends,  though 

"  Ep.  31. 

*  without  prejudice,'  until  they  could  be 

6  Epp.  25;  26; 

43-3; 

55-  5; 

30- 

8. 

heard. 

II.  IX.  DIOCESAN   DISQUIETUDES.  I07 

by  certain  clergy  acting  in  concert  with  some  bishops  who 
had  been  visiting  Carthage  and  were  in  Cyprian's  confidence^ 
notice  was  duly  given  of  excommunication  to  be  enforced 
against  any  who,  until  that  authority  should  have  spoken, 
should  give  communion  to  any  of  the  lapsed  except  in  the 
cases  already  provided  for*. 

By  the  November  of  the  year    250  the  persecution  was   Nov., 
relaxing   at   Carthage.     The    Goths   had   crossed   the   Don.  ^'^'  ^^°' 
Decius   was  leaving  Rome   for  his  last  campaign.     It   was 
however   still   unsafe  for  Cyprian  to  return.     He   therefore 
commissioned  five  representatives'  for  certain  important  func- 
tions, which  he  sketched  out  and  for  which  he  supplied  the 
means,  in  Carthage  and  the  neighbouring  districts.     These    ?Jan., 
were  three  bishops,  Caldonius,  Herculanus  and  Victor,  with  two  ^'^'  ^^^' 
presbyters,  Numidicus  whom,   after  his   already   mentioned 
resuscitation   from   a   horrible   martyrdom,    Cyprian   placed 
among  the  clergy  of  the  capital,  and   lastly  Rogatian,  the 
aged  confessor,  long  since  charged   with   the  dispersion  of 
Cyprian's  fortune.     The  letter  of  Caldonius,  who  acted  with 
firmness,  indicates  by  its  incorrectness  a  scanty  and  provincial 
education**.     This  commission  had  enough  to  do,  under  social 
conditions  which  seemed  to  allow  penury  no  upward  road, 
in  distributing  alms,  in  helpfully  subsidising  confessors  whose 
capital  had  been  confiscated  so  as  to  enable  them  to  resume 
their  trades,  in  selecting  persons  capable  of  being  employed  in 
functions  of  the  church^  in  maintaining  communications  with 

^  e.g:  as  to  the  excommunication  of  ad  clerum   transmittite....'  £p.  41.   2. 

Gaius  of  Dida.     £j>.  34.  i .  There  is  no  sign  of  their  removal  being 

^  Ep.  34.  3.  due  to   the   influence  of  Felicissimus. 

^  Epp.  25 ;   26,  where  they  are  his  The  resources  were  still  Cyprian's  own, 

medium  of  communication  with  other  sumptibus  istis.     Ep.  41.  i. 
bishops,  'ad  collegas  nostros'  {Ep.  25).  *  ...abluisse  ^x'lorem  delictum,   and 

— Ep.  41.   I   '...vos  pro  me  vicarios.'  the   Punic   Latin  extorrentes  twice  for 

This  epistle  is  written  to  them  when  extorres,  &c.  with  great  clumsiness  of 

away   from    Carthage,    either   visiting  expression.   Ep.  24.     See  Hartel's  Pre- 

the  neighbouring  bishops  or  at  some  face,  p.  xlviii.   He  should  in  consistency 

gathering  of  them  :  '  has  litteras  meas  have  kept  those  readings  of  T  and  Tj. 
fratribus  nostris  legite  et  Carthaginem  '  Ep.  41.  i. 


I08  DECLARATION   OF  PARTIES. 

the  provincial  bishops,  and  above  all  in  endeavouring  to 
persuade  to  patience  the  restless  masses  of  the  Lapsed  ^ 

Superstition  was  in  some  quarters  beginning  to  add  terror 
to  the  anxiety  for  restoration.  Stricken  consciences  had  in 
many  instances  induced  physical  and  mental  prostration — even 
death*.  One  person  had  become  dumb  in  the  moment  of 
denial  and  so  remained.  Another  had  died  in  the  public 
baths,  gnawing  the  tongue  which  had  tasted  the  idol  sacrifice. 

On  the  other  hand  still  more  terrible  signs  indicated  the 
profanity  of  presumptuous  return.  An  infant  girl  had  rejected 
the  chalice  with  wailing  and  convulsions.  This  occurred  in 
Cyprian's  own  presence,  while  celebrating  during  his  retire- 
ment. It  was  found  that  the  nurse  had  taken  the  child 
before  the  magistrates  and  made  it  taste  the  idolatrous  wine. 
A  woman  who  clandestinely  presented  herself  at  the  liturgy, 
died  in  the  act  of  communicating.  One  who  had  as  usual  re- 
served the  sacred  Bread  at  home,  was,  on  opening  its  receptacle 
after  her  lapse,  scared  by  an  outburst  of  flame.  A  man  found 
it  changed  to  ashes  in  his  very  hands. 


X. 

Declaration  of  Parties.     Novatus  and  Felicissimus. 

The  latter  class  of  stories  indicates,  what  was  the  fact, 
that  the  opinion  destined  to  create  and  to  perpetuate  real 
division  was  already  active.  Evidently  the  question  which  to 
some  was  presenting  itself  was  not  when,  or  upon  what  terms, 
the  Lapsed  should  be  readmitted,  but  whether  it  was  possible 
for  the  church  to  remit  such  guilt.  Although  Cyprian  employs 
these  incidents  in  favour  of  delay,  they  are  plainly  no  ema- 
nation from  the  party  of  moderation.  Yet  he  probably 
apprehended  at  this  moment  little  peril  from  the  sentiment 

^  Ep.  26.  "^  De  Lapsis,  24,  25,  26. 


II.  X.  DECLARATION  OF  PARTIES.  IO9 

of  Puritanism.  It  was  the  party  of  Laxity  which  at  present 
appeared  to  be  absorbing  into  itself  every  dangerous  element. 

It  threatened  him  indeed  from  many  sides.  There  were 
the  crowds  of  Libellatics  eager  for  return.  There  were 
meritorious  confessors,  wounded  because  their  fortitude  was 
not  allowed  to  cover  a  brother's  weakness. 

But  the  conscientiously  troublesome  in  both  ranks  were 
outvoiced  by  the  worldly  and  unscrupulous  who  foamed  at 
restraint.  For  them  the  Universal  Indulgence  franked  with 
the  name  of  the  Confessor  Paul  was  title  enough  to  cancel 
mere  episcopal  restrictions^  Some  *  refugees '  who  had  never 
left  the  port,  and  others  who  had  quickly  broken  their  sentence 
and  come  back,  skulked  awhile  as  outlaws  in  low  hiding- 
places*;  and  emerged,  as  the  severities  abated,  to  claim  a 
voice  in  church-affairs.  Some  of  the  confessors,  their  heads 
turned  by  vanity,  courted  by  female  devotees,  had  sunk 
into  scandalous  immorality'.  Of  the  lapsed  many  had  not 
spent  one  day  in  penance,  but  had  braved  their  shame 
amid  the  habits  of  fashionable  and  dissipated  life*;  while 
(as  we  have  seen)  influential  persons  in  the  provinces  had 
extorted  communion  by  actual  tumult  from  unwilling  clergy. 
Many  of  the  clergy  however  were  not  unwilling^  and  they 
found  ready  chiefs,  although  perhaps  not  at  first  avowed 
ones^  in  the  Five  Presbyters  who  had  been  all  along  hostile 
to  Cyprian's  election  and  authority.  Under  their  headship 
the  party  grew  numerous  and  bold  enough  to  designate  itself, 
in  a  manifesto  addressed  to  the  bishop  himself,  as  *  The 
Church.'  To  this  he  answered  characteristically  that  since 
the  day  of  the  Charge  to  Peter  the  Church  had  been  found 

^  Ep.  35,  compare  Ep.  22.  2.  who  fled  and  those  who  were  legally 

2  Such  must  be,  I  think,  the  meaning  banished, 

of  '...aliquis  temulentus  et   lasciviens  ^  De  Unitate  20. 

demoratur,  alius  in  earn  patriam  unde  *  De  Laps.  30. 

extorris  factus  est  regreditur,  ut  depre-  '  Ep.  17.  2,  3.     . 

hensus  non  jam  quasi  Christianus  sed  ^  Ep.  43.  i,  -z  'Nunc  apparuit  Feli- 

quasi  nocens  pereat.'    Ep.  13.  4.     Ex-  cissimi   factio    unde    venisset....'     See 

torris  is  certainly  used  both  of  those  above,  pp.  25,  43. 


no  DECLARATION   OF  PARTIES. 

in  unity  with  the  Bishop;  and  still  more  characteristically 
that  their  '  roll  of  the  Lapsed  could  scarcely  be  "  The  Church," 
since  GOD  was  not  the  GOD  of  the  dead  but  of  the  living.' 

More  welcome  letters^  reached  him  at  the  same  moment. 
There  were  many  of  the  Lapsed  who  had  ever  since  given 
themselves  devotedly  to  good  works  in  silence.  These  now 
assured  him  that  they  would  never  plead  their  Libels  ;  that 
they  were  living  in  thankful  penance;  biding  their  time  for 
restoration  to  Peace  on  his  return.  They  added  with  that 
gentle  fervour  which  marked  true  African  Christianity  that 
'  Peace  would  be  more  sweet  to  them  if  restored  in  his  own 
'  presence.'  '  How  1  hail  them/  says  Cyprian,  '  the  Lord  is 
'  my  witness  ;  He  has  vouchsafed  to  show  what  servants  like 
'  these  deserve  from  His  goodness.' 

Then  in  that  methodic  way  which  gave  point  to  all  his 
enthusiasm  he  requests  from  each  side  a  list  of  their  signatures, 
sends  to  the  clergy  of  Carthage  explicit  instructions,  and  to 
the  clergy  of  Rome,  by  a  subdeacon  Fortunatus^  copies  of  all 
the  papers'. 

Foremost  of  the  presbyters  stood  the  famous  and  restless^ 

^  Both  letters  are  described  in  £)>.  33.  means 'demand  for  them.'   To  conceive 

I,  2.  that  stdi  has  dropped  out  before  tilts  is 

^  £p.  36.  I.  monstrous  in  Latinity,  and  to  translate 

^  £pp.   33,    34,    35.      The    Roman  it  ^  claim /or  themselves  liberty  to  give 

clergy  acknowledging  these  Ep.  36.  3,  them  communion  prematurely,'  equally 

say    there    must    be    some    '  qui    illos  so.    So,  however,  O.  Ritschl's  laboured 

arment...&\.  in  perversum  ins  true  nt es .. .  pages,  52,  53. 

exitiosa  deposcant  illis  properatse  com-  ^  See  p.  47.   '  Rerum  novarum  semper 

municationisvenena,' and  that  not 'sine  cupidus,'  Ep.  52.  2.     That  the  leader 

instinctu   quorundam '  would  all  have  Novatus  was  one  of  the  Five  appears 

dared  '  tam  petulanter  sibi  jam  pacem  from  the  whole  tenor  of  the  history  of 

vindicare.'    It  should  be  unnecessary  to  the  faction  more   than  from  particular 

remark   that   arment  with    instruentes  passages.    Compare  however  £/>.  14.  4; 

means  provide  and  furnish,  and  has  no  Ep.  59.  9,  and  what  is  said  of  the  Five 

relation  to  pacem  which  is  simply  com-  presbyters  acting  with  Felicissimus,  Ep. 

tnunion,  and  contains  no  indication  of  43.  3,  and  of  Novatus  acting  wath  him, 

'  weitere    aufstandische    Bewegungen. '  Ep.  52.  2.   That  the  Five  are  the  original 

Quorundam   refers   to   the    persons   of  opponents  of  Cyprian  is  shewn  by  the 

whom  Cj^rian  had  told  them,  not  to  his  expression  '  olim  secundum  vestra  suf- 

clergy  at  large.    Again  'deposcant  Hits''  fragia '  in  Ep.  43.  5,  and  these  passages 


II.  X. 


DECLARATION  OF  PARTIES. 


Ill 


Novatus.  To  these  opponents  Cyprian  allows  on  the  whole 
both  age  and  weight  of  character,  yet  Novatus  had  been  in 
poor  repute^  and  had  escaped  an  investigation'  into  his 
conduct  only  through  the  breaking  out  of  the  persecution. 
He  had  been  charged  with  inhuman  cruelty  towards  his 
own  wife  and  father'.  It  is  true  that  the  assumption  of 
Novatus'  guilt,  and  the  attributing  his  withdrawal  to  a 
stricken  conscience,  as  well  as  general  accusations  of  depravity 
and  unworthy  motive,  may  or  may  not  be  due  to  factious 
representations.  But  that  an  enquiry  before  Cyprian  and 
assessors  was  impending  over  Novatus  just  before  the  persecu- 
tion broke  out  is  surely  undeniable.  It  is  a  question  of 
fact  upon  which,  if  Cyprian's  direct  statement  be  not  trust- 
worthy, what  evidence  is  credible*? 


viewed  together  leave  no  doubt  as  to 
the  application  of  the  words  'idem  est 
Novatus  qui  apud  nos  primum  dis- 
cordise  incendium  seminavit,  &c.'  Ep. 
S'Z.  2.  Among  the  rest  Pearson  (An. 
Cyp.  CCLi.  ii.)  counts  Jovinus  and 
Maximus;  but  these  had  lapsed  {Ep. 
59.  10),  which  we  have  no  ground  for 
imputing  to  any  of  the  Five.  Pamele 
includes  Repostus  and  Felix ;  but  of 
these  one  was  a  lapsed  bishop  and  the 
second  a  bishop  of  some  schismatic 
body.  Dom  Maran  (xvii.)  and  Rettberg 
(pp.  97 — 112)  fix  upon  Donatus,  Fortu- 
natus  and  Gordius,  and  rightly  {Ep. 
14.  4)  I  think.  As  to  Fortimatus  (after- 
wards the  pseudo-bishop  of  the  party) 
there  is  no  doubt  {Ep.  59.  9).  But  that 
the  fifth  was  either  Gaius  of  Dida  {Ep. 
34.  x)  or  Augendus  {Ep.  42)  is  a  mere 
guess,  and  the  latter  was  a  deacon  {Ep. 
44.  i).  Fell,  without  any  colour,  fan- 
cies that  only  three  presbyters,  those 
named  in  Ep.  43.  1,  remained  faithful. 
Fechtrup  conjectures  with  reason  that 
the  petition  of  Donatus,  Fortunatus, 
Novatus  and  Gordius  was  for  an  im- 


mediate restoration  of  some  Lapsed ; 
for  Cyprian  answers  as  he  always 
answers  that  request.  But  that  it  al- 
ready covered  a  'feine  List'  (p.  80) 
for  uniting  the  strict  confessors  with  the 
lax  party  against  Cyprian,  through  his 
expected  refusal,  is  a  little  too  subtle. 
The  phrases  as  to  the  authors  of  dis- 
sension in  the  De  Zelo  et  Livore  (6)  do 
not  seem  to  me  to  apply  to  this  party, 
and  they  were  written  six  years  later. 
See  on  that  treatise  below. 

1  Semper  istic  episcopis  male  cogni- 
tus.    Ep.  52.  1. 

2  Imminebat  cognitionis  dies.  Ep. 
52.  3.  cognitio,  the  technical  term  of 
the  law. 

^  Ep.  52.  2. 

■*  On  Neander's  opinion,  Hist,  of  the 
Christ.  Religion  and  Church,  vol.  I. 
p.  312  (Bohn),  see  p.  130,  note  2,  infra. 
If  Cyprian  had  not  spoken  out  as  to  the 
unsatisfactory  character  of  Novatus  it 
could  never  have  eluded  such  ingenuity 
as  Mosheim,  Neander,  and  Rettberg 
have  devoted  to  clearing  him. 


112 


DECLARATION  OF  PARTIES. 


This  man,  as  a  Presbyter,  had  some  charge  in  an  important 
region  or  ward  in  the  city,  called  Mons,  or  the  Hill.  The 
Bozra  or  Byrsa  itself  rising  some  two  hundred  feet  above  the 
rest  of  the  town,  with  the  main  streets  leading  up  it,  and  the 
principal  buildings  on  its  plateau,  may  well  have  caused 
distinctions,  local  and  social,  like  the  still  remembered  *  Above 
Hill'  and  'Below  Hill'  of  such  cities  as  Lincoln;  and  at 
least  no  other  district  can  well  have  occupied  that  distinctive 
name\  In  managing  its  church  affairs  he  associated  with 
himself  as  Deacon  an  energetic  and  determined  person  named 


1  This  I  venture  to  think  must  be  the 
simple  meaning  of  '/«  Monte, ^  Ep.  41. 
I  and  2.  In  each  place  Hartel  reads  in 
morle  and  so  Ritschl,  &c.  But  in  the 
latter  clause  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the 
reading,  T'having  monte  and  Z  montem  ; 
in  the  former  morte  T,  <f>,  w,  mortem  Z 
are  natural  corrections  of  what  seemed 
obscure;  but  not  so  monte  for  morte, 
the  sense  of  which  would  be  obvious ; 
whilst  immo  ut  iQcum,  r,  immo  vitae,  fj., 
indicate  both  the  puzzle  of  the  scribes 
and  that  they  had  monte  before  them. 
See  also  p.  113,  note  4.  Reference  to 
Monte  in  Numidia  is  absurd.  Mos- 
heim  and  others  thought  that  this  '  in 
Monte'  travelled  with  Novatus  to 
Rome,  and  gave  the  Novatianists  the 
name  Montenses  there.  Hefele  {Nova- 
tianisckes  Schisma  in  Wetzer  u.  Welte's 
Kirchenlexikon,  and  H.  d.  Conciles,  ed. 
Delarc,  L.  viii.  §  105)  says  that  they 
were  so  called  (and  also  Montanistce, 
which  is  an  invention)  from  confusion 
with  the  Montanists.  But  all  this  arises 
from  a  misinterpretation  of  Epiphanius. 
His  words  are  (after  he  has  already 
enumerated  the  Montanists  in  his  list) 
{Ancoratus  13)  Ka^apoZ,  o2  koX  Nava- 
ratoi,  ol  KoX  Movrijo-iot,  ws  kv  'VdfiT] 
KoKovvrai.  These  '  Puritans '  might  be 
of  course  either  Novatianist  or  Donatist 
(differenced  by  origin  only,  not  doc- 


trine), and  at  Rome  the  Donatists  were 
called  Montenses.  See  Optatus,  B.  Ii. 
c.  iv.,  and  the  passages  there  quoted  by 
E.  Dupin  (Paris,  1702,  p.  35).  Jerome, 
Chron.  356;  adv.  Lucif.  ad  fin.;  Aug. 
Ep-  (165)  53,  De  Unit.  Eccl.  3,  De 
Hceresibus  69.  Cod.  TTieod.  L.  16,  Tit. 
5,  xliii.  (a.d.  408).  There  is  no  trace 
of  any  sect  but  the  Donatists  being  so 
called,  and  they  from  a  Mons  at  Rome, 
in  a  grotto  of  which  they  had  their  first 
church.  In  the  8th  canon  of  the  council 
held  at  Rome  A.D.  386  the  two  sects  are 
thus  conjoined  and  distinguished :  '  Ut 
venientes  a  Novatianis  vel  Montensibus 
per  manus  impositionem  suscipiantur 
ex  eo  quod  rebaptizant '  (Ep.  4  Siricii 
papse,  Labbe,  t.  11.  c.  1225). 

Perhaps  I  may  attempt  here  to  emend 
this  canon,  since  the  italicised  words 
mean  (as  has  been  seen)  the  opposite  of 
the  fact.  They  are  thus  paraphrased 
by  Innocent  I.  in  his  letter  to  Victricius 
of  Rouen  (Innoc.  i,  Ep.  2.  8,  Labbe 
V.  III.  c.  9),  ^prater  eos,  si  qui  forte  a 
nobis  ad  illos  transeuntes  rebaptizati 
sunt.^  I  propose  to  read  in  the  Roman 
canon  ^excepto  qitos  rebaptizant.'  For 
the  construction  cf.  '...excepto  divina 
natura  ut  humanitas  Integra  fiat,'  S. 
Isidor.,  '  Excepto  comitibus,  &c.'  ap. 
Ducange. 


II.  X.  DECLARATION   OF   PARTIES.  II3 

Felicissimus*.  Cyprian  was  naturally  not  consulted  as  to  this 
appointment,  which  gave  to  the  party  the  control  of  con- 
siderable funds  ;  his  missives  were  systematically  disregarded 
by  them ;  the  Lapsed  freely  admitted  and  invited  to  com- 
munion"; the  agreement  of  the  bishops  in  the  arrangement 
between  Rome  and  Carthage  unheeded,  and  when  Cyprian 
sent  out  his  commission  of  relief  and  enquiry',  Felicissimus 
treated  it  as  a  deliberate  invasion  of  his  diaconal  office.  He 
announced  publicly  that  whoever  had  accepted  its  benefits,  or 
answered  its  queries,  should  be*  excluded  from  participation  in 
the  communions  and  all  other  benefits  of  the  Hill  district.  This 
declaration  appeared  in  his  own  name,  and  his  leadership  was 
so  energetic  that  the  Five  are  designated  as  'his  partners,' 
'  his  satellites,' even  'his  presbyterate*.'  '  His  Five  Presbyters 
were  as  ruinous  to  the  Church,'  says  Cyprian,  with  their  offers 
of  Communion,  '  as  the  Five  Magnates  on  the  Committees  of 
Persecution*.' 

In  vigorous  reply  to  his  own  vigour  Felicissimus  with 
another  deacon  Augendus  was  for  the  time  being''  excom- 
municated by  Caldonius  and  the  Commission.  Cyprian  ?  October, 
speaks  of  the  moral  charges  against  Felicissimus  as  now 
advanced  upon  evidence  so  grave  as  alone  to  constitute 
grounds  for  'suspension'  of  communion  with  him.  This 
enquiry  is  postponed  until  a  proper  court  can  be  assembled. 
Cyprian's  instructions  to  this  effect  are  contained  in  the  same 
despatch  which  directed  their  benevolent  labours,  and  he 
desires  that  in  forwarding  it  for  the  information  of  the  clergy 
in  Carthage  Caldonius  will  append  to  it  the  names  of  the 

^  Ep.  52.  ■2;  cf. -£■/.  59.  I,  16.    Com-  municaturam  non  esse,  qui  se  sponte 

pare  'Gaio  Didensi  presbytero  et  dia-  maluit  ab  ecclesia  separare,'  Ep.  41.  2. 

cono  ejus,'  Ep.  34.  i.  Note  how  in   ecclesia   answers    to    in 

^  Ep.  43.  2.  nionte  ;  it  could  not  answer  to  in  morte. 

»  See  p.  107.  *  Ep.  43.  3,  5,  7. 

^  Ep.  41.  2  '  ...non  communicaturos  ^  See  p.  76,  note  I.     Ep.  43.  3,  7. 

in  Monte  secum^  to  which  the  rejoinder  '  Ep.  41.  2  'interim.' 
runs  'sciat  se  in  ecclesia  nobiscum  com- 

B.  8 


114  DECLARATION   OF   PARTIES. 

fautors  of  the  conspiracy.  This  letter  accordingly  comes  down 
to  us  followed  by  Caldonius'  list  It  gives  a  glimpse  of  the 
lower  social  classes  which  entered  with  living  interest  into 
Christianity  and  its  debates, — classes  without  which  the 
Church's  work  is  not  half  done.  With  the  two  Deacons  are 
named  a  small  manufacturer,  a  seamstress,  a  woman  who  had 
been  tortured,  and  two  refugees.  The  Five  Presbyters  are  not 
mentioned  ^ 

The  prominence  of  a  Deacon  at  this  period  need  cause  no 
surprise.  Although  the  time  had  not  yet  come  when  at 
Rome  those  officers  so  far  surpassed  the  presbyters  in  emolu- 
ment and  dignity,  that  they  looked  upon  promotion  as  an 
injury,  or  when  at  Carthage  they  were  described  as  in  '  the 
third  Priesthood'V  and  needed  new  canons  to  remind  them 
of  their  subordination  to  the  presbyterate  as  well  as  to  the 
episcopate,  and  even  of  their  duty  of  rendering  assistance  in  the 
Eucharist^  yet  already  their  control  of  funds,  their  knowledge 


^  Ep.  42.      In   Ep.  41.   2    Cyprian  formity  with    his    instructions.      Scire 

writes  'has  litteras  meas...Carthaginem  debuisti  is  epistolary  and  does  not  imply 

ad  clerum  transmittite  aaWf/if  nominibus  a  former  communication  ;  compare  Ep. 

eorum  quicunque  se  Felicissimo  junxe-  53  *•  ...hoc  factum  \\\%  litteris  x\o%\.Ti%  cer- 

rint.'     Accordingly   Ep.   42    is   simply  \^\%%\xc^&  scire  debuisti.''     Translate  '  I  am 

as  follows.      'Caldonius  cum  Herculano  bound  to  inform  you  by  a  note  appended 

et  Victore  Collegis  item  Rogatiano  cum  by  myself.'     This  Ep.    42    is   not   ad- 

Numidico  Presbyteris.     Abstinuimus  a  dressed  to  Cyprian  himself  therefore,  as 

communicatione   Felicissimum    et   Au-  usually  understood,  but  is  a  transcript 

genduni,  item  Repostum  de  extorribus  of  the  document   issued.     It  naturally 

et  Irenem  Rutilorum  et  Paulam  sarcina-  bears  no  address  ;  the  vulgate  heading 

tricem  quod  ex  adnotatione  mea  scire  Cypriano  S.  is  not  original, 

debuisti.  item  abstinuimus  Sophronium  On  the  obscure  occupations   named 

et  ipsum  de  extorribus  Soliassum  budi-  see  note  at  end  of  this  section,  p.  117. 

narium.'     In  this  strange  little  note  it  On   extorres  cf.  Baluze  ad  Cypr.  Epp. 

should   seem    superfluous    to   say   that  14  and  18,  quoting  C  Guyet,  1.  2,  p. 

adtiotatio  cannot  mean  the  kind  of  list  173,  Baron.  Ad  Ann.  25,  and  his  Notes 

by  which   a  magistrate   published   the  071  the  Roman  Martyrology,  Jan.  2  ;  see 

names  of  absentees  summoned  to  appear  note  2,  p.  109  above, 

for  trial  (see  Dirksen,  Manuale,  j.f.).  "^  Optat.  i.  13  (vid.  Casaub.  in  loc). 

This  is  itself  a  sentence  on   notorious  Hieron.  in  Ezech.  c.  18. 

offenders  and  is  itself  the  adnotatio,  as  ^  IV.  Concil.  Carth.  a.d.  398,  cc.  37 

appended  to  Cyprian's  despatch  in  con-  — 41. 


II.  X.  DECLARATION   OF   PARTIES.  II 5 

of  business,  their  intimacy  with  the  secular  cares  of  the  laity, 
the  very  fact  that  a  district  which  had  many  presbyters 
had  but  one  deacon,  gave  them  the  command  of  many 
threads  of  influence.  Hence  from  Spain  it  is  the  Deacon  of 
the  church  of  Merida  who  writes  in  the  name  of  the  church 
to  the  bishops  of  Africa  in  protest  against  the  return  of  its 
lapsed  bishop^  and  receives  their  conciliar  reply.  Cyprian 
calls  the  office  at  Rome  (apparently  in  Cornelius'  words) 
'  the  Diaconate  of  the  Holy  Administration/  and  refers  to  it 
as  '  the  charge  of  guiding  and  piloting  the  Church*.'  The 
Deacon  indeed  not  only  had  charge  of  the  corporate  funds 
but  also  acted  as  the  official  trustee  of  Christian  widows  and 
orphans^  Hence  his  opportunity  of  enriching  with  both 
adherents  and  property  any  section  which  he  pronounced  to 
be  the  true  church.  And  it  is  from  such  transferences  pro- 
bably that  the  accusations  of '  fraud  and  rapine '  arise  which 
are  so  freely  showered  upon  unorthodox  Deacons,  when 
darker  stains  on  character  rest  evidently  on  hearsay*. 

There  is  no  ground  for  assuming  that  Novatus  exaggerated 
his  irregularities  by  actually  conferring  orders  upon  Felicis- 
simus^  There  is  no  previous  or  contemporary  instance  of 
such  a  fact,  nor  the  slightest  symptom  of  any  presbyterian  or 
anti-episcopalian  theory  (as  members  of  unepiscopal  churches 
have  freely  averred*)  in  the  principles  or  conduct  of  Novatus 
and  his  following.  They  were  in  episcopal  communion,  they 
took  part  in  the  episcopal  election  at  Carthage  and  opposed 
the  nomination   of  Cyprian,  they   presently  elected    a   new 

'.£/.  67  'Cyprianus...item.iElioDia-  Times  of  S.   Cypr.  p.  134)  that  some 

cono  et  plebi  Emeritae  consistentibus.'  heretical  bishop  was  called  in  lacks  all 

2  Ep.    52.    I.     See    further    p.    311  foundation, 

below,  ch.  VII.  iii.  i.  *  E.    de    Pressense,    H.    des    Trots 

^  Ecclesiasticoe    pecuniae ...  viduarum  Pi-emiers  Slides  de  V ^glise  Chret.  2me 

ac    pupillorum    deposita,    Ep.    52.    i.  Ser.  I.  pp.  484599.     Neander,  op.  cit. 

Ecclesise  deposita,  Ep.  50.     See  p.  68,  vol.  I.  p.  313,  besides  Rettberg,  D'Au- 

n.  4.  bign^,     Keyser.      Fechtrup     however 

^  Ep.  41.  I.  rightly  says  'nicht  eine  Spur,  nicht  em 

'  G.  A.  Poole's  suggestion  {Life  and  Wort,'  p.  81,  n.  i. 

8—2 


Il6  DECLARATION  OF  PARTIES. 

bishop  for  themselves  and  procured  his  consecration.  When 
Novatus  visited  Rome,  he  threw  himself  into  the  Episcopal 
election  then  proceeding,  opposed  the  candidate  who  was 
chosen,  and  then  procured  an  episcopal  consecration  for  his 
own  nominee'.  If  in  any  century  of  the  Church's  history 
the  presbyteral  parentage  of  episcopacy  was  forgotten  or 
undiscovered,  and  any  revival  of  latent  presbyteral  claim  to 
assume  an  episcopal  function  impossible,  it  was  in  the  thirds 

But,  again,  it  is  evident  from  the  nature  of  the  frauds 
attributed  to  Felicissimus  that  he  was  already  a  Deacon  when 
he  joined  Novatus,  and  it  was  by  complicity  with  him  that 
Novatus  became  liable  to  the  same  accusation^  of  wronging 
the  fatherless  and  widows*. 

Thus  at  last  we  have  before  us  a  complete  picture  of  the 
formation  of  an  Opposition  in  the  third  century.  The 
original  clerical  element  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  popular 
choice  of  the  bishop  had  allied  itself  with  discontent  at  the 
bishop's  delegating  even  administrative  functions  to  others, 
and  with  a  wide-spread  conviction  that  meritorious  suffering 
in  the  Church's  cause  established  some  claim  to  a  voice  in  her 
discipline.  Lenity  to  the  Lapsed,  open  admission  to  Com- 
munion was  the  rallying  cry,  and  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
party  consisted  of  the  multitudinous  claimants  for  restoration 
with  their  families. 

^    ..illic  episcopum  fecit,  Ep.  52.  •z.         the  reading  of  Hartel,  but  the  MSS.  F, 

*  See  Bp.  Lightfoot's  Dissertation  on  '  Felicissimum  satellitem  suum  suum 
the  Christian  Ministry.  diaconem  constituit,'  and  Q,  'Felicissi- 

^  Epp-  41-  i;  52.  2.  mum  satellitem  snurn  suum  diaconum 

*  In  Epp.  52.  2  this  action  of  Novatus  constituit '  are  right,  and  supported  by 
is  paralleled  with  his  creation  of  a  the  further  repetition  in  M,  '  Felicissi- 
Bishop,  which  was  certainly  not  without  mum  satellitem  suum  suum  diaconum 
the  intervention  of  legitimate  bishops.  suum  constituit.' 

His  offeqce  lay  in  making  Felicissimus  Fechtrup,  pp.    no,   rii,  and   n.  4, 

his  deacon,   '  nee  permittente  me  nee  p.     1 10,    says    rightly    that     Novatus 

sciente,'  i.e.  inconsulto  Cypriano.   Com-  could    not    have   ventured   upon,   nor 

pare  ^/.  34.    i  *Gaio  Ttid^nsX  presby-  Cyprian  have  failed  explicitly  to  censure, 

tero  et    diacono  e^'us.''     '  Felicissimum  so  discrediting  a  novelty  as  Orders  given 

satellitem  suum  diaconum... constituit*  is  by  a  presbyter. 


II.  X.  DECLARATION   OF  PARTIES.  117 

From  the  counter  extreme  we  have  faintly  caught  in  dark 
legendary  form  sterner  voices  demanding  even  in  easy-going 
Carthage  their  perpetual  exclusion.  In  the  haughtier  Capital 
this  tendency  alone  had  a  chance  of  development.  We  shall 
see  how  singularly  this  movement  was  in  the  very  person  of 
Novatus  linked  to  the  opposite  Carthaginian  movement. 
Our  next  interest  will  be  to  trace  the  gentle  yet  commanding 
policy  of  Cyprian  in  subduing  the  violence  of  both  the 
separations. 

Budinarius  and  Sarcinatrix.  {Ep.  42.)     [Additional  Note  on  p.  114.] 

For  the  reason  given  in  the  text  the  obscure  occupations  of  two  of 
those  partisans  of  Felicissimus  are  worth  considering. 

1.  Soliassus  (itself  a  name  which  I  have  not  found  in  inscriptions)  is 
called  Budinarius  {budianarius  T.),  to  which  we  have  no  clue.  Fell  con- 
jectures burdonarius  '  mule-keeper,'  but  Baluze  finds  no  trace  of  this  word. 
However  Sophocles  Greek  Lexicon  of  Roman  and  Byzantine  Periods  has 

*  BoupSotfi/apios  Schol.  Arist.  Th.  491.  Written  also  ^ovpbowapios  Cyrill. 
Scyth.  V.  S.  230  A,  Leant.  Cypr.  1797  C.  Also  /SopStaj/dptos  loann.  Mosch. 
2988  B.'  These  forms,  considering  the  Latin  termination  of  the  word, 
seem  to  make  its  existence  probable. 

Saumaise  {Script.  Hist.  Aug.  p.  408)  (ll.  p.  578,  Lugd.  1671)  con- 
jectures butinarium  from  butitia  which  Du  Cange  indicates,  though 
without   examples,   as   a  diminutive   of  butta,   '  a   small   wine-butt '  or 

*  bottle,'  which  has  many  relatives  ^ovrriov,  fiovms  k.t.X.  (v.  Soph.  Lex. 
S.V.),  buttis,  butica,  buticula  (v.  Du  Cange).  And  he  suggests  that  it 
means  '  a  maker  of  small  vessels  or  measures '  {e.g.  acetabula).  Hesy- 
chius  has  ^vtIvt]  as  a  Tarentine  word  for  \ayvvoi  ^  d/ii's. 

2.  Paula  was  a  Sarcinatrix.  The  employment  is  often  mentioned  in 
inscriptions  and  was  one  of  the  offices  of  the  Domus  Augusta.  See  Orelli, 
Inscrr.  645,  (5372),  7275  ;  a  fine  monument  ap.  Gruter,  p.  MCXVll.  9 
'Fausta  Saturnia  Sarcinatrix  Proculeio  Vernae  suo  puero  ingeniosis- 
simo...'  and  five  inscriptions  on  p.  dlxxx,  where  two  have  Greek  names 
and  three  are  libertae  ;  one  is  of  'Julia  lucunda  Aug.  1.  sarcinatr(ix)  a 
mundo  mulie(bri),'  &c.     Abp.  Lavigerie  communicated  to  de  Rossi  one 

'  from  Caesarea  in  Mauretania  *  Rogata  Sarcinatr.  Saturno,  v.  1.  a.  s.'  {Corp. 
Inscrr.  L.  viii.  ii.  no.  10938). 

What  the  office  was  seems  scarcely  doubtful  if  the  quotations  in 
Forcellini  are  compared.  Fronto,  de  Differ.,  p.  2192  (Putsch)  '  Sartrix 
quae  sarcit,  sarcinatrix  quaa  sarcinas  servat' ;  Nonius,  c.  i.  276  'Sarcina- 
trices  non  ut  quidam  volant  sarcitrices  quasi  a  sarciendo,  sed  raagis  a 


Il8  GROWTH  OF  THE  OPPOSITION   AT  ROME. 

sarcinis  quod  plurimum  vestium  sumant.'  But  as  Paulus,  Dig.  1.  47, 
tit.  2,  83  (82),  says  '  Fullo  et  sarcinator,  qui  polienda  aut  sarcienda  vesti- 
menta  accipit,'  the  grammarians'  account  (though  they  are  anxious  as 
to  the  formation  of  the  word)  is  consistent  with  the  employment  being 
that  of  a  '  seamstress,'  or  '  mender,'  the  *  sarcinas  '  being  packs  of  clothes. 
So  from  an  old  Latin-Greek  Glossary  in  the  Library  of  S.  Germain  des 
Pr^s,  Du  Cange  s.v.,  cf.  vol.  vil.  p.  442  a  1.  9,  quotes  sarcinatrix  iQTrrjTpia, 
aKearrpia  (sic  lege),  r\  KaXXamarpia.  It  is  COUpled  in  Dig.  1.  1 5,  tit.  I,  27 
(Gaius)  with  the  employment  of  a  'textrix'  as  an  'artificium  vulgare.' 
So  in  Plaut.  Aubil.  in.  5,  41  the  *  sarcinatores '  are  named  with  the 
'fuUones,'  as  also  in  Gaius  Comment.  1.  iii.  143,  162,  205.  In  Lucil.  ap. 
Non.  ii.  818  the  'sarcinator'  makes  a  patchwork  quilt  'suere  centonem.' 
What  the  'machinae'  are  in  Varro,  ap.  Non.  i.  276,  '  Homines  rusticos  in 
vindemia  incondita  cantare,  sarcinatrices  in  machinis '  is  not  so  clear. 
Anyhow  the  exhibition  of  the  social  class  is  most  interesting. 


XL 


Grozvth  of  the  Opposition  at  Rome.     The  Confessors  and 

Novatian. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  mention  a  noble  group 
of  Confessors  who  had  been  committed  to  the  Roman  prisons 
at  the  time  of  the  execution  of  Fabian^  Their  sufiferings 
and  the  sight  of  each  other's  tortures  were  harrowing. 
Cyprian  sent  them  constant  encouragement,  and  pecuniary 
help  from  his  own  resources^  Among  them  were  two  of 
the  seven  Deacons  of  the  city,  Rufinus,  of  whom  we  have 
no  further  personal  detail,  and  Nicostratus,  who  soon  passed, 
never  to  return,  into  the  ranks  of  schism.  Of  the  laymen  con- 
fined with  them,  Urbanus  twice  underwent  the  torture;  the 
three  Punic  friends  Sidonius,  Macarius  and  the  indomitable 
Celerinus'  are  familiar  names  already.  The  Presbyter  Maxi- 
mus*  was  in  after  years  thought  worthy  to  be  laid  among 
the   bishops  in    the  subterranean  chapel   of  Cornelius ;    we 

*  Ep.  28.  '  Euseb.  vi.  43,  et  sup.  p.  69. 

2  Ep.  31.  I,  5.  6.  ■*  pp.  69,  162. 


II.  XI.  THE  CONFESSORS  AND   NOVATIAN.  1 19 

shall  find  him  inspiring  his  fellow  sufferers  to  an  act  of 
courage  morally  higher  than  their  confessorship.  But  the 
ruling  spirit  among  them  during  the  year  250  was  a  Pres- 
byter, who  doubtless  belonged  to  the  Jewish  section  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  Moyses.  His  signature  had  been  attached 
to  the  letter  in  which  Novatian  and  the  clergy  signified 
their  adhesion  to  the  proposals  of  Cyprian,  and  we  may  not 
unreasonably  conjecture  him  to  be  the  author  of  the  manly 
thirty-first  epistle^  Had  some  philosophic  magistrate  sur- 
prised in  its  passage  such  a  document,  rating  his  severities, 
even  while  in  process,  as  substantial  happiness  to  the  sufferer, 
and  from  a  dungeon  claiming  the  right  to  legislate  for 
evidently  numerous  classes  of  mankind,  he  must  have  ques- 
tioned with  himself  not  only  as  to  where  the  chief  Good,  but 
where  the  reality  of  power  resided. 

Moyses  and  his  fellow-sufferers  from  the  first  gave  no 
countenance  to  the  theory  that  the  merits  of  martyrs  or 
confessors  should  cross  the  path  of  discipline ;  aud  they 
earned  the  gratitude  of  Cyprian  by  their  remonstrance  with 
those  whom  they  were  connected  with  at  Carthage,  against 
the  line  there  pursued-.  A  year  of  confinement  was  nearly 
past  when  Cyprian  writing  them  a  letter  of  confidence  and 
comfort,  in  answer  to  theirs,  by  the  now  liberated  and  welcome 
hand  of  Celerinus,  traced  out  the  progress  of  the  four  seasons 
of  their  spiritual  experience,  with  no  small  remnants  of  his 
older  rhetoric ^  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  such  flowers 
of  eloquence  were  in  their  freshness  then,  and  that  the 
brightness  of  a  prison-house  was  a  new  theme.  Some  un- 
known members  of  the  group  had  already  died*,  when  Moyses 
after  eleven  months  and  eleven  days  of  bondage  (such  is  the  Dec.(?)3i, 
accurate   record  of  the   Liberian   Chronicle,  and  one  which    "  '  ^^°" 


1  That  one  wrote  for  the  rest  appears  ^  Ep.  37.  i  '  per  tales  talia.' 

in   the  phrase   'non  dicam,'  Ep.    31.  *  Ep.    37.    3    'ad   osculum    Domini 

2.  venerunt.' 

-  Ep.  28.  2. 


I20 


GROWTH  OF  THE  OPPOSITION  AT  ROME. 


even  here  marks  the  importance  attached  to  his   position) 
followed  them^  to  a  confessor's  grave. 

With  an  insight  lacking  to  the  rest  Moyses  had  marked 
Novatian's  progress  toward  an  exclusive  rigorism,  not  un- 
discoverable  even  in  his  first  epistle,  and  hardening  just  as 
Cyprian  softened,  after  that  meeting-points  So  unchristian- 
like  had  seemed  to  him  the  '  insane  arrogance^ '  of  Novatian's 
tone  that  at  last  he  had  refused  to  act  with  him,  or  possibly 
to  communicate  with  him  and  his  uncharitable  disciples  (at 
this  time  five  presbyters),  in  the  visits  which,  like  other 
clergy,  they  paid  to  the  prisoners'*.     Moyses  may  well  have 


^  Post  passionem  ejus  (Fabii)  Moyses 
et  Maximus  presbyteri  et  Nicostratus 
diaconus  comprehensi  sunt  et  in  car- 
cerem  sunt  missi.  Eo  tempore  super- 
venit  Novatus  ex  Africa  et  separavit  de 
ecclesia  Novatianum  et  quosdam  con- 
fessores,  postquam  Moyses  in  carcere 
defunctus  est,  qui  fiiit  ibi  m.  xi.  d.  xi. 
(Liberian  Catalogue,  ap.  Lipsius,  op. 
cit.  p.  267).  Considering  that  Fabian 
was  martyred  on  20  Jan.  this  looks  as 
if  it  meant  that  Moyses  died  on  the  last 
day  of  the  year;  the  precision  of  the 
record  is  due  to  the  necessity  felt  for 
saving  the  memory  of  Moyses  from  the 
imputation  of  Novatianism. 

^  pp.  108  sqq. 

'  KartSwj'  airov  ttjv  dpaffOrijra  koX  tt]v 
dirdvoiav.     Eus.  //.  E.  vi.  43. 

^  iKoivwvrjTov  iiroLrj<rev  Cornelius,  £p. 
ap.  Eus.  //.  £.,  I.e.,  where  see  Valois. 
Although  the  word  is  classical  in  the 
sense  of  'having  no  dealings  with,'  yet 
the  bond  and  usages  of  communion  can 
hardly  fail  to  have  affected  already  a 
term  which  soon  was  becoming  the  fixed 
word  for  'excommunicated,'  especially 
since  the  sentence  proceeds  avv  rols 
irivTe  vpeff^vripoii  to?j  afia  airrip  airo- 
ffXiaoffiv  iavToiK  rfji  sKKXtjalai. 

In  this  same  clause  Lipsius  (op.  cit. 
p.  202)  untowardly  conceived  that  this 


ai^Ty  must  refer  to  Novatus,  and  not 
Novatian,  because  'The  five  presbyters' 
must  be  The  Five  Carthaginian  Pres- 
byters. It  is  to  be  observed  that  through 
the  whole  Epistle  Novatian  is  called, 
possibly  through  Eusebius'  editing, 
'Novatus.'  Having  however  not  only 
a  numerical  but  a  presbyterian  bias, 
Lipsius  makes  Moyses  'excommunicate' 
Novatus  and  his  five.  In  that  case  we 
should  have  a  Roman  presbyter  ex- 
communicating Five  Presbyters  who 
never  stirred  from  Carthage,  and  of 
whom  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  he 
had  heard.  Ritschl,  p.  68,  observes 
also  that  this  would  make  Six  Opposi- 
tion Presbyters  there,  whereas  we  only 
hear  of  Five.  But  then  further,  if  this 
is  so,  Moyses  is  not  said  to  have  re- 
nounced Novatian  himself  at  all  (but 
only  Novatus  and  his  Carthaginians), 
whereas  his  disowning  of  Novatian  is 
the  very  point  which  Cornelius  wished 
to  impress  on  Fabius. 

The  number  Five  reappears  singu- 
larly in  the  History.  Cyprian's  first 
recusants  are  Five  Presbyters,  Ep.  43. 
I,  3.  The  heretic  Privatus  of  Lambsese 
had  Five  presbyter  adherents,  Ep.  59. 
10.  Five  presbyters  attended  Cornelius 
at  the  reconciliation  of  Maximus,  Ep. 
49.  2.     Five   bishops  consecrated  the 


II.  XI.  NOVATIAN.  121 

been  one  of  the  presbyters  whose  advice  Fabian  had  over- 
ruled when  he  ordained  the  Stoic  philosopher,  the  epileptic, 
who  had  been  exorcised  as  a  daemoniac,  and  baptized  in  the 
apparently  fatal  malady  which  ensued,  yet  who  after  his 
recovery  had  not  cared  to  complete  the  right  by  obtaining 
the  imposition  of  hands.  These  were  harsh  traits  in  Nova- 
tian's  history,  and  although  the  language  of  Cornelius  is 
cruelly  bitter^  they  were  traits  likely  to  be  remembered 
against  him  by  the  gentlest,  when  the  man  slowly  moved 
into  prominence  as  the  withholder  of  forgiveness  and  rejecter 
of  the  penitent.  Harsher  yet  was  the  story  that  the  Deacons 
could  not  persuade  him  to  emerge,  in  order  to  visit  suffering 
confessors,  from  some  small  cell"^  to  which  he  had  retired 
during  the  persecution,  '  because  he  had  resolved  to  be  no 
longer  presbyter  and  belonged  now  to  another  philosophy.' 
The  first  half  of  the  speech  thus  imputed  to  him  we  may 
unhesitatingly  reject  as  a  mistaken  comment  on  the  rest. 
Kis  meaninsf  doubtless  was  that  he  embraced  the  contem- 


pseudo-bishop  Fortunatus,  Ep.  59.  11.  but  he  is  constantly  spoken  of  as  proud 

Any  of  these  Fives  might  as  reasonably  of  being  a  philosopher,  and  if  his  school 

be  identified  with  the  Five  Novatianist  had  been   any  but  the  Stoic,   Cyprian 

Presbyters,    as     the     Five     Presbyters  could  scarcely  have  written  Ep.   55.  6, 

of  Carthage.     We  remember  too  that  'alia  est  philosophorum  et  Stoicorum 

Cyprian  sarcastically  identified  his  ovra  ratio,  &c.'     The  sternness  of  his  tone  is 

Five  with  the  '  Five  Magnates.'  well  seen  in  the  strange  epithets  with 

^  He  talks  of  his  'wolf-like  friendli-  which  he  loads  his  idea  of  manliness — 

ness,'  ascribes  his  conversion  to  the  act  asperi   et   hispidi   et    hirti   et   firmi   et 

of  Satan,  and   treats  the  natural  rule,  graves  mores  hominum  probantur,  De 

that    a   person  baptized  under  fear  of  Cib.  Jud.  c.  3.     No  credit  can  be  at- 

death  should  not  be  admitted  to  Orders,  tached   to  the  statement   of  Philostor- 

as  if  it  admitted  of  no  equally  natural  gius,  H.   E.  viii.    15,  that   he  was   a 

exceptions.     He  was  a  narrow-minded  Phrygian.     Socrates,  who  wrote  {^H.  E. 

man.     Cyprian,  with  his  larger  heart,  iv.  28)  with  a  strong  regard   for  the 

and  humour  rallies  the  prejudice  (which  Novatianist  discipline  and  had  investi- 

at    Neocsesarea    A.D.    314    became    a  gated  the  history  of  the  sect  in  Phrygia, 

Canon)    against    Clinical    Baptism    by  attributes  its  spread  there  to  the  austere 

hinting  that  other  baptism  might  just  as  character  of  the  people  and  not  at  all  to 

well  be  called  Peripatetic,  Ep.  69.  16.  any   personal   influences.     Cf.   Sozom. 

It  is  true  that  we  have  no  distinct  in-  H.  E.  ii.  32. 
formation  that  Novatian  was  a  Stoic,  ^  oIkIckos,  Euseb.  loc.  cit. 


122  GROWTH   OF  THE  OPPOSITION   AT  ROME. 

plative  life  in  preference  to  the  active,  and  for  this  his  health 
and  habits  furnished  an  excuse  which  would  not  have  been 
disallowed  from  others.  To  forsake  the  presbyterate  would 
have  been  a  step  alien  to  his  rigidly  ecclesiastical  spirit, 
while  at  the  same  time  there  is  no  reason  to  question  either 
the  fact  or  the  sincerity  of  his  abjuration  of  episcopal  ambi- 
tion ^  The  unsparing  author  of  the  contemporary  pamphlet 
'  To  Novatian  '  bears  witness  to  his  faithfulness  as  a  presbyter, 
'  how  he  had  wept  for  the  faults  of  others  as  his  own,  how  he 
'  had  borne  their  burdens,'  and  dwells  on  '  the  strength  of  his 
heavenly  addresses'  to  the  faint-hearted  I 

We  may  judge  for  ourselves  that  his  eloquence  was  of  no 
vulgar  order.  At  a  time  when  the  Roman  church  possessed 
no  Latin  writer  of  ability,  his  style  is  pure,  clear,  incisive, 
not  disdainful  of  verbal  repetitions  for  distinctness'  sake,  or 
in  his  syllogisms  afraid  of  prolonged  pronominal  clauses". 
When  he  passes  from  explanations  to  reflections  he  has  a 
peculiar  tone  of  melancholy  sarcasm  and  latent  censure  which 
seems  to  dwell  even  in  the  sound  of  his  sentences. 

He  had  been  engaged  in  controversy  with  the  Jews,  and 

^  We  need  not  believe  with  Cornelius  as  Ep.   30.     Compare  Ep.   36.  2  '  hoc 

(Euseb.  loc.  at.)  that  his  oaths  on  this  ipsum  quod  pro  se  ipsis   facere   puta- 

subject  were   (po^epoi   (.../cat   St'  opKuv  verunt   animadvertimus  contra  se  ipsos 

(tio^epGiv  Tivuv...),  but  Neander's  ques-  protulisse,'  and  Ep.  36.  3  '  quando  me- 

tioning  (op.  cit.  vol.  I.  pp.  335,  6)  that  liores  ipsorum...\xa^t\XQ\.\xx^  with   Ep. 

Novatian  protested  against  the  imputa-  30.    4   '  Nam  qui  id  quod  habet   non 

tion  is  not  creditable  to  his  criticism.  custodit   in  eo   ex   quo   illud  possidet, 

Novatian  was  a  student,  and  a  pietist  and  dum  id  ex  quo  posbidet  violat,  amittit 

a  severe  man,  and  in  delicate  health.    He  illud  quod  possidebat,'  and  with  Nova 

did  not  wish  to  be  dragged  from  retire-  tian's  de  Trin.  c.  13  '...Verbum  autem 

ment  until  the  development  of  his  views  hoc  illud  est  quod...'E.\.  nihilominus  dum 

forced  it  on  him.  xnundu%  if  se  posl  ilium,' Sec.    Compare 

^  Ad  Novatianum,  ch.  13,  in  the  again  the  string  of  short  clauses  com- 
appendices  to  Cyprian.  On  the  Author-  menced  with  Quod  si  in  the  above  pas- 
ship  of  this  Treatise  see  Appendix,  sage  of  De  Trin.  with  Ep.  36.  i,  ^ 
p.  557.  '  qui  si  habent,'  &c.,  and  of.  p.  147,  n.  i 

*  From  this  tone  (see  especially  the  inf.     [A  more  elaborate  proof  of  the 

insinuation   of    36.    3)    and    from    the  authorship   is   worked   out   by   Dr   A. 

pronominal  peculiarities  I  cannot  hesi-  Harnack  in  op.  cit.,  inf.  p.  150.] 
tate  to  ascribe  to  him  Ep.  36  as  certainly 


II.  XI,  NOVATIAN.  123 

perhaps  with  the  Judaizing  Christians,  who  formed  so  strong 
a  party  in  Rome.  Nothing  indeed  could  be  more  important 
than  that  the  vast  Jewish  population  should  be  directly  con- 
fronted by  Christianity,  and  that  inquirers  should  learn  the 
difference  between  shadow  and  substance.  His  two  epistles 
'Of  Circumcision'  and  '  Of  the  Sabbath '  were  thus  aimed  \ 
Whether  that  '  On  the  Priest '  bore  on  the  same  controversy 
or  on  his  own  conflict  with  Cornelius  is  more  than  I  can 
decide.  But  his  extant  epistle  '  Of  the  Jewish  Meats '  was 
composed  probably  in  this  very  year,  and  possibly  during  the 
retirement^  which  by  some  was  so  violently  reprehended,  as 
a  manual  repeatedly  asked  for  by  a  laity  who  '  not  only  held 
but  vehemently  taught  a  sincere  Gospel.'  It  is  a  singular  and 
partly  beautiful  essay  : — '  The  Jews  are  strange  to  the  under- 
'standing  of  their  law. ..No  animals,  created  and  blessed  of 
'  God,  are  really  unclean.  Some  have  in  their  habits,  character 
'or  form  a  figurative  repulsiveness,  and  this  was  taken  ad- 
'  vantage  of  as  a  means  of  instruction  in  morals.'  Here  the 
illustrations  are  fanciful,  as  might  be  imagined,  the  pride  of 
the  swan's  neck  being  one  of  them.  So  it  was  '  in  some  olden 
days  when  such  like  shadows  or  emblems  had  to  be  used.' 
But  Christ  had  opened  out  '  all  things  which  antiquity  had 
'shrouded  in  mists  of  symbol V  had  'restored  them  all  to 
'  their  own  primal  benedictions  by  closing  the  law.' 

'  The  true  meat,  holy  and  clean,  is  a  right  faith,  an  un- 
'  spotted  conscience,  and  an  innocent  soul.  Whoso  thus  feeds 
'sups  with  Christ.     Such  a  banqueter  is  God's  guest.     These 


'  So  he  says  himself.     See  De  Cibis  it  during  an  absence  which   he  trusts 

yud.  c.   I.     His   (/e  Attalo  may  have  will   not  prove  injurious  to  them.     If 

been  a  paper  on  the  Abuse  of  Wealth.  this  were  during  persecution  it  accounts 

The  De  htstantia  sounds  like  a  charac-  for  that  change  of  tone  as  to  Cyprian's 

teristic  title  of  a  pendant  to  Tertullian's  retirement  which  we  saw  that  Novatian 

De  Patientia,  or  a  corrective  to  Cyprian's  imported  into  the  Roman  judgment. 
De  Bono  Patientite.  ^  ...sacramentorum  nebulis,  De  Cib. 

2  Commonly  headed  '  Plebi  in  Evan-  Jttd.  c.  5. 
gelio  perstanti.'     He  speaks  of  writing 


124 


GROWTH  OF  THE  OPPOSITION  AT  ROME. 


'  be  the  banquets  which  sustain  angels ;  these  be  the  tables 
'  which  make  martyrs.* 

'  Christian  temperance  condemns  both  avarice  and  luxury^' 
These  vices  are  severely  chastised,  and  lastly,  in  language 
much  sterner  than  S.  Paul's'',  the  partaking  of  things  offered 
to  idols  is  condemned  as  still  in  use,  and  apparently  as  being 
the  one  way  now  possible  in  which  defiled  meats  could  be 
eaten. 

Thus  then  Novatian  had  well  deserved  the  reputation,  at 
which  the  practical  Cornelius  levels  an  unthinking  sneer,  of  'a 
master  in  doctrine  and  a  maintainer  of  ecclesiastical  science'.' 
Cornelius  was  indeed  cast  in  another  mould.  He  was  a 
Roman  of  the  Romans.     Apart  even  from  the  other  popes 


with  their  Greek  epigraphs,  he  was    buried    under  a  Latin 
inscription  among  the  noble  Cornelii^    He  had  risen  quiet  and 


^  c.  6.  On  one  singular  revelation 
here  made  see  p.  290,  n.  4. 

2  ...sumenlem  daemonio  nutrit  non 
Deo...  c.  7. 

^  ...6  SoyfMTia-His,  6  t'Qj  (KKKfjaiaari.- 
KTJi  iin<rr-qfj.r]s  iirepaa-iriffrifi!,  ap.  Eus.  /.  c. 
Novatian's  admirable  work  Of  the  Trin- 
ity, must,  from  its  mention  of  'the  Sa- 
bellian  Heresy'  (c.  12  sqq.),  be  some 
years  later  in  date.  Jerome  {de  Virr. 
III.  70)  calls  it  a  'quasi-epitome'  from 


Tertullian,  usually  ascribed  to  Cyprian. 
Under  Cyprian's  name  it  was  in  after 
times  sold  at  Constantinople  at  a  low 
price,  with  the  object  of  helping  on  the 
Macedonian  views  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
However  it  is  orthodox,  and  inexact 
only  as  prior  to  definition. 

*  See  inf.  Ch.  vii.  i.  The  Felician 
Catalogue  (Lipsius,  op.  cit.  p.  375)  does 
not  mention  his  father's  name,  and  the 
surname  Castinus  given  in  the  Liber 


II.  XI.  PACE   REDUCI.  12$ 

respected  through  every  order  and  office  in  the  church*.  Per- 
sonally he  was  not  other  than  a  humble-minded  man,  yet 
somewhat  irritable,  and  with  a  high  sense  of  official  dignity. 
Cyprian  at  once  honoured  and  humoured  him,  and  was  as 
far  superior  to  him  in  the  instincts  of  a  ruler,  as  Novatian 
was  in  doctrinal  acuteness.  He  had  received  to  Communion 
some  who,  he  satisfied  himself  by  enquiry,  had  been  unjustly 
accused  of  lapse  by  the  severer  faction,  and  was  retaliated 
upon  by  charges  of  communicating  with  lapsed  bishops  and 
others,  or  even  of  being  himself  a  Libellatic^ 

The  disqualifications  of  Novatian  however  for  the  epis- 
copate were  patent ;  his  irregular  ordination,  his  unpopular 
retirement,  the  judgment  of  Moyses  on  his  opinions.  For 
he  had  now  advanced  to  the  position  of  the  Puritan.  He 
held  it  impossible  that  the  Church  on  earth  should  reconcile 
apostates.  He  did  not  indeed  exclude  them  from  hope  of 
salvation.  He  maintained  it  to  be  one  of  the  most  solemn 
ministries  to  bring  them  to  repentance ;  but  to  communion 
never.  To  communicate  in  their  communion  was  to  become 
excommunicate. 

No  Christian  thinker  as  yet  had  struck  on  the  now  so 
familiar  distinction  between  the  Invisible  Church  and  the 
Visible,  as  the  reconcilement  of  her  essential  attributes  with 
their  practicable  evincement.  But  a  true  sense  had  guided 
both  Cornelius  and  Cyprian  himself,  (who  in  later  years  was 
so  egregiously  to  fail  for  lack  of  the  same  simple  formula,) 
to  a  standpoint  of  more  leniency  than  the  late  resolutions 
had  occupied.  With  them  moved  almost  the  whole  Church. 
But  singular  to  say,  the  immediate  comrades  of  Moyses  had, 
possibly  in    some    reaction    against  his   influence,   but  also 

Pontificalis    of    the    Pseudo-Damasus,  unfairness   Ritschl    says  we    have    no 

Labbe,  l.  p.  683,  is  less  likely  to  be  tra-  means  of  knowing  whether   Cornelius 

ditional  than  invented.     See  Rossi,  R.  was  a  Libellatic.     The  whole  tenor  of 

S.  I.  Tav.  iv.  2.  his   history  and    the   debate  about  his 

^  Ep.  55.  8.  title  must  have  been  quite  different  if  he 

2  Ep.  55.  10,  ir,  12.     With  singular  had  been. 


126  GROWTH   OF  THE  OPPOSITION    AT   ROME. 

urged  by  a  new  and  strange  partisan,  placed  themselves  on 

the  side  of  Novatian*. 
A.D.  351,  Early  in  the  year  251   they  were  liberated  from  prison 

1004.  ^^^  th^  election  of  a  bishop  was  contemplated. 
Coss.  Imp.  Pqj.  ^j^g  security  of  Decius  was  threatened.  Before  the 
Messius  Q.  commencement  of  the  new  year  Priscus  *  had  assumed  in 
Decius  Macedonia  the  title  of  Augustus,  and  allied  his  legions  with 
ni  Q^'  Cniva  and  his  Goths.  Decius  left  Rome  for  the  scene  of 
Herenn.  action.  Scarcely  was  he  gone  when  Julius  Valens  was  pro- 
Messius  claimed  Emperorf  behind  him,  and  followed  him  as  far  as 
Cxs.[anno  IHyria*.  There  was  a  sudden  absence  from  the  city  of  all 
^/''■^\  the  principal  military  officers.  Valens  soon  fell.  But  the 
*  ?Nov.  or  war  of  commanders  was  the  Rest  of  the  Church.  And  though 
Dec,  A.D.  |.]^j.gg^|.g  abounded,  and  expectations  of  resumed  persecution 
t  Feb.  or    prevailed ^  the  interval  was  seized*  for  an  election.    Cornelius, 

\Torpfj 

A.D.  251.    compelled  to  accept  the  result',  was  by  no  less  than  sixteen 
bishops*  ordained  to  the  See  of  Rome. 

In  that  Imperial  world  horror  followed  horror  and  '  blood 
touched  blood '  so  fast  that  the  sense  of  awe  only  stirred 
uneasily  from  time  to  time  and  was  still  again.  But  a  great 
people  was  silently  rising  over  its  vast  area,  for  whom  Provi- 
dence and  the  Innocent  Blood  were  realities,  and  whose  sense 
of  God's  Love  was  deepened  by  suffering  for  Him.  The 
tidings  were  yet  some  months  distant  of  a  treason  against 

^  Eus.  //.  E.  vi.  46  ...iri.  rj  Nooi/d-  constitui   Romse   Dei   sacerdotem.^     (i) 

ro\j  (rvfjL(t>epoiJ.^voLS  yvunrj.  Decius  heard  of  this  infringement  of  the 

"^  Aur.  Victor,  de  Casaribus,  29.     The  edict  against  bishops,  not  being  himself 

rise  of  Valens  took  place  in  Febr.  or  at  Rome.    (2)  T\it  cemulus princeps  v/z.s 

March  251,  Lipsius,  0/.  aV.  p.  ■206;  that  none  but  Valens.     (3)  The  events  were 

of  Priscus  in  end  of  250;  see  Tillemont,  nearly    contemporaneous.       If   Valens 

vol.  III.  pp.  324,  5.  had    risen    in    March    and    Cornelius 

3  ...qui  [Cornelius]  tantum  temporis  (according  to  the  usual  chronology)  in 

sedit  exspectans  corporis  sui  camifices.  June,    Cyprian    could    not    have   thus 

^P-  55-  9-  connected  them. 

*  The  events  are  connected  by  the  *  ...vim   passus   est  ut  episcopatum 

phrase  in  Ep.  55.  9  '  ...cum  multo  pa-  coactus  exciperet.     Ep.  55.  8. 

tientius   et   tolerabilius    audiret   levari  "  Ep.  55.  24. 
adversus  se   (zniulum  principeni  quam 


II.  XI.  PACE   REDUCI.  i. 

Decius  like  his  own,  of  the  plunging  squadrons  at  dead  of 
night  in  the  all-devouring  morass,  of  the  strenuous  emperor's 
disappearance  with  his  loved  son.  When  the  news  came  at 
last,  and  the  engulfed  princes  had  been  added  to  the  gods  of 
Rome',  it  would  have  been  too  strange  if  there  had  not  sur- 
vived enough  of  human  nature  to  make  the  Christians  trace 
an  Avenger  in  such  tragedies  ;  but  what  was  new  was  the 
acceptance  by  the  mass  of  them  undoubtingly  of  their  own 
persecution  as  a  Divine  and  wholesome  chastisement.  And, 
says  Cyprian,  their  enemy  had  not,  'in  the  darkest  hour  of 
the  lovers  of  God,'  succeeded  for  an  instant  in  any  place  in 
silencing  their  constant  'boast  of  His  praise'  until  once  more 
'the  world  shone  out  in  light  =^.' 

Till  then  security  was  not  assured,  but  from  the  day  when 
Decius  marched  out  of  the  gates  the  persecution  virtually 
dropped,  and  '  Peace,'  which  but  a  few  months  before  had 
seemed  an  impossible  blessing,  settled  tranquilly  down  upon 
the  Church. 

We  shall  not  be  far  wrong  if  we  fix  the  ordination  of  March  5, 
Cornelius  to  about  the  5th  of  March'.     Easter  Day  in  the '^' 

^  ...uterque    in    barbarico    interfecti  three  months  and  ten  days  previously 

sunt,  inter  Dives  relati.    Eutrop.  ix.  4.  (Libenan  CataL),  in  March. 

^  '  Mundus  eluxit,'  De  Lapsis,  i.  The  date  of  the  5th  of  March  for 
•  Ultione  divina'  can  only  refer  to  the  the  death  of  Lucius  is  prettily  sup- 
death  of  Decius  in  November.  This  ported  by  a  depraved  text  of  Liber  Pon- 
little  preface  must  belong  to  a  later  tijicalis,  which  says  that  '  Cornelius 
edition,  for  the  treatise  was  out  by  the  suffered  on  5th  March,  and  committed 
end  of  March,  as  we  shall  see.  See  the  church  treasure  to  the  archdeacon 
below,  pp.  156,  175.  Stephanus.'     The   introduction  of  Ste- 

3  ^/.  55.  8.    The  date  of  the  election  phanus  shews  that   Cornelius  is  here 

of  Cornelius  is  thus  arrived  at  by  Lip-  an  error  for  Lucius  from  whose  life  in 

sius,  op.  cit.  p.  18,  pp.  206,  207.     His  the   same  Pseudo-Damasus  comes  the 

successor  Lucius  died  on  the  5th  March  story  (Labbe  i.  c.  739). 

after  having  sat  eight  months  and  ten  The  common  date,  4th  June,  assigned 

days  (Liberian  Catalo^e)  in  which  the  to  the  election  of  Cornelius,   has  dis- 

three  added  years  are  an  interpolation.  turbed  the  chronology  of  the  reign  of 

This  brings  his  ordination  to  June  25,  Decius  by  making  it  appear  that  Priscus 

and  (if  we  allow  an  average  time  for  the  could  not  have  revolted  before  April, 

vacancy)  places  the  death  of  Cornelius  and  has  led  even  Pearson  to  construct 

in  June,  and  his  ordination,  two  years  hypotheses  of  long  recesses  in  the  ses- 


GROWTH  OF  THE  OPPOSITION  AT  ROME. 


April, 
A.D,  as  I. 


year  251  was  on  the  23rd  of  March,  and  Cyprian,  though 
unable  to  keep  the  Paschal  solemnity  in  his  own  church, 
as  was  the  wont  of  the  African  bishops',  returned  very  shortly 
afterwards  to  Carthage,  after  fourteen  months  of  absence'"*. 
It  was  some  expected  move"  on  the  part  of  'the  faction' 
which  postponed  his  return,  or  the  fear  of  a  demonstration 
which  might  rekindle  persecution.  Nothing  unusual  seems 
to  have  occurred.  It  was  recognised  that  the  execution 
of  the  edict  was  suspended"*,  work  was  instantly  resumed 
with  utmost  vigour,  and  the  bishops  of  the  province,  about 
the  first  week  of  April,  began  joyfully  to  muster  in  the 
metropolis. 


sion  of  the  First  Council,  and  of  several 
journeys  for  Novatus  to  and  from  Rome. 
That  date  rests  however  on  the  mere 
application  of  the  duration  of  Cornelius* 
episcopate  (two  years  three  months  and 
ten  days)  to  the  r4th  of  September, 
which  Jerome  gives  as  the  historical 
date  of  his  execution  at  Rome.  Corne- 
lius was  however  not  put  to  death,  and 
that  day  is  the  real  anniversary  of  the 
martyrdom  of  Cyprian,  together  with 
whose  festival  the  memorial  of  Corne- 
lius was  celebrated  at  Rome  on  account 
of  their  friendship  and  union. 

It  seems  to  me  possible  also  that  the 
coincidence  of  Cornelius'  election  and 
Lucius'  death  on  5th  March  may  have 
been  a  cause  of  error  in  early  calendars. 

Eusebius,  in  assigning  three  years  to 
the  pontificate  of  Cornelius,  blunders 


wretchedly  by  copying  out  the  odd 
number  of  months  as  if  they  were  the 
years.  Thus,  from  the  statements  that 
Cornelius  sate  'a.  11.  m.  in.  d.  X., 
Stephanus  a.  iii.  m.  ii.  d.  xxi.,  Xystus 
a.  II.  m.  XI.  d.  VI.'  he  derives  his 
statements  that  they  sate  respectively 
three  years,  two  years,  and  eleven  years. 
He  has  Lucius  more  correct. 

1  Ep.  56.  3. 

^  Biennhim  in  the  loose,  over- 
wrapping  time-reckoning  of  a  Roman : 
Ep.  43.  4.     See  note  2,  p.  41. 

*  '  Malignitas  et  perfidia.'  He  dis- 
tinctly planned  his  return  for  after 
Easter,  Ep.  43.  i. 

*  Persecutione  sopita,  cum  data  esset 
facultas  in  unum  conveniendi,  copiosus 
episcoporum  numerus,  Ep.  55.  6. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SEQUEL  OF  THE   PERSECUTION. 

I. 

Cyprians  First  Council  of  Carthage. 

Question  i.     The  Title  of  Cornelius. 

Events  had  so  concurred  that  the  first  subject  which 
would  demand  the  attention  of  this,  the  first  Council  of 
Carthage  which  had  met  for  perhaps  half  a  century  ^  was 
quite  other  than  had  been  contemplated  in  the  agenda. 

Cyprian  had  at  the  last  moment*^  received  the  despatch 
from  Cornelius  announcing  his  own  election.  But  with  it 
had  been  delivered  a  letter  of  another  tenor; — a  protest 
against  the  choice  that  had  been  madel  It  was  from 
Novatian. 

The  president  felt  himself  called  upon  to  decide  whether 
he  should  lay  both  documents  before  the  Council,  or  if  not, 
which  of  the  two.  He  was  guided,  he  says,  simply  by  the  tone 
of  the  communications.  One  '  had  the  tone  of  religious  sim- 
'plicity;  the  other  rang  with  the  noisy  baying  of  execrations 

^  Concil.  Agrippinense.  sense  of  Baluze  (n.  p.  432)  whom  he 

^  Ep.  45.  2  '...jam  tunc,  fratribus  at  edits,  'cum   ad   me  talia  adversum  te 

plebi,'  &c.  (Comelium)    et    compresbyteri    tecum 

*  Ep.  45.  2.     Dom   Maran  [^Vita  S.  considentis(Novatiam)scripta venissent, 

Cypr.   XIX.)    takes   this   letter    not   to  clero  et  plebi  legi  praecepi  quae  religio- 

have  been  a  protest,  but  one  from  Cor-  sam  simplicitatem  sonabant...' 

nelius:    mistakenly,    and    against    the 

B.  0 


JO 


CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 


'  and  invectives.'  He  resolved  not  to  communicate  the  mass  of 
bitter  and  offensive  charges  in  writing^  against  Cornelius 
to  an  audience  of  partially  informed,  provincially-educated 
persons,  far  from  the  scene  of  action,  now  gathered  for  deli- 
beration in  files  about  the  Altar^  and  surrounded  by  the 
excitable  laity  of  the  city.  Whether  even  on  these  forcible 
motives  he  should  have  withheld  them  is  a  question  ;  con- 
sidering that  these  councils  were  the  very  types  of  returning 
freedom,  both  individually  and  corporately.  We  recognise  in 
his  act  the  benevolent  despot  singularly  combined  with  the 
scrupulous   debater.     He   took   however   the  politic  step  of 


^  ...ea  quae  ex  diverso  in  librum  mis- 
sum  congesta  fuerant,  Ep.  45.  2,  nothing 
wonderful.  Not  as  Rettberg  (p.  125), 
•ein  ganzes  Buch  angefullt.' 

2  Fratribus  {i.e.  sacerdotibus)  et  plebi, 
Ep.  45.  2  ...longe  positos  et  trans  mare 
constitutos,  45.  2.  Hartel  confuses  this 
interesting  passage  by  a  full  stop  after 
'  intimavimus. '  Cyprian  says  respect  for 
the  assembly  forbade  him  to  produce 
the  railing  accusation  'considerantes 
pariter  et  ponderantes  quod  in  tanto 
fratrum  religiosoque  conventu  considen- 
tibus  Dei  sacerdotibus  et  altari  posito 
nee  legi  debeat  nee  audiri.'  That  is, 
'he  well  weighed  what  was  not  fit  to 
be  read  or  listened  to  in  such  a  place.' 
Further  on  he  says,  'porro  haec  fieri 
debere  ostendimus,  si  quando  talia 
quorundam  calumniosa  temeritate  con- 
scripta  sunt  legi  apud  nos  non  patimur ' ; 
that  is,  'We  recognise  this  duty  if,  when 
people  have  given  vent  to  such  libellous 
'spite,  we  suffer  it  not  to  be  read  before 
us.'  (Cf.  Ephes.  4.  29.)  In  each  pas- 
sage Hartel  has  expunged  the  negatives, 
reading  'rf  legi  debeat  et  audiri'  and 
'  apud  nos  patimur.'  Fechtrup  thinks  the 
changes  destroy  the  meaning;  but  they 
really  only  present  the  converse  (not  the 
reverse)  '\i  fieri  debere  ostendimus  is  in- 
terpreted 'we  sanction   these  doings.' 


Fechtrup  (p.  136  and  n.)  may  have  found 
difficulties  in  quod  and  in  si  quando. 
However  Hartel's  first  reading  has 
scarcely  any  support,  his  second  none. 

O.  Ritschl  (p.  75)  makes  Cyprian  im- 
part CorneUus'  letter  '...nur  an  die 
Bischofe  und  zwar  in  der  geheimsten 
Weise  {singulorum  auribus  intimavi- 
mus).'' But  this  phrase  merely  means 
that  he  took  care  that  no  one  should  be 
ignorant  of  it :  intitiiare  has  no  tint  of 
secrecy  about  it  {e.g.  intimaverunt  is 
used  of  the  declaration  of  the  Jews  that 
they  had  no  king  but  Caesar,  Adv. 
Jud.  Hartel,  App.  p.  139,  15).  The 
thought  of  secrecy  not  only  takes  away 
the  contrast  with  Cyprian's  treatment  of 
Novatian's  letter,  but  he  says  expressly 
clero  et  plebi  legi  pracepi,  Ep.  45.  2. 
Ritschl  has  fallen  into  another  strange 
mistake  on  '...ea  quae  ex  diverso  in 
librum  missum  congesta  fuerant  acerba- 
tionibus  criminosis  respuimus'  (45.  2), 
'den  Brief  der  Gegenpartei  will  er  mit 
Erbitterung  von  sich  gewiesen  haben.' 
Acerbationibus  depends  on  congesta. 
Yet  Ritschl's  whole  allegation  against 
Cyprian  of  unfairness  in  the  treatment 
of  Novatian's  despatch  and  of  untruth 
rests  on  these  two  errors  and  on  the 
meaningless  reading  retenta  in  Ep.  48. 
3- 


III.  I.        QUESTION    I.      THE  TITLE  OF  CORNELIUS.  I3I 

proposing  to  despatch  two  of  their  own  number  to  Rome 
as  a  delegacy  to  investigate  and  report.  His  old  friends 
Caldonius  and  Fortunatus  were  selected  and  took  their  depar- 
ture^  Their  instructions  were  to  communicate  in  the  first 
instance  with  the  bishops  who  had  attended  the  ordination 
of  Cornelius^  and,  if  satisfied,  to  procure  from  them  written 
attestations  of  its  regularity. 

This  unprecedented  request  for  credentials,  although  com- 
plied with,  exposed  Cyprian  at  Rome  to  reflections  upon  his 
innovating  turn.  He  reasonably  replied  that  the  circum- 
stances were  novel,  and  his  procedure  a  security  to  the  titled 
The  commissioners  were  further  charged  to  use  their  best 
endeavours  to  recompose  the  broken  harmony  of  Rome*. 

One  more  step  was  taken  to  complete  the  fairness  of  the 
neutrality.  Communications  with  Cornelius  as  bishop  were 
suspended ;  letters  of  church  business  to  the  city  were 
ordered  to  be  addressed  for  the  present  to  its  presbyters 
and  deacons'.  All  Christian  travellers  Rome-ward  bound 
were  cautioned  to  be  circumspect  in  recognising  claims  for 
adherence^ 


Question  2.     Decision  on  Felicissimus . 

Pending  intelligence  from  Italy  the  Council  approached 
their  original  work.  There  was  this  further  necessity  for  the 
delegacy  to  Rome — that  if  Cornelius  really  favoured,  as  was 
reported,  the  party  of  laxity  at  Rome,  the  position  of  Felicis- 
simus might  be  strengthened  indefinitely^    Before  conditions 

^  Ep.  48.  1 ;  Ep.  44.  I .  see)  at  Hadrumetum.    I  do  not  see  how 

2  ...qui  ordination!  tuse  affuerant,  £/.  Lipsius  infers  {op.  cit.  p.  204)  from  Ep. 

44.  I.  45  that  letters  to  Cornelius  had  been 

'  Ep.  45.  3.  already  written   which  were   now   re- 

*  Ep.  45.  I.  addressed  to  his  Clergy. 

'  This   does   not  seem  to  have  had  ^  Ep.  48.  i,  2. 

any  practical  efiect  except  {as  we  shall  ^  Ritschl,  pp.  77,  78. 

9—2 


X32  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

of  communion  could  be  determined  for  the  Lapsed,  the  affair 
of  Felicissimus  stood  as  a  preliminary  question.  For,  should 
it  be  decided  that  his  reception  of  repentant  renegades  with- 
out terms  of  penance  had  been  warranted  by  circumstances, 
no  further  discussion  on  the  Lapsed  would  be  required.  But 
if  the  broad  issue  should  be  first  decided  in  the  opposite  sense 
to  his,  it  might  then  be  too  late  to  introduce  his  conduct  as  a 
disciplinary  question.  Condemnation  would  wear  the  appear- 
ance of  being  based  on  ex  post  facto  regulation.  Whereas  his 
schism  really  consisted  not  in  the  views  he  had  maintained 
about  the  Lapsed,  (for  the  question  was  yet  open,)  but  in  the 
fact  that  he  had  re-admitted  offenders  when  the  bishops  had 
given  notice  that  their  cases  were  to  be  reserved  to  a  council. 

There  is  large  indication  that  Cyprian  was  not  present  at 
this  debate  and  its  decision.  An  honourable  and  experienced 
lawyer  would  naturally  avoid  the  position  of  a  judge  in  a 
case  in  which  he  was  virtually  plaintiff  and  Felicissimus  de- 
fendant. In  writing  of  it  subsequently  to  Cornelius  he  does 
not  employ  the  first  person,  which  is  I  think  his  unvarying 
practice  when  he  records  decisions  at  which  he  had  presided, 
'  To  acquaint  you '  (he  says)  '  with  what  has  passed  here  in 
'  relation  to  the  cause  of  certain  presbyters  and  Felicissimus, 
'our  colleagues  have  sent  you  a  letter  subscribed  with  their 
'hand,  and  by  their  letter  you  will  learn  the  opinion  and 
'  decision  they  arrived  at  after  giving  audience  to  the  parties  \' 

Lastly,  there  is  intimation  of  the  absence  of  Cyprian  from 
Carthage  at  the  very  conjuncture  when,  as  I  conclude,  the 
case  of  Felicissimus  was  before  them. 

In  company  with  Liberalis,  one  of  the  senior  bishops  of 
the  province,  he  visited  Hadrumetum^  about  eighty  miles 
from  Carthage,  on  I  know  not  what  errand.  They  found  the 
clergy  there  in  official  correspondence  with  Cornelius,  .and  in 
accordance  with  the  resolution  of  the  Council  (which  their 
absent  bishop  Polycarp  had   not  yet  transmitted  to  them), 

^  Ep.  45.  4.  ^  See  Appendix  on  Cities. 


III.  I.        QUESTION   2.      DECISION  ON   FELICISSIMUS.  I33 

desired  them  to  communicate  with  the  Roman  Church,  not  at 
present  through  Cornelius,  but  through  its  presbyters  and 
deacons.  Cornelius  took  umbrage  at  this  course' ;  and  cer- 
tainly the  sole  moment  at  which  Cyprian  could  properly  have 
adopted  it  was  precisely  this  interval  elapsing  after  the 
departure  of  Caldonius,  before  the  Council  had  satisfied  them- 
selves of  the  validity  of  Cornelius'  position.  This  they  did 
(as  we  shall  see)  sometime  before  the  return  of  Caldonius, 
that  is  to  say,  just  when  they  were  debating  the  case  of  Feli- 
cissimus.  Caldonius  and  Fortunatus  had  been  also  provided 
with  a  transcript  of  the  previous  letters  addressed  upon  this 
subject  of  Felicissimus  by  Cyprian  to  his  laity  and  his  com- 
missioners. They  were  read  to  the  laity  of  Rome,  who  thus, 
without  direct  appeal  to  them,  were  put  in  possession  of  the 
case  and  on  their  guard  against  clandestine  negotiation ^ 

That  the  faction  and  Felicissimus  were  immediately  con- 
demned it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  relate.  Cyprian  himself 
does  not  record  it  except  by  implication. 

But  though  these,  their  would-be  patrons,  were  silenced, 
it  was  not  yet  possible  to  decide  upon  the  future  of  the 
tragically  situated  Deniers  of  Christ. 

'  Ep.  48. 1.  The  above  hypothesis  of  second  difficulty  {op.  at.  pp.  203 — 206) 
the  absence  of  Cyprian  from  the  Council  by  supposing  the  Council,  before  dis- 
during  the  trial  of  his  opponent  Feli-  persing,  to  have  empowered  Cyprian,  if 
cissimus  solves  difficulties  to  my  mind  satisfied,  to  recognise  Cornelius  in  their 
absolutely  insoluble  in  any  other  way.  name.  But  we  shall  see  that  Pompeius 
The  text  exhibits  grounds  sufficient  to  and  Stephanus,  before  Caldonius  re- 
recommend  it.  Pearson  and  Tillemont  turned,  abundantly  satisfied  the  Council 
hold  that  the  Council  was  prolonged  by  of  the  validity  of  the  election,  and  that 
various  adjournments.  But  their  hypo-  on  their  evidence  Cornelius  was  ac- 
thesis  was  framed  (i)  to  dispose  of  the  knowledged  (literas  nostras  ad  te  di- 
long  period  which  the  false  date  of  Cor-  reximus,  Ep.  45.  i),  and  publication  of 
nelius'  election  involved,  (2)  to  allow  for  the  fact  ordered.  Hence  it  is  incredible 
this  Hadrumetum  visit.  '  Consilio  fre-  that  after  the  end  of  the  Council, 
quenter  acto' (^/.  59.  13),  which  Pear-  Cyprian  should  have  suspended  the 
son  understands  'assembled  again  and  Hadrumetines'  correspondence  with 
again,'  means  'largely  attended.'  Cornelius. 

Lipsius,    though    he    has    corrected  ^  £p^  ^^  ^      (Epp.  41,  43.) 
the  election-date,  proposes  to  meet  the 


134  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 


Question  3.     Novatianism. 

For  the  Council  at  once  became  almost  a  council  of  war 
on  the  more  imperial  question.  Messengers  came  and  went 
from  the  field.  Seldom  has  a  council  sat  amid  the  outbreak 
and  clash  of  the  questions  they  had  to  decide.  Seldom  has 
a  council  been  more  wisely  guided:  seldom  indeed  swayed  by 
so  tranquil  and  large-hearted  a  chief:  seldom  recalled  to 
consider  the  whole  range  of  first  principles  rather  than  to 
pursue  or  recoil  from  the  passion  of  the  hour. 

What  we  now  study  as  one  of  the  most  famous  of 
treatises  was  in  its  first  form  an  Essay  or  Oration  On  THE 
Unity  of  the  Catholic  Church^  delivered  at  this  con- 
juncture^  It  must  have  been  rapidly  composed,  for  the 
occasion  of  it  had  not  arisen  when  the  prelates  first  assembled. 
For  them  it  was  in  itself  an  education.  In  masterly  lines  and 
with  a  colouring  sometimes  not  inferior  to  TertuUian's  he 
sketched  that  view  of  the  constitution  of  the  Church  which 
has  permanently  shaped  its  history.  The  great  theory  and  its 
illustrations  must  be  reserved  for  fuller  consideration  pre- 
sently. Here  must  be  indicated  simply  the  two  or  three 
leading  principles  by  which  the  crisis  was  skilfully  faced, 
and  an  intense  feeling  of  personal  responsibility  for  the 
integrity  of  the  Church  evoked  in  her  bishops. 

Only  by  distinctness  (it  is  represented)  as  to  the  Scripture 
ideal  of  Unity  may  be  formed  a  compact  resistance  to  the 
insinuating  errors  of  an  age  whose  temptation  is  the  pre- 
sentment of  novel  error  under  Christian  forms.  The  sole 
V  practical  bond  of  union  is  to  be  found  in  a  united  episcopate. 
To  every  member  of  that  order  is  committed,   not  only  the 

^  So  the  best  Mss.  call  it,   and  ap-  SiMPLiciTATE  Pr^latorum. 

parently   Cyprian  himself,  Ep.   54.   4.  ^  The  date  will  be  discussed  in  the 

In  the  time  of  Fulgentius  it   had   re-  section  on  the  De  Unitate. 
ceived  already  the  alternative  title  De 


III.  I.  QUESTION   3.      NOVATIANISM.  1 35 

regulation  of  his  own  portion  of  the  church  but  a  joint 
interest  in  and  responsibility  for  the  totality  and  oneness  of 
all  its  parts.  Separatism  abnegates  in  the  individual  the 
essence  and  first  broad  principle  of  the  religion  which  is  a 
Love  expanding  into,  or  rather  necessarily  expressing  itself 
in  Unity.  Such  were  the  principles  of  which  the  eloquent 
expression  was  elicited  from  Cyprian  by  the  arrival  of  intelli- 
gence which  we  shall  now  relate. 

Although  Caldonius  and  his  colleague  had  not  returned 
(remaining  in  accordance  with  their  instructions  in  hope  of  pro- 
ducing some  effect'),  two  other  African  bishops,  Stephen  and 
Pompey  by  name,  had  appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  session 
fresh  from  the  scene  at  Rome.  They  had  been  present  at  the 
consecration  of  Cornelius^  Aware  of  the  importance  of  the 
chiefly  clerical  agitation  against  it,  and  assured  of  its  regu- 
larity, they  had  armed  themselves  with  documents  drawn  up 
by  the  consecrating  bishops,  testimonies  from  the  laity  to  the 
life,  character  and  'discipline^'  of  the  new  bishop,  and  attes- 
tations to  the  depositions  they  were  prepared  to  make  at 
Carthage.  In  their  places  they  gave  their  evidence  amid 
universal  satisfaction.  All  the  characters  of  a  true  election 
in  the  third  century  (as  we  have  already  specified  them)  had 
concurred ;  the  majority  of  the  clerics,  the  suffrage  of  the 
laity,  the  consent  of  the  neighbouring  bishops^  Practically 
nothing  could  now  be  gained  by  the  formality  of  awaiting 
the  return  of  the  Commission.  Letters  of  recognition  were 
addressed  to  Cornelius'.  The  tidings  were  disseminated 
through  all  the  sees  of  Africa  with  the  request  that  they  too 
would  acknowledge  the  new  bishop. 

Scarcely  can  the  ink  have  dried  when  four  new  delegates 

*  Ep.  45.  I,  4.  to  doctrina.     His  pure  celibacy  comes 

'  Epp.  44.  I ;  45.  I ;  cf.  Ep.  55.  8.  under  this  head. 
Impossible  that  they  could,  as  Ritschl,  *  Ep.  55.  8. 

p.    82,   imagines,   have   voted  on  his  ^  ...litteras  nostras  ad  te  direximus, 

election.  Ep.  45.  r. 

'  Disciplina  is  the  moral  correlative 


136  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

from  Rome  requested  audience,  a  certain  Machaeus  and  Lon- 
ginus,  Augendus  a  deacon  of  Novatian's,  probably  the  excom- 
municated follower  of  Felicissimus,  (not  the  only  member 
of  that  party  who  had  taken  a  new  colour  at  Rome,)  and,  as 
their  senior,  Maximus  a  Presbyter,  not  the  confessor,  but  one 
who  soon  after  pretended  to  the  chair  of  Cyprian.  Their 
mission  was  personally  to  press  the  charges  against  Cornelius, 
and  solemnly  to  announce  that  Novatian  had  been  conse- 
crated Bishop  of  Rome. 

We  must  narrate  the  circumstances  of  this  startling  event, 
which  had  occurred  after  the  departure  from  Rome  of 
Stephen  and  PompeyS  and  now  surprised  the  Council  in  the 
midst  of  their  satisfaction. 

It  seems  then  that  the  party  of  severity,  disappointed  and 

perplexed  by  the  election,  had  been   stimulated    to   action 

partly  by  Evaristus,  a  bishop  whom  Cornelius  regarded  as  a 

Circ.  prime  mover  in  the  enterprise^     But  a  more  important  actor 

^D*^V'    ^^^  appeared  at  Rome  in  the  person  of  Novatus.     He  had 

^  It  becomes  certain  that  this  was  the  tian's  embassy.'    For  the  Council  could 

order  of  events  from  the  following  ob-  not  have  at  once  suspended  the  embassy 

servations.     Stephanus   and    Pompeius  from  communion  as  they  did,  if  up  till 

are  not  said  to  have  brought  any  news  then  they  had  received  only  Cornelius' 

except  that  of  Cornelius'  consecration.  own  letters  for  which  they  had  sought 

And  the  sensation  in  the  Council  at  the  ratification. 

announcement  by  the  Novatianist  em-  -  Ep.$o.  The  common  reading  ^z'ar- 

bassy  shews  that  it  brought  iht  Jirst  isttint  auctoremschismatis'wonXA.noigwQ 

news  of  that  of  Novatian.     Then  the  him,  as  Ritschl,  p.  71,  supposes  it  would, 

Council  (it  is  stated  Ep.  44.  2)  were  a  position  ascribable  to  Novatian  alone, 

able  to  refute  and   repel   its  charges,  Aiictor  is  properly  a  promoter,  not  an 

although  they  had  not  received  [exspic-  originator.     So   the   confessors    accuse 

tavimus  Ep.  44.   i)  the  report  of  their  \htva.%€ist%oi\)€\xigh(Bresis  auctores,  Ep. 

own  commission  (Dom  Maran,  Vita  S.  49.   i,  for  allowing  {ut  paterentur)  the 

Cypr.  XXI.  erroneously  states  the  con-  consecration  of  Novatian.    Jerome  calls 

trary),    because    Stephanus   and    Pom-  Novatus 'Auctor' of  Novatian  (^^  J^zWj 

peius  had  produced  evidence  of  the  pro-  ///.  70).     Nevertheless  cum  auctorc  is 

priety  and  regularity  of  the  consecra-  probably   the    right    reading,    for    the 

tion.  reading  of  the   two   better   MSS.   cum 

Supervenerunt,  Ep.  44.  i,  it  may  be  auctorem    is    nothing    but   an   African 

observed  means  'came  on  the  top  of  construction. 
our  expectancy,'  not  'came  after  Nova- 


III.  I.  QUESTION    3.      NOVATIANISM.  1 37 

troubles  of  his  own  in  Carthage  ;  an  enquiry  which  had  long 
hung  over  him  was  now  near,  and  he  wished  to  avoid  it,  but 
he  crossed  the  Mediterranean^  with  at  least  some  vague 
purpose  of  baffling  that  spirit  of  the  rising  time  which  by- 
means  of  the  episcopal  order  was  introducing  organization 
amid  confusion,  and  constituting  its  free  representative  as- 
semblies (the  only  free  assemblies  be  it  remembered  in  the 
Empire)  into  a  legislative  and  judicatory  power. 

To  prosecute  this  aim  he  would  have  to  ally  himself  at 
Rome  with  a  body  which  took  the  diametrically  opposite 
view  upon  the  readmission  of  the  Lapsed  to  that  which  he 
had  supported  in  Carthage.  Policy  no  doubt  shaped  his 
ends  as  well  as  his  means,  yet  his  joining  the  exclusive 
confessors  at  Rome  when  fresh  from  the  comprehension- 
party  of  Carthage  does  not  perhaps  after  all  stamp  him  as 
a  mere  adventurer.  Rather  it  reveals  the  true  character  of 
his  view.  The  restoration  or  non-restoration  of  the  Lapsed 
v/as  probably  to  him  indifferent.  The  question  with  him 
was.  What  should  be  the  working  power?  In  whose  hands 
should  the  settlement  of  the  terms  of  church  communion  be 
vested  .■'  The  real  object  of  his  activity  was  to  resist  what  he 
considered  the  encroachments  of  episcopal  influence,  and  to 
retain  the  regulation  of  such  cases  where  it  had  been  during 
the  loose  chaotic  time  before  Cyprian,  namely  in  the  hands 
of  individual  clerics.     He  had  no  doctrinal  view  to  maintain^ 

^  Accompanied  perhaps  by  some  of  readers,  assumes  that  these  statements 

the  excommunicated  Felicissimites,  since  are  the  growth  of  polemic  rancour,  and 

Augendus,  one   of  them  {Ep.  42),  re-  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  Cyprian  would 

appears  from  Rome  with  the  first  em-  himself  have  been  to  blame  for  allowing 

bassy,  Ep.  44.  r.  (previous  to  trial  it  would  seem)  such  a 

^  I  have  omitted  the  statement  that,  character  among   his   clergy.     This  is 

according  to  Cyp.  Ep.  52.  2,  he  had  that  uncritical.     It  is  true  that  the  assump- 

security  of  the  adventurer — no  character  tion  of  Novatus's  guilt,  the  attributing 

to  lose;   because  at  any  rate  this  had  of  his  withdrawal  from  Carthage  to  a 

not  come  before  the  Roman  confessors.  bad  conscience,  and  the  general  accusa- 

Neander,  indeed,  op.  cit.,   vol.   i.,  pp.  tions  of  depravity,  may  be  classed  with 

312    sqq.,    with   characteristic   anxiety  the    usual    violent     moral     prejudices 

to   place  thinkers  unprejudiced  before  against  religious  opponents,  but  that  an 


138 


Cyprian's  first  council  of  carthage. 


Hence    though    a  single    passage    implies   that   his   virtual 

dread  of  the  trial — to  party  spite.  Pacian 
is  the  fountain  of  this  mistake  [Ad  Sym- 
pronian.  Ep.  3,  6;  Galland.  Bibl.  SS. 
Pair.  vol.  VII.  p.  263  (1765)].  He  quotes 
part  of  Cyprian's  words,  but  paraphrases 
his  'ut  judicium  sacerdotum  voluntaria 
discessione  prsecederet '  by  '  Romam  ve- 
nit...et  hie  latitavit.'  But  what  Cyprian 
really  says  is  that  Novatus  avoided 
excommunication  for  personal  misde- 
meanours by  discession  from  the  church 
during  the  persecution,  that  is  to  say 
by  getting  up,  or  joining,  the  party  of 
Felicissimus;  from  Ep.  41.  2  we  see 
that  Felicissimus  took  the  initiative 
and  excommunicated  the  Cyprianic  side 
(sententiam  quam  prior  dixit).  In  Ep. 
52.  2  Cyprian  mentions  the  voyage  in 
connection  with  the  commencement  of 
the  party  of  Felicissimus,  but  this  is 
only  a  rhetorical  juxtaposition  because 
he  wishes  to  parallel  Novatus's  appoint- 
ment of  a  Bishop  in  Rome  with  his 
former  appointment  of  a  Deacon  in 
Carthage.  (2)  Again  as  to  the  Liberian 
Catalogue.  The  words  are,  under  Fa- 
Bius,  '...Post  passionem  ejus  Moyses  et 
Maximus  presbyteri  et  Nicostratus  dia- 
conus  comprehensi  sunt  et  in  carcerem 
sunt  missi.  Eo  tempore  supervenit 
Novatus  ex  Africa  et  separavit  de  ec- 
clesia  Novatianum  et  quosdam  con- 
fessores,  postquam  Moyses  in  carcere 
defunctus  est  qui  fuit  ibi  m.  xi  d.  xi'; 
and  under  Cornelius,  '...Sub  Epi- 
scopatu  ejus  Novatus  extra  ecclesiam 
ordinavit  Novatianum  in  urbe  Roma  et 
Nicostratum  in  Africa.  Hoc  facto  con- 
fessores  qui  se  separaverunt  a  Cornelio 
cum  Maximo  presbytero,  qui  cum  Moyse 
fuit,  ad  ecclesiam  sunt  reversi...,'  ap. 
Lipsius,  op.  cit.,  p.  267.  Now  the  ob- 
ject of  these  entries,  which  occupy  the 
main  part  of  the  short  memoirs,  is  to 
record  the  action  of  Moyses  and  Maxi- 
mus who  were  commemorated  at  Rome 


enquiry  into  his  conduct  was  impending 
just  before  the  persecution,  is  as  certain 
as  a  fact  can  be,  see  p.  1 1 1  sup. 

Date  of  Novatus'  journey  to  Rome. 
Nothing  but  some  singular  coincidence 
could  have  given  us  this  date  minutely. 
But  the  determination  of  the  true  date 
of  the  ordination  of  Cornelius  removes 
a  difficulty  which  beset  Pearson  and  all 
earlier  chronologers  in  attempting  to 
fix  it.  In  other  points  they  have  misled 
themselves,  (i)  Cornelius  was  supposed 
to  have  been  consecrated  in  June  251. 
(2)  It  was  inferred  from  the  words  of  the 
Liberian  Catalogue  that  Novatus  had 
practised  with  the  Roman  Confessors 
as  early  as  January  251.  {3)  It  was 
inferred  from  Ep.  52.  2,  3  that  he  had 
fled  to  Rome  to  avoid  the  cognitio  as 
to  his  conduct,  which  was  to  come  off 
before  the  persecution  began,  i.e.  at  the 
latest,  in  the  end  of  A.D.  249.  (4)  He 
was  organizing  the  opposition  at  Car- 
thage with  Felicissimus  towards  the  end 
of  the  persecution — towards  March  23, 
Easter  A.D.  250,  Ep.  43.  2.  (5)  He  was 
at  Rome  after  Cornelius'  consecration. 
To  reconcile  these  dates  it  was  necessary 
to  suppose  that  he  had  made  several 
voyages  to  Rome  while  organizing  his 
party.  But  surely  among  his  other 
exertions  in  the  cause  of  error  this 
would  have  received  some  notice,  while 
the  inconsistency  of  his  shifting  policy 
at  the  two  centres  of  his  activity  would 
have  attracted  more  observation.  How- 
ever, I  hope  to  be  excused  for  a  longer 
examination  of  the  story,  if  it  were  only 
because  Lipsius  himself,  who  detected 
the  date  of  Cornelius,  still  imagines  from 
(2)  and  (3)  one  voyage  immediately  on 
the  death  of  Moyses,  one  or  more  earlier, 
and  one  after  the  Council.  Lipsius,  op. 
cit.,  pp.  202,  3,  takes  Cyprian  in  52.  3 
to  speak  of  such  a  voyage,  although  he 
sets  down  the  motive  assigned  for  it — 


III.  I. 


QUESTION    3.      NOVATIANISM. 


139 


change  of  party  was  not  unnoticed  at  Carthage*,  yet  it  is  not, 
as  might  have  been  expected,  urged  against  him  as  a  palpable 
refutation. 

If  this  election  of  Cornelius  could  be  overruled  at  once 
before  being  generally  accepted  or  even  announced  ;  if  he 
could  establish  himself  at  the  right  hand  of  another  bishop, — 
one  to  whom  the  eyes  of  many  men  of  highest  character  had 
been  directed;  if  he  could  then  secure  for  him  recognition  at 
Carthage ;  he  would  not  only  have  nothing  more  to  fear  on 
his  own  account,  he  would  be  in  the  very  best  position  for 
moderating  between  the  episcopal  power,  and  all  who  whether 
upon  lax  or  upon  puritan  principles  desired  almost  all  indi- 
vidual discipline  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  second  order. 

It  was  thus  that  Novatus  and  Felicissimus  tried  to  restrict 


as  Confessors.  It  was  important  they 
should  not  be  claimed  as  Novatianists, 
and  Cornelius  in  his  letter  in  Eusebius  is 
anxious  to  vindicate  them.  It  was  need- 
ful to  distinguish  them  from  Nicostratus 
their  companion,  who  though  not  made 
a  bishop  (as  here  represented)  did  re- 
main a  Novatianist.  It  is  impossible  to 
press  the  first  entry  into  a  chronological 
statement  that  Novatus  made  a  voyage 
to  Rome  immediately  after  the  death  of 
Moyses.  Its  object  is  to  record  that 
Moyses  died  as  a  confessor  before  No- 
vatianism  began. 

We  therefore  conclude  that  we  have 
no  statements  whatever  implying  that 
Novatus  made  more  than  one  journey 
to  Rome  at  this  period.  If  he  did  not 
reach  Rome  till  after  the  election  of 
Cornelius  on  March  5,  where  he  would 
find  growing  disunion  (...gliscente  et  in 
pejus  recrudescente  discordia...  Ep. 
45.  t)  already,  he  would  still  have 
abundance  of  time  to  organize  measures 
before  Caldonius  arrived  in  the  2nd  or 
3rd  week  of  April  only  to  find  Novatian 
on  the  point  of  being  consecrated.   And 


lastly  we  must  remark  that  until  after 
the  election  of  Cornelius  had  taken  place 
no  act  of  Novatus  could  be  described 
as  'separating  the  confessors  from  the 
church,'  for  at  the  worst  he  could  only 
have  been  endeavouring  to  procure  the 
election  of  another.  I  conclude  there- 
fore that  Novatus  came  to  Rome  imme- 
diately after  the  ordination  of  Cornelius 
on  March  5,  A.D.  iji. 

It  is  annoying  to  find  Fechtrup,  who 
has  ideas  of  accuracy,  suggesting  by 
the  way  that  Cornelius'  consecration 
may  be  put '  etwa  vierzehn  Tage  spater ' 
in  order  to  allow  Novatus  a  fortnight 
more  for  mischief  at  Rome.  If  Lipsius' 
calculation,  precise  in  itself,  and  solving 
all  difficulties,  is  to  be  put  a  fortnight 
out  on  such  subjective  '  Griinde,'  chro- 
nology is  indeed  vain  (Fechtrup  p.  107 
and  note). 

^  Ep.  52.  2  '...damnare  nunc  audet 
sacrificantium  manus,'  compare  the  ear- 
lier '...nunc  se  et  ad  lapsorum  pemiciem 
venenata  sua  deceptione  verterant,'  i.e. 
by  indulgence,  Ep.  43.  1. 


I40  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF   CARTHAGE. 

the  terms  of  communion  in  their  own  district,  and  the  view 
though  unscriptural  and  unconstitutional  is  intelligible. 

The  spirit  of  Novatus  illustrates  itself  in  those  presbyters 
of  our  own  who,  if  they  could,  would  repel  from  communion, 
celebrate  or  withhold  marriage  or  funeral  rites,  or  fix  the  age  of 
confirmation,  on  their  own  judgment ;  who  revolutionise  ritual 
without  respect  to  either  Bishop  or  *  Plebes ' ;  who  admit 
to  vows,  direct  the  persons  who  take  them,  and  pretend  to 
dispense  from  them. 

Maximus  and  the  other  newly  liberated  confessors^  al- 
ready biassed  against  Cornelius  by  the  austerity  of  their  own 
views,  now  worked  upon  to  believe  that  he  was  ready  to 
sacrifice  the  Church's  purity  for  a  spurious  charity,  and 
stimulated  by  the  temper  of  Novatus,  determined  to  elect 
Novatian^  Their  high  character  rendered  it  not  impossible 
to  procure  three  country  bishops  to  lay  their  hands,  in  the 
supposed  capacity  of  saviours  of  the  Church,  upon  his  head', 
and  to  invest  the  first  Puritan*  with  the  attributes  of  the  first 

^  Ep.  54.  ■2.  Ti/iroj  KpaTwi'...ii'ev6/ii(TTo)  to  succeed  to 

^  '  ...separavit  deecclesia...' Z/'3ma«  the  episcopate,   but  Cornelius  011  dis- 

Catalogue.     See  p.  138  n.  covering  that  he  was  plotting  his  death 

'^  Corn.   ap.  Eus.  vi.  43.     We   may  put  an  end  to  his  ambitious  designs  by 

dismiss   the   irate    and    simple-hearted  ordaining  him  a  presbyter.'     We  must 

prelate's  belief  that   the  rite  was  per-  receive  with  qualification  the  statement 

formed  by  them  in  a  state  of  inebriety,  of  Pacian  that  he  became  bishop  with- 

though  the  assertion  illustrates  the  pos-  out  consecration  {Ep.  2.  3).     The  con- 

sibilities  of  the  time.     Eulogius,  Bp.  of  temporary  language  of  the   confessors 

Alexandria,  A.D.  579,  had  (Phot.  Bibl.  and  of  Cornelius  {Ep.  49  and  Eus.  /.  <r.) 

cod.   182)    a  preposterous   story  about  is    incontrovertible.     Still    if    we    put 

Novatian  being   made   pope   by   '  toi>j  Pacian's  circumstantial  expressions  '  ab- 

■Kepl  'AXe^avdpeiav  iwiaKdirovi' ;   where  sentem...consecrante  nullo...per  episto- 

we    should,    I    think,    read    roi/s    irepl  lam   (confessorum) '  side   by  side  with 

'Ah^^avdpov,    one   of    the   bishops  just  Cyp.  c/e  imitate  ecclesice  10,  '...nemine 

named,  though  even  that  will  not  make  Episcopatum  dante,...'  we  may  suppose 

sense  of  the  story.     'Novatian  was,' he  that  some  little  interval  occurred   be- 

relates,   '  the    Archdeacon    of    Rome '  tween  his  election  and  consecration,  in 

(no  such  office  existed  before  the  end  which  he  would   be  called   Episcopus 

of  the  4th  century,  see  Lipsius,  op.  cit.,  Romanus,  whereas  ordinarily  the  con- 

p.    120  and  note).     'The  Archdeacon  secration  immediately  followed, 
had   an   established    right    (6   rrjviKddf  *  ...6    Noi/droi    rijs    twv    \eyofiiv<j)v 


III.  I.  QUESTION   3.      NOVATIANISM.  I4I 

Anti-pope.  He  then,  in  strange  anticipation  of  the  policy  of 
his  rival's  successors,  connected  the  Eucharistic  feast  with  a 
pledge  of  personal  fealty  to  himself  '  Swear  to  me,'  he  said 
(for  Cornelius  believed  he  had  obtained  the  very  syllables  of 
the  form),  'swear  to  me' — taking  both  hands  of  each  com- 
municant between  his  own — 'never  to  abandon  me  and 
return  to  Cornelius.'  The  response  '  I  will  no  more  go  back 
to  Cornelius'  took  the  place  of  the  Eucharistic  Amen^ 

Thus  was  commenced  the  Novatianist  or  Purist  schism, 
which  deepened  its  unforgivingness  at  last  to  heresy ;  which 
planted  bishops  in  all  the  leading  sees  from  Spain  to  Pontus, 
and  made  the  mountaineers  of  Phrygia  almost  its  own ;  which, 
first  allowed  and  then  proscribed  by  Constantine,  supported 
by  Julian,  supported  by  Theodosius,  and  forbidden  by  his 
two  sons,  lasted  on  at  least  until  the  end  of  the  sixth  century^ 

This  then  was  announced  in  regular  form  at  Carthage 
as  the  election  of  a  true  bishop  for  Rome,  one  who  would 
'  assert  the  gospel''  and  preserve  church-purity.  Confirmatory 
Epistles  (partly  forged,  as  they  afterwards  declared*)  were 
issued  in  the  name  of  Maximus  and  the  Confessors,  together 
with  despatches  from  Novatian  himself  to  the  other  principal 
sees^ 

In  these  Novatian  dwelt  on  the  unwillingness  with  which 
he  had  accepted  a  position  literally  forced  upon  him^  And 
in  a  reply  which  the  large-hearted  Dionysius  of  Alexandria, 
wiser  perhaps  than  severer  censors,  addressed  to  him,  we  trace 
a  real  belief  that  he  may  have  followed  rather  than  led  his 
supporters,  and  that  he   might  yet  disentangle  himself     If 

KaOapQv  alpicreu^  ■^/3|e...<rxfO'A'ar£/cds  wu  Hefele  in  Wetzer  u.  Welte's  Kirchen- 

KvpLui  dXX'  oi^x  alperiKd^.     oO  yap  irphs  lexikon  [N'ovat.  Schis?n.). 

56y/xa    ti   to'is    6pd6<j>po<TL    5ie<p^pi:To...,  ^  Ep.  44.  i,  3.     See  note  on  Evan- 

Zonar.  in  Can.  I.  Cone.  Carthag.,  ap.  gelium,  infr.  p.  147. 

Migne,  Pair.  Gr.  vol.  137,  c.  1097.  *  Ep.  49.  i. 

^  Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  43.  ^  £pp^  ^^    j.  ^^^  2. 

^  See  Tillemont,  vol.  Iil.  Les  Nova-  *  iK^e^ia(T/j.4vos,   Eus.   J/.  E.  vi.  45. 

tims,  pp.  471 — 493  and  pp.  746 — 753.  Hieron.  de  Viris  III.  69. 


142  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

again  the  inference  from  words  be  as  just  as  it  is  obvious, 
he  was  in  fact  prepared  to  acquiesce  in  a  secondary  place 
at  Rome,  if  only  accepted  as  bishop  of  a  church  within  a 
church  ^ 

It   was   thus  that  Dionysius  argued.     '  If  it  was  against 

*  thy  will,  as  thou  sayest,  that  thou  wast  promoted,  thou  wilt 

*  prove  this  by  retiring.  It  were  good  to  suffer  anything  and 
'  everything  so  to  escape  dividing  the  Church  of  God.  And 
'  martyrdom  to  avoid  schism  is  no  less  glorious  than  martyr- 
'  dom  to  avoid  idolatry*.     Nay,  it  is  to  my  mind  greater.     In 

*  one  case  a  man  is  a  martyr  for  his  own  single  soul's  sake. 

*  But  this  is  for  the  whole  Church.  Even  now  wert  thou  to 
•*  persuade  or  constrain  the  brethren  to  come  to  one  mind, 
'  thy  true  deed  were  greater  than  thy  fall.     This  will  not  be 

*  reckoned  to  thee,  the   other  will  be  lauded.     And  if  thou 

*  shouldest  be  powerless  to  sway  disobedient  spirits,  save,  save 
'thine  own  soul.  I  pray  for  thy  health  and  thy  stedfast 
^  cleaving  to  peace  in  the  Lord.' 

Now  Dionysius'  actual  view  of  the  mischief  which  Nova- 
tian  was  doing  was  conveyed  in  these  terms  to  his  own 
namesake,  then  a  presbyter,  afterwards  Bishop,  at  Rome: 
'wheeling  on  to  the  stage  most  unholy  teaching  about  God; 
'falsely  accusing  our  kindest  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  void  of 
'  pity  ;  setting  at  nought  the  holy  Laver ;  overturning  the 
'  Faith  and  Confession  that  go  before  it ;  and  while  there  was 
'  some  hope  of  their  continuance  or  return,  chasing  the  Holy 
'  Spirit  away  from  them'.' 

Read  side  by  side  with  this  opinion  of  the  man's  work, 
Dionysius'  letter  to  the  man  himself  is  surely  a  pattern  of 
controversial  sweetness. 

^  Ep.  55.  8  in  fine.  finus  'et  erat  non  inferior  gloria  sus- 

^  Ka2    rfv   ovk   ddo^oripa   rrjs    ^veKcv  tinere  martyrium  ne  scindatur  ecclesia 

rod  /MTj  eL$w\o\aTpT}(rai.  yLvofj.^i>r]s  i)  ^ve-  (quam  est  ilia  ne  idolis  immoletur).' 

K€v    ToO     fi^    (Txfo'ai     fjuxprvpla,     Eus.  ^  Euseb.  //.  E.  vii.  8.     The  fourth 

H.  E.  vi.  45.    The  text   in   Pearson,  Baptismal  letter  to  Dionys.  Rom. 
Ann.    Cypr.   251,   x.,   defective.     Ru- 


III.  I.  QUESTION   3.      NOVATIANISM.  I43 

That  Cyprian  was  deeply  convinced  that  ambition  had  a 
real  hold  on  the  spirit  of  Novatian  and  contributed  to  his 
action  appears  in  a  grave  incidental  condemnation  of  him 
penned  six  years  later.  At  that  distance  of  time,  and  after 
his  unanimous  councils,  the  allusion  could  not  be  to  the 
opponents  of  his  own  election,  nor  does  it  in  fact  characterize 
that  form  of  opposition.  It  must  be  of  Novatian  that  he  thinks 
when  he  writes  of  *  one  who  complained  of  being  passed  over, 
'  and  would  not  brook  another's  preferment,  and  rebelled  out 
'  of  enmity  not  to  the  man  but  to  his  office,'  and  again  of '  one 
'  in  sheep's  clothing  who  through  the  coming  in  of  jealousy 
'could  neither  be  a  peacemaker  nor  be  in  charity^' 

When  Maximus  and  the  other  delegates  of  Novatian 
presented  themselves  to  the  Council  at  Carthage  it  would 
have  been  in  any  case  irregular  to  admit  them  to  hearing 
prior  to  the  report  of  their  own  commissioners.  But  by  this 
time  as  we  have  seen  they  had  received  very  full  evidence, 
and  were  able  at  once  to  rebut  many  of  their  strenuous 
assertions.  Until  the  return  of  the  deputies  they  refused  to 
hear  more  or  to  admit  them  to  communicated 

We  must  confess  however  that  the  delegates  and  Novatian 
himself  were  not  wholly  without  justification  if  they  had 
anticipated  that  personally  Cyprian  might  take  a  different 
view.  It  is  far  from  improbable  that  Novatian  may  have 
had  before  him  Cyprian's  new  book  of  Testimonies,  and  seen 
the  heading  'that  it  is  impossible  for  him  whose  offence 
is  against  GOD  to  be  absolved  in  the  Church'.'  At  any 
rate    when    last   they  corresponded   they  had    agreed    upon 

^  De  Zelo  et  Liv.  6.  12.  cirt.'     It  implies  a  kind  of  'suspension' 

2  Ep.  \^.  I  '...a  communicatione  eos  only.     Absiittere,  sometimes  with  reji- 

nostra  statim  cohibendos  esse  censuimus  cere,  is  the  invariable  term  for  excom- 

etrefutatisz«/tf«>«,  (Sr't.'  CoAibere  seems  munication — see  de  Dom.  Or.  \^,  Epp. 

to  be  never  used,  as  Ritschl  (pp.  80,  81),  3.  3 ;  41.  2  ;  59.  i,  9,  10 ;  68.  2 ;  74.  8. 
for  the  purpose  of  making  Cyprian  con-  ^  Testitn.  iii.  28  'non  posse  in  ecclesia 

tradict  himself  in  consecutive  sentences,  remitti  ei  qui  in  Deum  deliquerit.' 
here  understands  it  'sofort  excommuni- 


144  CYPRIAN'S   FIRST   COUNCIL   OF  CARTHAGE. 

two  important  points.  Both  had  held  that  the  exclusion  of 
the  Lapsed  should  be  for  a  protracted  period,  to  be  measured 
apparently  by  years.  Both  had  agreed  that  the  Martyrs 
should  have  a  voice  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued.  Nova- 
tian  had  now  advanced  to  the  conclusion  that  mere  time 
could  not  restore  their  status  as  churchmen  ;  he  was  prepared 
to  act  upon  the  letter  of  the  theory  which  regarded^  the 
separation  as  more  properly  life-long.  Again,  if  the  Mar- 
tyrs' opinion  was  to  be  respected  it  was  no  less  valuable 
when  it  favoured  exclusion  than  if  it  recommended  com- 
prehension. If  he  was  not  aware  that  his  own  change  of 
views  was  an  abandonment  of  catholicity,  how  could  he  have 
expected  to  find  Cyprian  now  inclining  to  shorten  indefinitely 
the  term  of  exclusion,  or  foreseen  that  the  influence  of  the  Car- 
thaginian Martyrs  would  be  exerted  in  precisely  the  opposite 
direction  to  that  of  the  Roman  ?  His  ambassadors  accord- 
ingly, after  being  removed^  from  the  assembly,  appealed  with 
much  vehemence  to  the  primate  in  his  church  upon  the  next 
Station-Day*  as  well  as  to  the  laity.  Either  then,  or  on 
their  previous  removal  from  the  Council,  it  was  replied  that 
Novatian  had  placed  himself  in  a  position  external  to  the 
church,  and  could  not  return  except  as  a  penitent*.  They 
were  however  bitterly  in  earnest.  One  or  two  of  them  con- 
ferred privately  with  many  leading  members  of  the  church  in 
the  capital,  others  made  the  tour  of  some  provincial  towns  to 
push  the  cause'.  It  was  essential  to  the  principles  of  such  a 
sect  that,  however  few  and  far  between,  all  the  *  Pure '  believers 
should  be  united  in  one  body. 


^  Ritschl  holds  that  though  there  had  describe  a  session  of  the  Council  on  ac- 

gone  on  in  North  Africa  as  well  as  in  count  of  the  presence  of  an  altar  (,Ep. 

Italy  a  softening  of  the  system  of  ex-  M-  i)  and  of  the  consessus.     It  is  used 

elusion,  yet  exclusion  for  life  was  ^till  similarly,  if  Hartel's  reading  de  statione 

the  theory  in  the  instance  of  Lapse  until  for  destinantem  is  correct,  Ep.  49.  3. 

the  Decian  persecution,  pp.  15,  16.  *  Ep.  68.  1. 

2  Expulsi,  Ep.  50.  6  Ep^  44.  3. 

*  Ep.  44.  2.     Unless  statione  could 


III.  I.  QUESTION  3.      NOVATIANISM.  I45 

It  is  now  worth  while,  even  if  somewhat  tiresome^  to 
follow  out  one  intricate  example  of  the  minute  finish  of 
Cyprian's  diplomacy,  of  his  laborious  care  in  conciliation,  in 
the  avoidance  or  removal  of  misunderstandings. 

A  Presbyter — Primitivus — was  first  despatched  as  the 
bearer  of  a  private  communication  to  Cornelius,  briefly  giving 
the  heads  of  the  transactions,  with  instructions  to  afford  per- 
sonally the  fullest  explanations^  Such  explanations  he  was 
actually  sent  back  to  obtain,  where  his  information  failed, 
with  regard  to  the  suspension  at  Hadrumetum  of  the  recog- 
nition of  Cornelius'  title.  Cyprian's  reply  on  this,  a  model 
of  considerateness  towards  unduly  aggrieved  feelings,  points 
to  the  complete  success  of  the  method  adopted'  and  to  the 
final  corroboration  secured  through  Caldonius  and  Fortunatus. 
However  meantime  the  provisional  sending  off  of  Primitivus, 
which  proved  to  be  thus  politic,  had  been  at  once  followed  up 
by  the  sending  of  the  Subdeacon  Mettius  with  the  acolyte 
Nicephorus  in  charge  of  a  fuller  explanatory  despatch^  to 
meet  each  point  of  possible  misconstruction  ;  to  enclose  fresh 
copies  of  Cyprian's  earlier  letters  with  a  request  that  these 
might  be  laid  before  the  brethren ;  further,  to  announce  that 

^  The  reader  may  consider  as  he  pro-  trace  in  our  collection  except  the  syno- 

ceeds  the  hypothesis  that  these  diplo-  dical  letter  about  Felicissimus. 

matic  steps, — so  far  from  obvious  in  the  ^  Ep.  48.  2. 

perusal  of  the  letters,  so  consistent  when  *  Ep.  45.     In  c.  4  the  MS.  reading 

patiently  traced,  so  dotted  up  and  down,  qua  de  eodem  Felicissimo  et  de  presby- 

a  word  or  two  at  a  time, — are  an  incident  teris  ejusdem  ad  clerutn  istic  (i.e.  here  in 

in  a  large  forgery,  an  elaborate  story  Carthage)  non  et  ad  plebem  scripseram 

worked    out   only   to   be  sprinkled   in  is  the  opposite  of  the  fact,  for  Ep.  43  is 

ineffective,  indiscernible  fragments.  his  weighty  appeal  to  the  laity  on  this 

-  ^/).  44.  2.    Lipsius  (p.  204  n.)  says  exact  subject.    Hartel  perversely  ignores 

that  part  of  the  correspondence  here  is  the  printed  reading  of  nee  before  non, 

lost.     Cyprian  expressly  says,  however,  which    is  essential   to   the  sense,   but 

that  'et  quia  quibus  refutatis  et  con-  dropped  by  the  commonest  kind  of  slip 

pressi  sunt. ..in  epistula  congerere  Ion-  after    the   -ie.     In    the  same  line  he 

gum  fuit '  will  be  '  plenissime  singula '  chooses  the  meaningless  isdem  in  pre- 

detailed  by  Primitivus,  and  there  is  no  ference  to  the  equally  well  supported 

allusion  to  any  point   as  having  been  ejusdem. 
mentioned  in  Utters  which  we  do  not 

B.  10 


146  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

the  whole  Province  of  Proconsular  Africa  had  by  this  time 
been  informed  of  the  conciliar  reaffirmation  of  the  Title  of 
Cornelius ;  to  communicate  the  conciliar  Resolutions  on 
Felicissimus  and  his  adherents ;  and  to  enclose  for  the  Con- 
fessors, under  cover  to  their  true  Bishop,  a  *  Brief  Letter  \' 
Finally  when  the  explanation  asked  for  through  Primitivus 
was  sent,  Cyprian  was  able  to  add  that  the  Recognition  of 
Cornelius  had  been  forwarded  on  from  the  Province  through- 
out Numidia  and  Mauretania'*. 

And  now  to  take  up  the  '  Brief  Letter.'  The  concentration 
of  energy,  pathos  and  doctrine  in  so  few  lines  is  surely  mar- 
vellous'. He  touches  on  the  depression  with  which  the  news 
of  the  Confessors'  desertion  had  crushed  him  : — '  Against 
'  God's  ordinance,  against  the  Gospel-law,  against  the  unity 
'  of  the  Catholic  foundation,  to  have  consented  to  the  creation 
*  of  another  bishop  !  that  is,  to  a  thing  divinely  and  humanly 
'  impossible,  the  founding  of  a  second  church,  the  severing  of 

^  Epp.  46  and  47.  was  read  to  the  assembly,  and  to  con- 

^  Ep.  45.  I  'Sad  et  per  Provinciam  ceal  it  would  not  have  increased  the 

nostravi,'  &'c.     Then  later,  Ep.  48.  3,  authority.     Cyprian's    object    was    to 

'  Sed  quoniam  latius  fusa  est  nostra  Pro-  place  beyond   doubt   the    facts  of  the 

vincia,  habet  etiam  Nutnidiam  et  Mau-  election  whatever  they  were.     So  Ep. 

ritaniam  sibi  cohserentes,  ne  in  Urbe,'  44.  i  'ut  eis  adventantibus  et  rei  gesta 

&c.     '  Inasmuch  as  our  Province  is  very  veritatem  reportantibus,  majore  anctori- 

widespread,  and  has  also  Numidia  and  ^a/^... partis  adverscE  inprobitas  frange- 

Mauritania  in  close  connection  with  it,  retur,'  which   is  exactly  parallel ;    Ep. 

therefore,  &c.'     (Peters,  to   support  a  48.  2  'rebus  illic.../w  veritate  conper- 

scheme  of  'Metropolit,  Ober-metropo-  tis^ ;  48.  4  '...nunc  episcopatus  tui  et 

lit,    Kirchenprovinze '   &c.    wishes    to  Veritas   pariter  et  dignitas  apertissivia 

make  habet   mean    'includes'  and  sibi  Itice . . .fundata  &%t^    I  therefore  venture 

'united  to  each  other.')     The  text  pro-  to  propose    retecta   'discovered,  ascer- 

ceeds  '  placuit  ut  per  episcopos,  retenta  tained,'  instead  of  retenta.     The  sense 

a  nobis  rei  veritate,  et  ad  comproban-  would  thus  be  'we  resolved  that  the 

dam  ordinationem  tuam  facta  auctori-  bishops  should  cause  letters  to  be  cir- 

tate  majore,  tunc  demum  scrupulo  omni  culated  among  all  in  all  directions  here, 

de  singulorum  pectoribus  excusso,  per  nowthat  we  had /^arw/ the  real  facts,  and 

omnes  omnino  istic  positos  litterse  fie-  were  in  a  better  position  to  confirm  your 

rent.'     I  cannot  translate  retenta  (Har-  ordination,  not  a  scruple  at  last  remain- 

tel  firom  MSS.  except  ft.  recente).     'Kept  ing  in  any  bosom.' 

secret'  (as  O.  Ritschl,  see  p.  130,  n.  2)  ^  £p^  ^g. 
cannot  be  the  meaning,  for  the  despatch 


III.  I. 


QUESTION    3.      NOVATIANISM. 


147 


'  Christ's  members,  the  rending  of  soul  and  body  in  the  Lord's 
'  flock  by  the  sundered  rivalries — this  is  not  the  way  to  "  assert 
*  the  Gospel "  of  Christ*.  And  we,'  he  exclaims,  *  we  cannot 
'  quit  the  Church  to  come  out  to  you  ! — Return  to  your  mother 
* — to  your  brotherhood.' 

Dionysius  the  Great  also  wrote  to  them  from  Alexandria 
in  their  alienation'.  The  Catholic  Church  could  realise  then 
what  was  meant  by  this — '  If  one  member  sufifer  all  the 
members  suffer  with  it' 


^  It  is  remarkable  that  the  character 
which  seems  at  this  time  especially  to 
attach  to  the  word  evangelium  is  that 
of  strictness  ox  precision.  Thus  in  Ep. 
55.  3  and  again  in  De  Laps.  15  Cyprian 
calls  the  stricter  discipline  'Evangeli- 
cus  vigor,'  'Evangelii  vigor,'  Ep.  55. 
6  'Evangelica  censura.'  So  Epp.  67. 
8;  30.  4;  27.  4.  This  must  be  borne 
in  mind  .in  rendering  such  passages  as 
^ evangelicis  \xz.^\'i\ovA>\xi  roboratos,'  De 
Laps.  1.  The  catholic  rule  to  have  but 
one  bishop  in  a  city  is  (still  with  the 
same  idea  of  strictness)  '  evangelica  lex ' 
Ep.  46 — 'nee  ecclesiae  jungitur  qui  ab 
evangelio  separatur,'  De  Laps.  16. 
Hence  it  is  not  without  a  characteristic 
force  that  in  Ep.  30  Novatian  uses  the 
terms 'Evangelicadisciplina(three  times), 
evangelicus  vigor,  evangelicum  certa- 
men  (confessorship),'  and  the  substan- 
tive and  adjective  twelve  times  in  the 


first  two  chapters  of  Ep.  36,  and  ad- 
dresses the  book  De  Cibis  Judaicis, 
to  you  who  'sine  cessatione  in  Evan- 
gelic vos  perstare  monstratis.'  After  his 
secession  'evangelium  Christi  asserere' 
{,Ep.  46.  2),  'assertores  evangelii'  {Ep. 
44.  3)  seems  to  have  been  the  watchword 
of  his  sect.  So  even  in  his  Greek  letter 
to  Fabius,  Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  43,  Cornelius 
sarcastically  calls  Novatian  6  iKdiKijTTjt 
Tov  EvayyeXiov.  The  still  extant  type 
was  next  succeeded  to  and  exaggerated 
by  the  Donatists.  They  were  in  the 
habit  of  accosting  Catholics  with  '  Es- 
tote  Christiani,'  or  'Cai  Sei,  Caia  Seia, 
adhuc  paganus  es,  aut  pagana'  (Opt.  iii. 
11),  or  '  Bonus  homo  esses,  si  non  esses 
traditor !  consule  anima;  tuse :  esto 
Christianus.'  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt. 
ii.  7  (10). 

^  Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  46   ...^rt  t^  tov 
^ovdrov  crvficpepofi^vois  yvibfir). 


10- 


FOUR  OTHER  PICTURES   FROM   A.D.   250. 

It  is  only  fair  to  the  Reader  that  I  should  now  at  this  point 
remind  him  that  eminent  critics  have  drawn  very  different  sketches 
from  those  above  of  chief  actors  in  the  church  affairs  of  A.D.  250. 

I  present  outlines  from  two  portraits  of  Cyprian  by  Otto  Ritschl 
and  by  Adolf  Harnack,  and,  by  the  former,  one  of  Felicissimus  in 
the  character  of  the  True  Churchman,  and  one  of  a  vanishing 
Novatus.  I  ought  to  say  that  mine  were  earlier  in  print,  but  a 
short  contemplation  of  these  may  further  clear  some  points. 

It  is  natural  that  divines  in  Non-episcopal  Confessions  should 
not  only  search  (as  we  see)  for  a  non-episcopal  ordination,  but  should 
trace  the  early  wisdom  and  success  of  episcopal  administration  itself 
either  to  ignored  action  on  the  part  of  the  presbyterate  or  to  masterful 
ambitions  of  great  prelates  on  behalf  of  their  order ;  or  again  that 
they  should  if  possible  exhibit  instances  in  which,  as  one  of  them 
naively  expresses  it,  '  things  really  do  go  without  a  Bishop,  and  go 
well,  if  only  the  Clergy  step  full  in.' 

If  my  own  judgement  of  what  took  place  in  those  times  be  warped 
(as  I  think  theirs  is)  by  prepossessions  unperceived  by  myself,  it  is 
my  sincere  desire  to  have  them  corrected  by  fact  and  document.  To 
these  tests  I  commit  the  difference  without  reserve. 

The  first  portrait  shall  be  that  of  Cyprian  before  his  own 
Presbyters  in  the  time  before  the  Council,  by  O.  RitschP.  My 
abstract  will  be  as  just  as  I  can  make  it. 

I.     Cyprian  before  his  own  Presbyters. 

'The  Roman  clergy  left  responsible  in  the  vacancy  of  their  own 
'see,  regarded  the  Carthaginian  see  as  practically  vacant  through 
'  Cyprian's  retirement,  its  clergy  as  responsible  like  themselves,  and 
'  themselves  as  responsible  for  suggesting  to  them  a  course  like  their 
'  own.    They  wrote  them  therefore  the  Eighth  Epistle.' — So  far  well. 

'  Next,  the   Carthaginian   clergy  out   of  their  perfect  loyalty  to 

^  Otto  Ritschl,  Cyprian  v.  Karthago  und  die  Verfassung  der  Kirche.     Erster 
Theil,  Cap.  1.  (Gottingen  1885). 


III.  I.  CHURCH   AFFAIRS  A.D.   25O.  I49 

'  Cyprian  communicated  the  Epistle  to  him.  No  faction  (whatever 
'  Cyprian  may  say)  existed  among  them. 

'  The  Roman  Letter  and  its  probable  effect  were  greatly  dreaded 
'  by  Cyprian.  Even  the  loyal  conduct  of  his  clergy  about  it  placed 
'  them  in  a  position  to  make  dangerous  capital  of  their  magnanimity. 
'  But  its  actual  effect  was  also  very  great. 

*  It  moved  at  least  the  Four  Presbyters  {_Ep.  14)  to  mild  views  of 
'the  course  to  be  taken  with  the  Lapsed,  and  the  final  result  of 
'their  action  was  to  make  Cyprian  adopt  the  milder  view.  But 
'  it  is  probable  that  the  whole  body  of  the  Presbyters  took  this  view 
'from  the  first  and  that  they  selected  Four  of  themselves  to  bear 
'the  brunt  of  Cyprian's  anger.  Cyprian  was  hard  on  the  clergy, 
'excusing  all  others  and  laying  all  blame  on  them.  The  "radical" 
'  presbyters  who  early  communicated  the  Lapsed  simply  anticipated 
'  the  necessary  policy  which  Cyprian  after  a  time  adopted. 

'The  "Visions  of  the  Martyrs"  or  Confessors  contributed  to 
'  soften  his  procedure.  The  offence  he  took  at  the  Confessors  was  no 
'  matter  of  principle,  but  only  a  personal  sense  of  their  disrespect. 

'  Cyprian's  attitude  however  was  that  of  a  strong  man.  He  might 
'  have  been  expected  to  employ  his  money  to  conciliate  those  who 
'differed  from  him.  But  he  did  not.  He  treated  the  Four  Presbyters, 
'and  indeed  all,  with  growing  decision.  For  example;  whilst  in 
'  Ep.  5  he  uses  the  language  of  request  ^^peto"  &c.,  afterwards,  when 
'the  great  Eighth  Epistle  might  have  wrecked  their  allegiance,  he 
'boldly  in  Ep.  14  uses  the  imperative  mood  and  strain  throughout.' 

To  examine  the  above  scheme — and  to  begin  with  the  last 
suggestion.  This  is  not  literally  true.  For,  if  in  Ep.  5.  2  he  only 
nsts  pe to,  in  Ep.  14.  3  he  uses  oro  vos,  and  in  Ep.  5.  2  occur  the  only 
real  imperatives  which  appear  in  either — consulite  et  providete.  But 
in  tone  there  is  no  tangible  difference.  It  is  absurd  to  treat  hortor  et 
mando  in  Ep.  14.  2  as  imperious  when  the  object  of  them  is  'act  as 
plenipotentiaries  for  me,'  vice  7nea  ftingamini. 

But  the  whole  scheme  may  be  characterized  as  a  string  of  assumed 
probabilities  which  have  been  already  negatived  by  ascertainable 
facts. 

The  importance  assigned  to  the  illiterate  Epistle  Eight  is  necessary 
to  the  theory  but  is  wholly  unwarrantable.  A  defect  of  humour 
has  kept  the  Critic  from  seeing  the  sarcastic  force  of  Cyprian's  treat- 
ment of  it  in  Ep.  9.  2  (see  pp.  Zt,  88  above).  But  in  fact  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  Eighth  Epistle  ever  came  to  the  hands 
of  the  Carthaginian  clergy  at  all.  They  never  replied  to  it.  They 
never  allude  to  it.  For  good  reason.  It  bore  no  address.  It  was 
delivered  to  Cyprian  at  the  same  time  by  the  same  hand — Crementius's 
— which  brought  him  the  letter  of  the  same  Roman  Presbyters  about 


ISO  CHURCH   AFFAIRS  A.D.   250. 

Fabian's  martyrdom,  and  it  was  at  once  returned  by  him  to  its 
authors  for  reconsideration.  It  proposed,  as  we  have  seen,  no  sub- 
stantial plan.  Its  promoters  felt  ashamed  of  it  and  changed  their 
note.  Yet  this  is  the  formidable  document  to  the  guidance 

and  terror  of  which  we  are  asked  to  trace  all  the  leniency  of  the 
clergy  and  nearly  the  whole  policy  of  Cyprian. 

As  to  the  effect  upon  him  of  the  'Martyrs'  Visions'  it  is  enough 
to  observe  that  the  Visions  are  not  said  to  have  been  seen  by  the 
Martyrs  but  by  other  persons,  and  that  the  one  moral  of  all  the 
Visions  is  severely  disciplinary  and  not  relaxatory. 

Again  the  'Radical'  clergy  can  in  no  sense  be  said  to  have 
anticipated  the  action  of  Cyprian.  They  did  indeed  readmit  to 
communion.  But  Cyprian's  point  was  not  that  the  Lapsed  should 
be  either  admitted  or  repelled,  but  that  they  should  not  be  admitted 
(i)  without  open  repentance,  (2)  without  the  formal  assent  of  the 
Church.  These  conditions,  in  which  lies  the  gist  of  his  whole  policy, 
they  violated.  Ritschl  (p.    17)  quotes  from  Ep.   15.  i  ante 

actam  pcenitentiam,  ante  exo}/iologesiti.../actam,  ante  manum...im- 
positam  to  prove  that  Cyprian  was  not  angry  at  their  action  but  only 
at  their  precipitancy.  But  he  omits  Cyprian's  contra  evangelii 
legem  from  the  same  clause,  and  words  cannot  express  greater 
indignation  than  Cyprian's  at  the  absence  of  enquiry  and  authority 
from  their  procedure. 

The  impossibility  of  other  combinations  and  conclusions  of  this 
scheme — these  are  the  main  ones — will  I  hope  be  detected  from  the 
text  and  references  above. 


2.     Cyp7-ia?i  before  the  Roman  Presbyters. 

This  is  our  second  Portrait-Sketch. 

We  have  acknowledged  that  it  is  tempting  to  certain  scholars  to 
explore  instances  in  which  *  things  really  do  go  without  a  Bishop,  and  go 
well,  if  only  the  Clergy  step  full  in^.' 

It  is  tempting  even  though  the  vacancy  be  one  of  a  few  months  only, 
and  even  if  the  Clergy  themselves  so  little  acquiesce  in  the  idea  that 
'  things  go  well,'  that  all  the  time  they  are  lamenting  their  limitations  and 
longing  to  get  the  see  filled. 

Yet  we  should  scarcely  have  expected  that  the  vacancy  of  the  Roman 
See,  in  which  its  Presbyters  so  changed  their  bearing  towards  Cyprian, 
and  adopted  his  Policy  entire ;  a  vacancy  in  which  his  Kv^fpvrja-is,  his 
wisdom,  gentleness  and  dignity  as  a  bishop  come  so  strongly  out,  would 

^  A.  Hamack,  op.   at.  infr.  p.  25.       geht  und  gut  geht,  wenn  nur  der  Klerus 
'Dass   es  wirklich  auch  ohne  Bischof      vol!  eintritt,  kann  das  Beispiel,' &c. 


III.  I.  CHURCH  AFFAIRS   A.D.   250.  151 

be  selected  as  an  example  of  the  adequacy  of  headless,  unepiscopal 
management 

In  an  ingenious  and  learned  essay  (which  appeared  many  years  after 
the  above  text  was  in  print)  Dr  A.  Harnack,  along  with  much  that  is  of 
linguistic  importance,  and  a  minute  verification  of  the  authorship  of  Ep. 
36,  has  maintained  an  interesting  thesis  to  that  effect ^ 

To  him  *  Epistle  viii.  is  the  masterly  work  of  at  once  a  Pastor  and  a 
'Statesman  (p.  25) — though  not  a  well-educated  one.     Immediately  on 

*  hearing  that  Carthage  had  by  his  own  act  lost  her  Bishop,  the  Roman 
'clergy  undertook  the  duty  and  adopted  the  style  of  a  Bishop,  and  issued 

*  orders  to  the  Clergy  of  that  city.  It  is  quite  an  "  Archiepiscopal  In- 
'  struction  "  (p.  26).  They  pursued  indeed  with  g^eat  political  sagacity  a 
'double  policy.  To  Cyprian  they  wrote  respectfully  as  Bishop,  to  the 
'  Clergy  they  wrote  with  the  view  of  getting  them  to  ignore  him  as 
'  Bishop  and  take  the  reins  of  government  in  hand  themselves.'    (p.  24.) 

Here  we  must  really  pause.  There  is  in  Ep.  8  nothing  to  justify  the 
imputation  of  machination  so  mean  and  cruel,  however  prudent  it  may 
seem  to  some.  The  Roman  Clergy  began  mistakenly.  But  they  were  in 
a  most  difficult  position.  Without  a  head  themselves  and  not  daring  to 
elect  one,  they  now  heard  that  the  Second  City  of  the  Empire  was 
headless  too,  and  that  by  the  Bishop's  own  act.  Persecution  was  afoot 
and  he  was  gone.  It  was  very  natural  that  they  should  write  to  the 
authorities  there  without  a  thought  that  they  were  composing  'a  pendant 
{Seitemtiick)  to  the  Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians '  (p.  1 5).  Cyprian 
nowhere  complains  of  their  doing  so — only,  in  his  dignified  way,  of  their 
tone,  Ep.  9  ;  and  in  Ep.  20  says  he  writes  to  them  not  as  bound  to  do  so, 
but  because  they  are  under  a  mistake  and  misinformed.  They  could  not 
know  that  the  counsel  they  sent  had  been  anticipated  by  Cyprian  in 
much  more  minuteness ;  that  for  the  liberality  they  recommended  towards 
sufferers  and  poor,  Cyprian  had  provided  the  means;  that  a  scheme  was 
begun  by  Cyprian  for  dealing  with  the  Lapsed,  the  '  Martyrs,'  and  the 
Premature  Restorers,  of  which  they  would  be  glad  to  borrow  all  that 
their  own  case  required  ;  that  from  his  retirement  Cyprian  was  governing 
all.  When  they  knew,  they  changed  their  note  ;  but  from  the  first  there 
was  no  duplicity  in  their  conduct,  rather  too  rough  a  straightforwardness. 

The  Clergy  to  whom  they  wrote  had  had  solemnly  committed  to  them 
beforehand  by  Cyprian  himself  all  the  powers  which  the  Romans  wished 
them  to  take.  '  Discharge  upon  the  spot  both  your  own  parts  and  mine' 
{Ep.  5.  i).  'I  exhort  and  charge  you,  who  can  be  upon  the  spot  without 
'invidiousness  and  with  less  peril,  to  discharge  in  my  stead  whatever 
'duties  the  religious  administration  demands'  {Ep.  14.  2). 

^  Adolf  Harnack,  Die  Brief e  des  gische  Abhandlungen  (published  in 
romischen  Klenis  aus  der  Zeit  der  honour  of  Carl  von  Weizsacker's  70th 
Sedisvacanz  im  Jahre  -250,  ap.  Theolo-       birthday).     Freiburg  I.  B.  1892. 


152  CHURCH  AFFAIRS  A.D.   250. 

The  Clergy  who  wrote  were  performing  those  very  duties,  just  as  the 
Romans  were  in  the  vacancy,  but  they  were  only  too  painfully  aware 
that  there  were  episcopal  functions  which  they  themselves  were  incapable 
of  discharging.  They  took  the  best  and  widest  counsel  they  could,  calling 
in  their  neighbour  bishops  and  such  exiled  bishops  as  were  then  at  Rome, 
but  'We  have  thought,'  say  they,  'that  before  the  appointment  of  a 
*  bishop  we  must  take  no  new  step,  but  take  a  middle  line  in  attending 
'to  the  lapsed,  so  that  in  the  meantime,  while  we  are  waiting  for  a 
'bishop  to  be  given  us  by  God,' — the  different  classes  should  be  treated 
thus  and  thus  {Ep.  30.  8).  Again,  '  We  are  the  more  obliged  to  postpone 
'this  affair,  because  since  the  decease  of  Fabian  of  noblest  memory  we 
'have  had,  owing  to  the  difficulties  of  circumstances  and  times,  no  bishop 
'yet  appointed  to  direct  all  these  affairs,  and  to  examine  into  the  cases 
'of  the  lapsed  with  authority  and  wisdom.'    {Ep.  30.  5.) 

This  is  surely  not  '  oberbischofliche  Unterweisung.'  (p.  26.)  This  is 
not  the  tone  of  those  who  felt  that  even  they  themselves  possessed  the 
authority  which  they  urge  (as  we  are  assured)  their  brethren  to  assume. 

Nevertheless  Dr  Harnack  finds  that  the  great  writer  of  Ep.  8  at  once 
'  identifies  the  clergy  in  whose  name  he  writes  with  the  Bishop,'  for  they 
speak  of  '  Our  Predecessors,'  meaning  the  Bishops  of  Rome — '  anteces- 
sores  nostril' 

The  passage  referred  to  is,  'If  we  are  found  neglectful,  it  will  be  said 
'  to  us  as  it  was  also  said  to  our  predecessors,  who  were  such  neglectful 
'prelates  {prcepositi).,  That  we  have  not  sought  that  which  was  lost,  and 
'  have  not  set  right  the  wandering,  and  not  bound  up  the  lame,  and  were 
'  eating  the  milk  of  them,  and  clothing  ourselves  with  the  wool  of  them.' 
{Ep.  8.  I.)  This  would  have  been  strange  language  to  address  to  primitive 
bishops  of  Rome,  but  of  course  it  was  not.  It  was  really  addressed  by 
Ezekiel  to  the  Shepherds  of  Israel,  the  predecessors  of  all  shepherds^. 
Dr  Harnack  admits  or  admires  the  '  sarcastic '  or  '  cutting'  {anziiglich)  use 
made  of  Scripture  texts  by  the  author  (p.  25).  This  text  may  perhaps 
serve  him  to  illustrate  that  criticism,  but  not  to  shew  that  Presbyters  of 
Rome  regarded  themselves  as  Successors  of  the  Popes. 

The  representation  of  the  rest  of  the  correspondence  takes  its  colouring 
from  these  Principia^.  While  the  letters  of  Novatian  30  and  36  speak  an 
episcopal  language,  those  of  Cyprian  exhibit  his  humiliation. 

^  Das  Collegium  spricht  in  ihm  so,  '  Yes,  even  to  the  distortion  of  minor 

als  ware  es  selber  der   Bischof,  ja  es  facts  like  these.     It  is  said  that  they 

redet  von 'nostri  antecessores.' (p.  22.)  learnt   Cyprian's    flight    through    their 

2  Ezek.  c.  xxxiv.  w.  3,  4.     Hartel  own     delegate    Bassianus — solicitously 

has  perhaps  here  deceived  Harnack  by  sent  to  enquire.     Yet  all  that  is  said  of 

omitting  the  reference  from  both  text  Bassianus  here  is  that  he  'has  arrived,' 

and    margin,    ad   Novat.    14;    Hartel,  Ep.  8.  3,  while  it  is  distinctly  said  that 

Append,  p.  65.     Elsewhere  he  has  it.  the  (Carthaginian)  sub-deacon  Clemen- 


Ill    I.  CHURCH   AFFAIRS   A.D.   250.  153 

'  Months  afterwards  Cyprian  writes  one  letter,  20,  to  secure  allies, 
'humbled  even  to  speaking  of  himself  as  "mea  mediocritas" !  {cc.  1,  2) : 

*  writes  a  second,  27,  without  waiting  for  an  answer  to  the  first :  is  silently 
'  ignored  in  two  Roman  letters  (see  Ep.  27.  4),  but  takes  on  him  to  answer 
'both,  with  much  flattery  of  the  Confessors.  At  last  "the  ice  is  broken  " 
'  (p.  30),  and  Novatian  condescends  to  write  no  more  to  the  clergy  but  to 

*  himself.  Even  then  a  painful  impression  is  produced  by  the  solicitude 
'  with  which  he  circulates  the  Roman  missives.'     '  What  a  triumph  for  the 

*  Roman  Clergy  ! '   (p.  29). 

In  the  last  paragraph  I  have  thought  it  only  right  to  place  before 
readers  such  a  web  of  ingenuity  spun  by  so  distinguished  a  scholar. 
It  is  the  meeting-point  of  the  extremes,  Presbyterian  Teutonism  and 
Ultramontanism.  For  I  need  not  add  that  the  supposed  position  is 
laid  down  as  a  truly  historical  and  logical  step  from  episcopacy  toward 
the  supremacy  of  Rome. 

The  only  answer  which  can  be  of  value  is  an  ingenuous  statement  of 
the  whole  contents  of  the  Letters.  To  this,  as  I  have  tried  to  give  it  above, 
and  to  the  Letters  themselves  I  confidently  refer  for  that  answer. 

3.     0/  Felicissimus  as  a  more  faithful  representative  of 
the  Church. 

O.  Ritschl's  Thesis  is  that  the  consolidation  of  the  Episcopate  was 
a  mere  policy  framed  by  an  unscrupulous  energetic  man  from 
moment  to  moment  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  his  position,  and  his 
Doctrine  of  Unity  a  theory  evolved  to  justify  his  practice.  In  de- 
veloping this  thesis  he  reconstructs  the  history  of  the  Faction  of 
Felicissimus.  It  is  impossible  to  give  more  than  an  outline  of  his 
tedious  labour,  but  the  facts  must,  he  maintains,  have  been  these ^ 

'  Cyprian's  Commission  and  Relief  Fund,  i.e.  his  own  means,  were 
'  devoted  to  the  creation  of  a  party  by  bribery  and  place-giving  and  to 
'  the  overthrow  of  the  Presbyters'  influence  at  Carthage.  Felicissimus 
'  was  probably  put  forward  by  the  Presbyters  to  defeat  the  plan. 
'  Being  only  a  Deacon  his  supposed  threats  cannot  have  been  really 
'formidable,  and  therefore  the  adherence  to  him,  which  was  very  ex- 
'  tensive,  betokens  only  the  amount  of  suspicion  felt  about  Cyprian. 
'  His  success  actually  drove  the  Commission  away  from  Carthage,  and 
*  therefore  Cyprian's  statement  that  the  pluriini  were  on  his  side  is 
'  untrue. 

^  Ep.  41  exhibits  Cyprian's  embarrassment.  He  would  fain  ex- 
'  communicate  Felicissimus  for  his  treatment  of  the  Commission,  but 

tius  brought  the  information.    Ep.  8.  i.       Carthaginian  cleric  and  refugee. 
Bassianus  appears   from  the  company  ^  pp.  57 — 65. 

he  is  mentioned  in,  Ep.  22.  3,  to  be  a 


154  CHURCH  AFFAIRS  A.D.   250. 

*  that  is  hopeless ;  he  falls  back  on  previous  offences,  and  after  all 
'reserves  the  decision  for  his  coming  council.     The  true  reason  for 

*  Felicissimus'  excommunication  is  his  simple  resistance  to  Cyprian. 

*  If  Augendus  adheres  to  him  he  is  to  be  excommunicated  for  this 
'alone.  Between  the  others  excommunicated  the  only  tie  is  their 
'opposition  to  Cyprian.  The  Commission  had  first  applied  to  the 
'  Clergy  of  Carthage  to  issue  an  excommunication.  As  they  declined 
'■to  do  this,  they  issued  it  themselves.  In  their  own  opinion  therefore 
'  they  must  have  been  always  competent  to  do  it,  and  having  three 

*  bishops  on  their  board — the  number  competent  to  ordain — competent 
'they  were.  They  returned  to  Carthage,  and  there  added  to  the 
'proscribed  two  names  more  {Ep.  42). 

'  The  five  hostile  presbyters  acquired  their  influence  after  the  ex- 
*■  communication  by  the  clergy  of  Gains  of  Dida.  It  is  seen  in  the 
'  refusal  oi  the  same  clergy  to  excommunicate  Felicissimus.  It  comes 
'  out  strongly  when  the  Commission  did  it  in  spite  of  the  clergy ; 
'  they  then  had  with  them  the  majority  of  the  Christians.  The  five 
'were  the  ^lite  of  the  clergy,  and  enjoyed  that  popular  confidence 
'  which  Cyprian  forfeited  by  his  absence. 

'  To  them  Cyprian  now  attributes  the  original  opposition  to  his 
'  episcopate.  He  kindles  good  Christians  against  the  Lapsed  (such 
'  is  the  view  of  Ep.  43) ;  sees  that  he  can  never  win  back  the  followers 
'of  Felicissimus,  and  must  rid  the  Church — and  himself — of  them. 

'Accordingly  the  Episcopal  Council  of  A.D.  251  excommunicates 
'  Felicissimus  and  his  followers. 

'  Thus  the  Episcopal  power  is  organized  in  order  to  fight  Cyprian's 
'battles,  and,  in  order  to  afford  it  a  basis,  the  doctrine  of  the  Unity 
'  of  the  Church  is  developed  out  of  his  consciousness.' 

Of  course  no  practical  theory  of  polity  is  developed  without  events, 
but  having  already  drawn  out  the  real  events  as  accurately  as  I  can 
(and  the  evidence  is  abundant),  I  can  only  suggest  further  that 
Ritschl's  heavy  pages  be  read  with  the  original  letters  side  by  side, 
and  with  an  honest  intent  to  reconcile  some  and  to  recognise  other 
of  the  incidents— if  it  be  possible. 


4.     Of  the  Evanescence  of  Novattis  under  Ritschl's  Analysis. 

I  desire  fairly  to  give  the  gist  of  several  laborious  pages ^ : — 

'All  our  information  about  Novatus  rests  upon  the  statements  of 
*  Cyprian.  If  we  reflect  on  what  is  credible  or  historically  imaginable 
'  we  cannot  admit  that  Novatus  was  in  Rome  supporting  Novatian's 

1  pp.  68—75. 


III.  I.  CHURCH  AFFAIRS  A.D.  250.  155 

'  election.     The  belief  is  due  to  the  fact  that  Cornelius  having  men- 

*  tioned  him  in  general  terms,  Cyprian,  delighted  with  a  weak  parallel 

*  which  suggested  itself  to  him,  stated  that  Novatus  advanced  in 
'  arithmetical  progression  from  ordaining  a  Deacon  at  Carthage  to 
'consecrating  a  Bishop  at  Rome.  It  is  unlikely  too  that  Novatus 
'  should  have  left  Carthage  for  fear  of  proceedings,  since  he  would 
'have  known  that  he  should  be  condemned  in  his  absence.  Unlikely 
'  that  Cyprian  should  have  warned  Cornelius  against  him,  just  as  he 
'  was  about  leaving  Rome.  Novatus'  connection  with  past  turmoil 
'  in  Carthage  rests  on  no  proof :  it  is  built  up  out  of  the  combinations 
'of  Cyprian's  fancy.  It  is  later  on  when  Novatus  is  named  in  con- 
'nection  with  them.' 

And  I  will  categorically  touch  on  these  '' criticis7ns^  as  they  de- 
serve : — 

The  fact  is  that  Cyprian  makes  no  statements  about  Novatus  in 
Rome.  He  comments  and  moralises  freely  on  what  Cornelius  tells 
him.  An  inventor  of  statements  would  never  have  cast  them  in  a 
mere  allusive  form.  We  do  not  look  for  proof  in  such  a  case ;  the 
proof  is  notoriety.  The  rule  of  three  on  Novatus'  progress 

from  Carthage  to  Rome  and  so  from  Deacon-making  to  Bishop- 
making  is  a  mere  play  of  rhetoric  on  something  told  to  him.  The 
critic  escapes  the  snares  of  humour. 

The  fear  of  judgment  going  by  default  is  not  a  common  deter- 
rent from  absconding.  Why  should  it  deter  Novatus?  As  to  his 
earlier  influence  against  Cyprian,  'agitators'  and  'certain  persons' 
are  alluded  to  from  the  very  first.  It  is  the  manner  of  Cyprian  and 
of  many  early  Christian  writers  not  to  name  adversaries  so  long  as 
reticence  is  possible^.  And  why  should  Cyprian  describe  the  career 
of  Novatus  to  Cornelius  until  he  heard  that  Novatus  was  busy  near 
to  him  ? 

Again,  Ritschl  finds  it  of  course  necessary  to  expunge^  ac  Novati 
from  all  manuscripts  and  editions  of  Ep.  47.  And  so  Novatus 

vanishes. 

But  yet  again  Ritschl  himself  describes  Cyprian  as  penning  Ep. 
52.  2  in  a  state  of 'passionate  excitement'  at  the  thought  of  Novatus' 
return  from  Rome  to  Carthage.  If  that  were  so.  Why  had  Novatus 
been  to  Rome  ?  What  had  he  there  been  doing  ?  And  what  was  he 
expected  to  do  in  Carthage  ?  Nothing  ? 

^  See  note  4,  p.  160.  own  use  when  both  conjunctions  are  to 

-  May  I  point  out  to  students   that       mean  aw;/ (not  both...a7ui)'i     Compare 
^ et  Novatiani  ac  Novati'  is  Cyprian's       ^/.  46  V/ actui  or  laudibus.' 


156  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 


Question  4.     The  Decision  on  the  Lapsed. 

The  primary  question  before  the  Council  had  been  what 
should  be  the  position  of  the  Lapsed  ?  Its  determination 
had  been  postponed  first  to  the  examination  of  the  case  of 
Felicissimus,  and  secondly  to  the  unexpected  outbreak  of 
division  in  the  election  to  the  Roman  bishopric.  Both  of 
these  nevertheless  depended  on  the  solution  of  the  original 
issue.  Though  the  latter  involved  questions  so  much  wider, 
yet  its  origin  was  in  the  identical  question  before  the  Council; 
and  its  present  aspect  illustrated  the  policy  of  free  and  early 
conciliar  action  such  as  had  been  concerted  in  Africa.  The 
decision  on  Felicissimus  was  as  we  have  seen  a  necessary 
preliminary  to  that  action.  These  two  decisions  indeed  had 
cleared  off  the  extreme  views  on  either  side.  Neither  the 
lax  nor  the  purist  view  of  Discipline  could  now  be  reopened. 
Cyprian  lets  us  know  that  the  discussion  was  nevertheless  a 
prolonged  and  earnest  one^  that  the  basis  assumed  alike  by 
the  advocates  of  lenity  and  of  severity  was  an  examination 
of  Scripture,  and  that  they  conceived  as  a  distinct  ideal  for 
their  guidance  the  mercifulness  of  the  character  of  God^ 

Cyprian  had  bestowed  deepest  attention  on  the  subject. 
He  had  developed  his  conclusions  in  his  elaborate  paper  On 
THE  Lapsed  which  he  read  to  an  audience  who  cannot  have 
been  less  moved  by  the  simple  pathos  with  which  it  fixed 
the  tragedies  passing  before  their  eyes,  than  they  were 
strengthened  by  its  wisdom  and  charity®.  Nevertheless  their 
leaning  was  to  a  course  still  milder  than  he  suggested,  and 

1  Ep.  55-  6  '  Scripturis  [diu]  ex  utra-  the  Roman  Council  mentioned  Ep.  55.6 

que  parte  prolatis,'  Ep.  54.  3  '  diu  mul-  to  June  or  July, 

tumque  tractatu  inter  nos  habito.'  ^  Ep.  54.  4,  Ep.  55.  5,  6.  The  libelli 

^  The   verbal  resemblance  of  54.  3  read  to  the  Council  were  the  De  Lapsis 

and  55.  II,  25  shews  that  the  date  of  and  Z>£  Unitate.     See  pp.  174,  sqq.  on 

the  letter   to  Antonian  was  very  soon  the  former, 
after  the  events,  and  therefore   brings 


III.  I.      QUESTION  4.      THE   DECISION   ON  THE   LAPSED.    1 57 

they  were  much  less  disposed  than  he  to  give  the  martyrs 
a  voice  in  their  decisions.  The  primate  was  loyal  to  the 
deliberative  power  he  had  evoked. 

The  encyclical  which  contained  the  resolutions  is  lost^ 
But  its  gist,  and  even  its  minutiae,  are  extricable  from  an 
admirable  letter  of  Cyprian,  The  Epistle  to  Antonian  is  in 
fact  a  pamphlet  in  length  not  far  short  of  that  On  the  Lapsed. 
Antonian  was  an  African  bishop  who,  while  forwarding  letters 
of  adherence  to  Cornelius,  privately  acquainted  Cyprian  with 
certain  difficulties  which  he  had  felt  in  doing  so,  and  received 
from  him,  after  the  Council  closed,  a  restatement  of  the  whole 
case. 

It  would  seem  then  that  Cyprian  in  council  abandoned 
more  than  one  of  his  own  suggestions.  He  admitted  that 
the  postponement  until  death  of  the  reconciliation  of  the 
Libellatics  was  a  severity  only  applicable  to  the  very  hour  of 
persecution,  when  retrieval  through  a  new  confession  was 
yet  an  open  though  terrible  way.  Certainly  if  penance  was 
ever  so  worked  in  times  of  'Peace'  this  could  only  be  because 
Lapse  was  infrequent  and  Return  more  infrequent  still. 

After  peace  had  been  once  restored  to  a  Church  which 
had  suffered  from  Lapse  upon  a  great  scale,  the  sentence  of 
life-long  exclusion  was  felt  to  be  a  cruel  and  an  impolitic^ 
measure.  For  the  utilitarian  aspect  of  the  question  was  a 
really  noble  one.  In  the  later  struggle  with  the  Donatists 
Optatus*  warns  them  that  the  '  Passion  for  Innocence '  in 
the  Church  while  practically  unattainable  could  not,  even  if 
attained,  be  higher  than  the  '  Utility  of  Unity.'  Upon  the 
natural   tendency  towards  strictness  felt  by  the  unfallen  he 

^  Such  a  document  is  indicated   in  restoration  of  the  Libellatici  only,  not 

Ep.   ad  Anton.  55.    6.     For    'singula  of  the  Lapsed. 

placitorum  capita '  has  no  relation   to  ^  Necessitati  temporum  succubuisse  et 

the   form,   nor   'ut  examinarentur '   to  multorum  saluti  providendum  putasse, 

the  contents  of  De  Lapsis.     This  letter  Ep.  55.  7. 

to   Antonian   is    prior  to   the   Second  *  Opt.  vii.  3. 
Council,  A.D.  252,  since  it  treats  of  the 


IS8  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

adds,  '  The  keys  of  Heaven  were  committed  to  the  Apostle 
*  who  fell,  not  to  so  many  who  stood  firm  ;  it  was  ordained 
■'that  a  Sinner  should  open  the  gate  to  Innocence,  for  an 
'  Innocent  one  might  have  closed  it  against  Sinners.' 

Considering  therefore  that  penance  without  hope  of  miti- 
gation could  have  no  practical  value,  but  that  a  return  to 
pagan  life  or  at  best  an  adherence  to  some  more  tolerant 
schism  would  be  its  natural  result,  while  on  the  other  hand 
every  spiritual  help  was  requisite  for  persons  who  might 
shortly  be  exposed  again  to  persecution*,  it  was  by  this 
Council  ruled: — 

I.  That  an  individual  examination  should  be  held  not 
only  of  the  facts,  but  further  into  the  motives  or  induce- 
ments which  had  been  presented  to  the  weakness  of  the 
Libellatici. 

II.  That  the  Lapsed  who  had  not  sacrificed  should  be 
restored  after  a  considerable  term  of  penance,  and  after  public 
application  to  their  bishop  for  restoration  ^ 

III.  That  those  who  had  sacrificed  should  be  restored  at 
the  hour  of  death'  if  they  had  continued  penitent. 

IV.  That  such  as  had  refused  penance  and  public  con- 
fession until  they  were  in  fear  of  death  should  not  then  be 
received*. 

The  Council  did  not  rule,  but  Cyprian  assumes,  that  one 
reconciled  as  a  dying  man  would  not  be  again  excluded  if  he 

^  Ep.  55.  6,  7,  14,  15.  carissime  frater,  sicut  quibusdam  vide- 

2  Traheretur  diu  pa^nitentia  et  roga-  tiir,  libellaticos  cum  sacrificatis  sequari 
retur  dolenter  paterna  dementia,  Ep.  oportere.'  The  statement  in  the  text 
55.  6.  is,  I  think,  accurate. 

3  55.  17.     Fechtrup,  p.   I'zg,  alleges  *  Ep.  55.  23. 

Ep.   55.   6  to  establish  against  Dupin  The  teaching  of  Dionysius  is  exactly 

and  Hefele  that  Rule  I,  when  applied  to  the  same  in  the  beautiful  fragment  of 

'  sacrificati, '  implies  that  some  of  these  his  epistle  to  Conon  piinted  in  Pitra's 

might  be  restored  earlier.   But  although  Spicilegium  Solesmn.  I.  p.  15  from  the 

Cyprian   says   that   their  fault  was   of  Bodleian  cod.  Baroccian.  CXCVi.  fo.  75, 

various  shades,   he   draws    the   widest  an  excerpt  of  which  afterwards  passed 

distinction  between  them  and  the  Li-  for  a  Canon  by  a  confusion  at  first  with 

bellatici.    'Nee  tu  existimes,  Ep.  55.  13,  Conon.     Pitra,  op.  cit.,  I.  p.  xiv.  art.  v. 


III.  II.     QUESTION  4.      THE  DECISION   ON   THE  LAPSED.    159 

recovered.  With  a  humour  which  he  sometimes  exercises 
upon  over-rigidity  he  observes  that  the  man  cannot  be  re- 
quired to  die,  or  his  spiritual  guide  to  insist  on  his  decease,  in 
order  to  complete  the  conditions  of  his  restoration.  In  his 
own  strain  he  adds  that,  if  GoD  Himself  respites  him  this  is 
one  more  mark  of  the  Divine  pity  and  fatherliness.  Added 
life  takes  up  the  pledge  of  holy  life\ 

The  Resolutions  were  communicated  to  Cornelius,  to 
Fabius^  patriarch  of  Antioch,  and  doubtless  to  the  other 
great  sees,  and  the  Council  then  broke  up.  It  was  the  June^ 
of  A.D.  251. 

II. 

Advance  of  Novatianism — Return  of  The  Confessors. 

Meantime  intimation  had  been  sent  to  Africa  by  Cornelius 
that  his  rivals  shewed  no  disposition  to  sit  tamely  down 
under  the  rejection  of  their  embassy.  A  confessor  Augendus 
who  conveyed  this  news  was  speedily  followed  by  Nicephorus, 
the  acolyte,  bearing  a  private  note  with  fuller  particulars  of  the 
energetic  movement  with  which  Cyprian  was  to  be  pressed 
home^ 

A  second  Novatianist  delegacy  had  already  started,  and 
in  it  the  principal  'authors'  of  the  movement.  Primus  and 
Dionysius  we  know  but  by  name ;  Nicostratus  was  a  freed- 
man,  probably  rich ;  he  had  been  one  of  the  powerful  Seven 
Deacons  of  Rome;  after  sharing  the  prison  of  Moyses  and 
Maximus    he    was    now    permanently    alienated    from    the 

^  Compare  Cyprian's  handling  above.  ^  Or  July,   Lips.  pp.    305,    6.     Yet 

Fechtrup,  p.  127,  mistakenly  attributes  scarcely    so,    considering    the     length 

the    provision    to    the    Council ;    and  which  this  would  give  to  the  Cartha- 

points  out  that  other  Councils  were  more  ginian  Council  which  met  in  April,  and 

severe;  e.g.  Nicsn.  can.  13.    Arausic.  the  unhealthy  season  to  which  it  would 

I.  can.  3.     Epaon.    can.  36.     Perhaps  throw  the  Roman  Council, 

frauds  compelled  them  to  be  so.  *  Ep.  50. 

2  Eus.  vi.  43.   Cyp.  Epp.  55.  6,  45.  4. 


l6o  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

Church.  He  is  accused  by  Cornelius  not  only  of  embezzling 
church  funds  (which  might  mean  that  he  had  carried  sums 
over  to  what  he  held  to  be  the  true  succession),  but  also  of 
having  defrauded  the  patroness  to  whom  he  owed  his  free- 
dom \  Such  reports  however  easily  passed  into  circulation, 
and  perhaps  shew  little  but  that  he  had  funds  at  disposal, 
just  as  the  accusations  of  avarice  against  Novatus  have 
doubtless  to  do  with  the  pecuniary  organization  of  the 
sect^. 

Still  more  notable  delegates  were  the  Bishop  Evaristus', 
who  had  been  one  of  Novatian's  consecrators,  and  to  whom 
his  'Commons'  had  instantly  elected  a  successor;  and  lastly 
Novatus  himself,  once  more  on  his  own  ground,  fortified  by 
his  success  at  Rome*. 

The  ground  was  however  less  secure  behind  him  than  he 
trusted.  Cyprian  does  not  hesitate  to  ascribe  the  next  act  of 
the  drama  in  some  measure  to  the  withdrawal  from  Rome  of 
his  great  influence ^  The  very  day  after  he  reached  Carthage 
with  his  colleagues,  the  acolyte  of  Cornelius  sailed  into  the 
port,  and  with  the  warning  we  have  mentioned  he  delivered  a 
second  letter.  He  had  in  fact  hurried  on  board  '  the  very 
'  hour,  the  very  moment,'  says  Cornelius,  '  of  the  conclusion 
'  of  a  Station  in  which  Maximus,  with  his  fellow  confessors 


^  Ep.  50.     The  Liberian  Catalogue  observes  that  the  name  of  Novatian  is 

states  that  he  was  made  bishop  in  Africa,  never  mentioned  by   Cornelius  in   any 

which  is  possible,  but  may  be  due  to  a  letter.    He  employs  various  periphrases, 

confusion  with  Maximus.  and  in  one  place,  to  avoid  speaking  of 

^  Ep.  50,  avaritia  Hartel  for  common  his  baptism,  has  ireptxvOels  fKa^ev  with- 

reading  praviiaie ;  cf.  Ep.  52.  2.  out  rb  ^dirria-fia  (Eus.  vi.  43,  Routh, 

*  See  p.  136.  III.   p.    67).     Cyprian,    on   the    other 

*  The  omission  of  the  name  of  Nova-  hand,  who  had  not  the  bitterness  of 
tian,  designated  only  'hujus  scelerati  Cornelius,  evidently  plays  on  the  con- 
hominis,'  led  some  to  regard  this  (50)  currence  of  names  and  acts,  'Nova- 
letter  of  Cornelius  as  a  fragment.  Cou-  tiani  et  Novati  novas...machinas' 
stant  however  (Routh,  J?.  Sac.  III.  pp.  'Novatus...  rerum  novarum  semper 
31 — 33)  shewed  that  to  drop  the  name  cupidus.'     Ep.  52.  i,  2. 

of  objectionable  persons  was  a  common  *  Ep.  52.  2. 
practice  with  popes  and  others.    Routh 


III.  II.         RESTORATION   OF   ROMAN   CONFESSORS.  l6l 

'Urban,  Sidonius,  Macarius  and  most  of  their  adherents  had 
'rejoined  the  main  body  of  the  Church'.' 

A  rumour  had  been  rife  of  this  return  from  the  Nova- 
tianist  camp'.  Cornelius  was  characteristically  the  last  person 
to  credit  it.  At  some  gathering  of  presbyters,  attended  by 
five  bishops  but  not  by  Cornelius,  Urban  and  Sidonius 
appeared  to  express  on  the  part  of  Maximus  and  his  party 
a  desire  for  reunion.  Some  feeling  of  distrust  decided  the 
clergy  to  decline  to  treat  with  representatives,  and  a  large 
body  of  Novatianists  agreed  to  attend.  The  main  ground  of 
ill-will  against  them  was  the  calumnious  nature  of  the  circular 
letters  issued  so  widely  and  effectively  in  their  name.  They 
disclaimed  the  responsibility  and  even  the  knowledge  of 
these.  '  Nothing  had  been  further  from  their  thoughts  than 
'  an  abandonment  of  the  Church.  They  had  been  led  to 
'  question  simply  the  title  of  Cornelius.'  Their  accusation 
against  themselves  was  the  sanction  which  they  had  given 
to  the  new  ordination.  It  was  not  in  human  nature  that  they 
should  escape  without  some  invective.  They  however  pressed 
for  pardon  without  needless  humiliation. 

Nothing  further  could  be  determined  without  the  bishop. 
Upon  a  second  day  he  convened  a  full  presbytery  with  the 
five  bishops.     Individual  opinions  were  pronounced  and  re- 


^  The  date  of  this  must  have  been  says  they  returned  to  the  Church  upon 

before    the    Roman    Council    (see    p.  his  departure  from  Rome. 

163),  since  otherwise  they  would  have  This  date  disposes  of  Ritschl's  belief 

been   excommunicated,   which   it   does  that  Novatus  himself  appeared  before 

not  appear  that   they  were,  and   pos-  the  Council.     The  auditis  eis  which  he 

terior  to  the  Carthaginian  Council,  since  quotes  from  Ep.  45.  4  refers  to  \i\^ first 

Cyprian   makes   no    allusion   to    it    as  embassy  of  which  Novatus  was  not  a 

sitting,  in   his  letters  to  or  about  the  member. 

confessors,  and  he  read  the  account  of  2  Rettberg,  who  is  always  assuming 
their  return  (^/.  51.  I )  to  the  Church,  intrigues,  relates  how  Cyprian  took 
not  the  bishops.  It  must  also  have  advantage  of  Novatus'  coming  to  Car- 
been  directly  after  Novatian's  second  thage  to  press  them  to  leave  Novatian, 
embassy,  described  in  the  same  bundle  and  succeeded.  The  notion  is  simply 
of  letters  from  Cornelius;  for  Novatus  negatived  by  possibilities  of  time, 
was    on    that    embassy,    and   Cyprian 

B.  II 


l62 


CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 


corded*.  The  confessors,  who  again  appeared,  took  the  same 
dignified  ground  as  before.  Allowances  must  be  made  on 
both  sides.  They  listened  to  an  exhortation  to  sincerity.  But* 
they  simply  asked  to  be  received  back  again  without  penance 
or  disgrace'.  '  They  had  been  imposed  upon.  Facts  had 
'  been  misrepresented  to  them.  They  had  never  intended  to 
'  set  up  a  second  bishop.  The  essential  unity  of  the  episcopate 
'  was  clear  to  them  as  to  others.  They  had  wished  for  one 
'  true  bishop,  and  they  had  not,  until  undeceived,  recognised 
'such  an  one  in  Cornelius.'  Charity  and  policy  alike  forbade 
harshness  towards  such  sufferers  and  such  penitents ;  the 
laity  impulsively  embraced  them,  they  wept  for  joy,  they 
broke  out  into  loud  thanksgivings.  The  presbyters  opened 
their  circle  and  took  Maximus*  back  to  his  old  place  near  the 


LocuLus  OF  Maximus. 


^  Sententias...quas  etsubjectas  leges  : 
Ep.  49.  2,  verbatim,  I  believe,  like  those 
of  the  viith  Council,  a.d.  256. 

^  '  Omnibus  invicem  remissis.'  '  De- 
siderantes...ut  exhiberent,'  singular  con- 
struction unless  hortabamiir,  or  some 
such  word,  has  slipped  out,  Ep.  49.  2. 

'  I  can  assign  no  other  force  to  their 
requests  'ut  ea  quae  ante  fuerant  gesta 
in  oblivionem  cederent  nuUaque  eorum 
mentio  haberetur  proinde  atque  si  nihil 
asset  vel  commissum  vel  dictum,'  &c. 
taken  in  conjunction  with  Ep.  49.  2, 
Cornelius'  statement,  'omnia  ante  gesta 
remisimus  Deo,'  and  the  point  which 
the  confessors  made  of  it  in  Ep.  53 
'omnibus  rebus  praetermissis  et  judicio 
Dei  servatis.' 


••  See  de  Rossi,  Roma  Sotterranea, 
vol.  I.  pp.  295,  6,  Tav.  xix.  5,  vol.  11. 
p.  184.  Though  the  name  is  common, 
yet  it  is  scarcely  likely  that  another 
unknown  Maximus,  also  a  presbyter, 
should  have  found  a  place,  with  his 
name  in  Greek  and  in  lettering  of  that 
age,  in  the  catacomb  chapel  of,  and  so 
close  to  the  side  of,  the  bishop  Cor- 
nelius, whom  the  influence  oithis  Maxi- 
mus so  largely  contributed  to  establish. 
The  statement  that  he  was  martyred 
under  Valerian,  Baron,  ad  Nov.  19, 
Baluze  ap.  Routh,  R.  S.  III.  p.  39,  is 
answered  by  Tillemont,  t.  11 1.  The 
Depositio  Martirum  (Mommsen,  op.cit. 
p.  632)  has  this  entry,  Mense  Julio  vi. 
Id.     'Et   in   Maximi  [sc.   coemeterio] 


III.  III.         RESTORATION   OF   ROMAN   CONFESSORS.  1 63 

bishop,  from  whom  death  itself  was  no  more  to  part  him  for 
ever.  The  laymen  of  the  schism  were  desired  at  once  to 
resume  full  communion'. 

This  generous  treatment  probably  justified  the  expecta- 
tions of  Cornelius  and  made  recantation  easier  to  others. 

The  temperate  firmness  and  the  serene  joy  of  Cyprian's 
remonstrance  and  congratulation  to  the  confessors  on  their 
secession  and  their  return  place  the  46th  and  54th  letters 
among  the  most  delicate  specimens  of  the  collection,  and  are 
alone  enough  to  give  Cyprian  a  foremost  rank  among  wise 
and  loving  saints.  Nor  was  Dionysius''  behindhand  in  greet- 
ing their  returning  steps.  But  to  Cyprian  the  return  was 
more  than  a  glad  reunion — more  than  an  incident  of  the 
Gospel  of  Peace.  It  was  a  conclusive  evidence  of  the  truth 
of  his  theory.  '  This  error  being  gone,'  he  exclaims,  '  light 
'  is  shed  in  all  hearts :  it  is  demonstrated  that  the  Catholic 
'  Church  is  One,  and  admits  neither  schism  nor  division. 
'  Separation  has  no  note  of  permanence  ^' 


III. 

Continued  action  against  Novatianistn — Roman  Coimcil  of 
A.D.  251,    Antiochene  of  K.T>.  252. 

The  winding  up  of  the  Carthaginian  Council  brought  us 
(as  we  saw)  to  the  June  (scarcely  the  July)  of  A.D.  25 1^  nor  a.d.  251. 
can  any  long  interval®  have  elapsed  before  the  Roman  bishop 

Silani.     Hunc  Silanum  martirem  No-  letters,  rots  a^ois  To\noi%  ixeTadeixivois 

vati  furati  sunt.'     There  is  no  cemetery  iirl  ttjv  iKKXrjffiav. 

of   Maximus.      Did    the   Novatianists  ^  Ep.  51  ad  fin. 

attempt  to  claim  him  still?  ••  See  p.  159. 

^  The  Nicene   Council  similarly  re-  *  The  date  October  given  by  Pearson 

ceived  Novatianist  presbyters  back  to  {Annal.    Cypr.    A.D.    251,    xiii.)    and 

their   full   rank   and   the   Collation   of  adopted   by   Fechtrup    (p.    139)   again 

Carthage  {411)  the  Donatists.  depends  on  the  radical  mistake  as  to 

*  Euseb.    vi.   46   mentions   his    two  the  time  of  Cornelius'  election.     Out 

II — 2 


164  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

with  a  Council  of  sixty  others  from  Italy  and  with  many 
presbyters  and  deacons,  accepted  and  promulgated  the  same 
decisions,  and  excommunicated  Novatian  on  account  of  his 
inhumane  doctrines. 

The  right  direction  of  Roman  and  Italian  opinion  was  (as 
we  have  seen)  aided  by  the  powerful  sympathy  of  Dionysius. 
He  had  followed  up  his  bracing  advice  to  Novatian^  and  his 
reply  to  Cornelius  by  a  letter,  singularly  called  'diaconalV 
addressed  to  the  Romans  themselves  'through  Hippolytus'' ; 
a  second  direct  to  them  'on  peace  and  likewise  on  repent- 
ance ' — that  is,  on  the  Restoration  of  the  Lapsed  ;  one  to  the 
Confessors,  while  still  adherents  of  Novatian*,  and  two  more 
after  their  return. 

It  seems  to  require  more  knowledge  than  we  possess  to 
enable  us  to  decide  whether  the  Hippolytus,  through  whom 
the  first  letter  to  the  Romans  was  transmitted,  was  the  great 
'  Elder"^ '  and  philosopher,  whose  episcopal  work  though  not 


of  this  synod,  called  by  Jerome  (who  61)  knew  Eusebius'  list  of  Hippolytus' 

treats  it  as  almost  one  with  the  Car-  writings    and     had     'found'    {repperi) 

thaginian)    'Synodus    Romana  Italica  many  more  of  those  which  Eusebius  (vi. 

Africana'    {Lib.    de    Vir.    Illustr.    c.  22)  said  were  to  be  found  (eCpois  6.v). 

66),  Labbe,    l.  pp.   865 — 868,   misled  Both  name  the  irpoy  Map/ct'wi'a  and  the 

by    Baronius,    has    made    three.      Cf.  7r/36sd7rdcrosTasai/5^crets 'ad versus omnes 

Zonaras  xii.  20,  ed.   Dindorf,  iii.  pp.  hsereses.' 

^34>  ^35-  ^  Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  46  ...In  hk  ry  toO 

^  Eus.  J/.  E.  vi.  45.  Noi/arou  avucpepo/j.^vois  yvuiixri. 

*  See  Note  at  end  of  this  Section.  Mai,  Classicorum  Auctt.  e  Vat.  Codd. 

'  Eus.  H.E.   vi.  46  e|^y  Tavry  Kai  editorum   t.    X.    1838,    p.    484,    has   a 

kripa.  ri.%   ivi.aToKi)   rots   kv  'Pw^uj;   ro\)  fragment  of  Dionysius  which,  from  its 

Aiovvjlov  (piperai   Smkopikt)   Sia  'Iiriro-  peculiar  touches  on  'Peace,'  indicating 

\ijTov.      Toh    avToh    di    aXKijv,    k.t.X.  a  context  on  that  topic,  I  rather  ascribe 

Jerome,    de    Viris  Illustr.  69  'Diony-  to  this  letter  named  by  Eusebius  than 

sius...in  Cypriani  et  Africanae    synodi  to  one  of  the  three  treatises  'on  Peni- 

dogma  consentiens  (v.  p.  356  infr.)  de  tence'  named  by  Jerome,  to  which  Mai 

htereticis     rebaptizandis     ad     diversos  refers  it  (viz.  ad  Fabium  Antiock.,  ad 

plurimas   misit    Epistulas,   quae    usque  Laodicenses,  ad  Armenios).     Jerome,  de 

hodie   exstant,   et  ad    Fabium,   Antio-  Vir.  III.  69. 

chenae    urbis    episcopum,    scripsit    de  *  SeeBp.Lightfoot.^/^j'/'^/iV/aM^'rj, 

paenitentia,  et  ad   Romanos   per  Hip-  pt.  I.,   S.  Clement  of  Rome,    vol.  II., 

poly  turn  alteram,  &c.'    Jerome  (op.  cit.  p.  435,  ed.  1890. 


III.  III.  COUNCIL  AT   ROME.  '  16$ 

ascertained  by  Eusebius,  or,  more  strangely,  by  Jerome*, 
lay  among  '  the  nationalities '  in  the  Port  of  Rome.  If 
this  were  possible  the  idea  is  historically  attractive.  For 
though  there  is  no  colour  for  attributing  to  him  actual 
Novatianism,  yet  his  former  attitude  towards  two  prede- 
cessors of  Cornelius, — with  whom  he  'was  at  daggers  drawn  V 
and  whom  he  so  relentlessly  depicts, — gave  ground  enough 
for  his  being  thought  not  unlikely  to  take  the  Puritan  side,  as 
afterwards  he  was  believed  to  have  done'.  That  position  had 
been  a  right  but  very  fierce  resistance  to  a  low  tone  of  doctrine 
and  morals.  Neither  side  in  Rome  would  now  be  prompt  to 
appeal  to  him,  charged  as  they  stood  the  one  with  laxity,  the 
other  with  irregularity ;  while  he,  at  his  great  age,  with  his 
profound  study  of  the  working  of  sects,  was  the  very  man 
through  whom  the  great  Alexandrine  would  naturally  ap- 
proach the  Romans*.  Nor  would  any  policy  be  so  likely 
to  secure  his  cooperation,  which  was  of  serious  consequence, 
with  the  Council.  It  bears  the  singular  title  of  'A  Diaconic 
Epistle  through  Hippolytus  to  them  in  Rome.' 

Cyprian  approved  the  mingled  severity  and  moderation  of 
the  language  of  the  Roman  Council,  and  letters  of  assent 
came  in  from  many  Italian  bishops  who  had  not  attended  it. 

Next,  in  pursuance  of  its  resolutions,  (if  it  had  not  been 
rather  a   subject  of  the   programme ^)   a   bishop    Trofimus, 

^  Eus.  H.E.  vi.  20  ...'In-TriXin-os,  kri-  the  Inscription  by  Damasus,  while  Da- 
pas  -wov  KoX  a.\iTo%  vpoecTTios  iKKX-rjalat.  masus  cautiously  states  that  he  proceeds 
Jer.  de  Virr.  III.  61  'cujusdam  ecclesiae  only  on  popular  belief.  'Hippolytus 
episcopus,  nomen  quippe  urbis  scire  non  fertur  premerent  cum  jussa  tyranni 
potui.'     See  Lightfoot,  op.  cit.,  p.  434.  Presbyter   in   scisma   semper   mansisse 

'  'At  daggers  drawn  with  the  heads  Novati....H3ec  audita  refert   Damasus 

of  the  Roman  Church.'     Id.  p.  412.  probat    omnia    Christus.'      De    Rossi, 

^  Prudentius,   Peristeph.  xi.    19  'In-  Insert.  Chrr.   Urb.  Rom.  il.  p.  82. 

venioHippolytum,  qui  quondam  schisma  •*  On  Chronological  and  other  Diffi- 

Novati  Presbyter  attigerat,   nostra  se-  culties  see  Note  at  end  of  Section, 

quenda  negans.'     Cf.  vv.  28  ff.  '  It  seems  to  me,  though  I  do  not 

Lightfoot,  op.  cit.,  pp.  328,  424,  has  know  that  the  allusion  has  been  noticed, 

shewn  that  Prudentius'  account  of  the  that   the   words    '■tractatu  cum  collegis 

Novatianism  of  Hippolytus  comes  from  plurimis  habito  susceptus  est  Trofimus  * 


i66 


CYPRIAN'S  FIRST   COUNCIL  OF   CARTHAGE. 


who  had  offered  incense  in  the  troubles  and  been  imitated  by 
his  flock,  was  together  with  them  restored  to  communion 
by  Cornelius.  It  is  not  denied  that  his  people's  attach- 
ment to  him  and  the  assurance  that  they  would  follow  his 
return,  eased  the  reception  of  Trofimus.  But  Cyprian,  who 
defends  the  fact  against  misrepresentations  forwarded  by 
Novatianists  to  Africa,  denies  on  his  own  knowledge  that  he 
was  suffered  to  resume  his  Orders*.  It  is  improbable  that 
a  lapsed  bishop  would  be  obliged  or  allowed  to  do  public 
penance.  The  statement  itself  that  Trofimus  'with  penance 
of  entreaty  confessed  his  old  fault'  is  against  it,  and  it  is 
said  that  he  made  'satisfaction,'  although  it  is  presently 
added  that  'the  return  of  the  brethren  made  satisfaction 
for  himV 


i^Ep.  55.   ri)  must  refer  to  this  Roman 
Council  of  June  or  July. 

*  '  Sacerdotii,'  Ep.  55.  11,  shews  that 
Trofimus  was  a  bishop  not  a  priest  (as 
Fechtrup). 

^P-  55-  ^2  '  Trofimo  et  turificatis'' 
leaves  it  short  of  certain  whether  Tro- 
fimus himself  had  gone  so  far  in  his 
lapse.  And  while  in  the  order  of  this 
Epistle  the  case  of  the  sacrificati  is 
treated  separately  from  his  in  another 
section,  and  the  restoration  of  his  Orders 
is  expressly  disproved,  Ritschl  (p.  79) 
describes  him  as  Sacrificaiiis,  as  restored 
corruptly  to  his  Episcopal  place,  and 
asks  '  What  defence  is  it  to  allege,  like 
Cyprian,  that  Trofimus  had  after  the 
example  of  former  bishops  sacrificed 
himself  for  his  flock,  and  lapsed  in 
order  to  keep  them  together? '  This 
ridiculous  question  exhibits  Ritschl's 
rendering  of  'conligendis  fratribus  nos- 
tris  carissimus  frater  noster  necessitate 
succubuit'  {Ep.  55.  It).  Frater  is  of 
course  not  Trofimus  at  all  but  Cor- 
nelius himself,  and  the  necessiias  is  the 
obligation  which  he  felt  to  receive 
Trofimus  back  (though  only  as  a  layman) 


in  accordance  with  precedents,  for  the 
sake  of  recovering  with  him  the  whole 
diocese.  In  Ep.  67.  6  Cornelius  is 
particularly  mentioned  as  concurring 
with  the  whole  episcopate  in  the  im- 
possibility of  reinstating  lapsed  bishops 
in  holy  orders.  [He  restored  one  of 
Novatian's  consecrators  only  to  Lay- 
Communion,  Cornel,  ap.  Eus.  vi.  43.] 
A  false  argument  is  usually  rested  on 
mistakes  rather  more  subtle  than  these. 

Fechtrup  sees  in  his  restitution  the 
'special  occasion'  of  Novatian's  seces- 
sion. Rather  too  acute;  since  (i)  it 
must  have  been  known  in  Rome  that 
Trofimus  was  not  restored  to  Orders, 
though  it  was  reported  in  Africa  that 
he  was;  and  (2)  his  restitution  was  after 
the  secession,  so  far  as  we  can  tell. 

^  Can.  Ap.  25  degrades  clerics  with- 
out excommunication  since  one  act  is 
not  twice  punished.  [Basil,  Ep.  188 
(214),  applies  this  to  a  deacon  as  being 
incapable  of  restoration  to  orders.] 
Concil.  Eliber.  can.  76  fixes  penance 
for  deacons,  Neocces.  can.  i  for  priests, 
without  restoration,  Niccen.  can.  16  in- 
volves it  for  both.     Leo  I,  Ep.  167  (2), 


III.  III.  COUNCIL   AT   ANTIOCH.  167 

As  for  other  great  centres,  Novatian  had  announced  to 
them  his  election  as  he  did  to  Carthage',  and  not  always 
without  effect.  His  high  tone  was  impressive*.  Even  Alex- 
andria had  needed  a  strong  remonstrance  from  its  prudent 
and  gentle  chief,  Dionysius  the  Greatl  To  the  Egyptian 
church  also  at  large,  and  to  Conon,  bishop  of  Hermopolis, 
in  particular*,  Dionysius  addressed  papers  on  the  Lapsed 
and  their  Repentance,  carefully  distinguishing  for  them  the 
different  classes  of  offending';  nor  can  his  letter  to  Origen 
on  Martyrdom  have  been  unconnected  with  the  discussion. 
To  the  Armenians  he  wrote  on  the  same  question  with  the 
same  precision*  as  to  the  Egyptians;  again  to  the  Laodicenes 
under  Thelymidres. 

But  about  no  See  was  such  anxiety  imminent  as  about 
Antioch.  There  the  Patriarch  Fabius  had  a  certain  leaning 
towards  the  Schisml  Dionysius  wrote  'much'  to  him  on 
'  Repentance,'  and  so  free  was  the  East  from  some  of  the 
Western  dangers,  that  he  is  able  to  lay  great  stress  on  the 
view  taken  by  the  martyrs.  'As  they  accepted  these  penitents, 
'united  with  them  in  prayers,  renewed  social  intercourse  with 
'them^  so  let  us;  not  constituting  ourselves  critics  and  re- 
'visers  of  their  judgment^'  'Christ  Himself — as  in  the  case 
'of  Serapion*",  a  lapsed  man  who  was  endowed  with  miraculous 
'insight  before  being  restored  to  communion — has  declared  His 
'acceptance  of  their  contrition.'  The  arguments  of  Dionysius 
were  followed  up  by  Cyprian's  announcement  to   Fabius  of 


says  custom  excludes  penance  for   re-  *  tSia  ypa<jyi]. 

storation;  he  allows  it  for  private  dis-  *  rd^ns  irapairTu/juiTuv  Siaypd\pas. 

cipline.     Felix  III    {483-491),  Ep-    7,  *  Eus.  /.c.     Hieron.  de  Viris  III.  z. 

allows  it  to  bishops,  priests  and  deacons  69    '  ad   Armenios    de    pcjenitentia    et 

who  had  consented  to  rebaptization.  de  ordine  delictorum.' 

^  Ep.  49. 1  'litteras... frequent ermissae  ^  Eus.  vi.  44  4>a/3t<j)  \)itoKa.ra.KkivoyiAvt^ 

psene  omnes  ecclesias  perturbassent...'  irus  r(^  crx^ff/iaTi. 

*  Ep.  55.  I,  2,  3.  *  Eus.  vi.  42   Trpotreuxw"    auroij  koX 

'  Eus.   vi.  46  ^ttiotoXt;  iiria-TpeirTiKri  iarL&ffeuv  iKoivwvirj(rav. 

= 'objurgatoria.'      Reading,     'causing  ^  I.e.  doKifiouTrki  rrji  iKebuv  yutifiris. 

conversion,'  Sophocles,  Lexicon.  ^<*  Eus.  vi.  44. 

II— 4 


l68  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

the  synodical  decision  of  Africa,  then  by  Cornelius'  account 
both  of  the  Roman  and  the  African  Councils,  and  yet  again 
by  a  letter  from  Cyprian  urging  the  general  excommuni- 
cation of  Novatian  and  all  his  followers'.  Lastly  Cornelius 
addressed  to  him  that  memoir  to  which  we  owe  our  fullest 
knowledge  of  the  great  Puritan's  antecedents.  His  attitude 
had  indeed  been  so  menacing'  from  the  first  that  (as  Dionysius 
himself  wrote  to  Cornelius  on  receiving  his  announcement  of 
his  election  along  with  the  rival  missive  of  Novatian)  the  three 
great  prelates  of  Cilicia,  Cappadocia  and  Palestine,  Helenus 
with  his  bishops,  and  Firmilian  and  Theoctistus,  had  resolved 
to  confer  with  him  in  Synod  in  his  own  city  and  invited 
Dionysius  to  join  them  there. 
A.D.  351.  Fabius   died    ere   they   met.      His   successor   Demetrian 

held  the  Council  in  March  of  the  next  year,  252  A.D.,  and, 
though  not  without  effort,  secured  the  condemnation  of 
Novatus — meaning  thereby  Novatian — as  'the  Friend  of 
Sin*.'     In  that  same  sense  Jerome  and  others  call  his  opinion 

'  Eus.  vi.  43.  The  letters  of  Cornelius  confessors,  the  consecrating  bishops,  his 
were  in  Greek,  those  of  Cyprian  in  Latin.  earlier  opinions,  baptism  and  ordination 
Of  Cyprian's  there  were  two  at  least  as  a  presbyter,  and  condemnation,  with 
which  are  not  extant  if,  as  we  gather  .  a  list  of  the  condemning  bishops  and 
from  the  context,  they  were  addressed  their  sees.  This  fourth  seems  to  cor- 
direct  to  Fabius.  Eusebius,  just  as  he  respond  exactly  to  Jerome's  '  fourth 
cannot  distinguish  between  Novatus  and  very  prolix'  one  on  the  'causes  of  Nova- 
Novatian,  fails  also  to  perceive  that  the  tianism  and  the  anathema.'  Jerome's 
principles  of  the  legislation  originated  first  two  '  De  Synodo,  Romana,  Italica, 
in  Africa.  The  letters  of  Cornelius  Africana,'  and  'on  Novatian  and 
were  certainly  four  in  number.  Euseb.  the  Lapsed'  correspond  well  enough 
vi.  43  speaks  of  epistles  which  gave  to  Eusebius'  (two)  'Epistles.'  Valois 
information  about  the  'Roman  synod,  argues  in  vain  that  Eusebius  knew  of 
and  the  opinions  of  them  of  Italy,  only  three,  and  Rufinus  of  two.  Til- 
Africa,  and  the  countries  there '  (these  lemont  recognises  the  four.  It  is  sin- 
must  have  been  at  any  rate  two)  :  of  gular  that  Jerome  calls  the  Antiochene 
a  third,  about  the  determinations  of  the  patriarch  Flavian,  whom  Eusebius  con- 
synod  (ffepi  rQv  Kara  r-^v  ffvvoSov  ape-  sistently  calls  Fabius. 
ffdvTa)v),  which  is  Jerome's  tAird  epistle  -  ivOa  Kparweiv  rt»«j  i-rrfx^^povv  rb 
of  Cornelius  'De  Gestis  Synodi'  (Hier.  ffxifffia,  Eus.  vi.  46. 
de  Virr.  III.  66,  Cornelius) :  and  of  a  '  tpiXa/iapn^/jLuv,  Libellus  Synod,  ap. 
fourth  from  which  he  gives  long  extracts  Labbe,  cf.  Euseb.  vi.  43 ;  vii.  5,  8, 
on  Novatian 's  former  proceedings,  the  and  the  Synodicon,  Labbe,  vol.  I.  c.  738: 


III.  III.  COUNCIL  AT  ANTIOCH.  169 

the  Cainite  heresy — so  deadly  to  the  brethren,  so  desperate 
in  itself. 


Difficulties  in  identifying  Hippolytus  through  whom  Dionysius  wrote 
to  the  Rotnans  with  Hippolytus  of  Portus. 

The  point  really  is  whether  Hippolytus  of  Portus  was  living  in 
A.D.  250 — I.  If  this  were  admitted  it  would  not  have  been  doubted  that 
he  was  the  Hippolytus  meant.  But  it  is  generally  denied,  and  if  one 
doubts  Bp.  Lightfoot's  conclusions  one  does  it  with  uneasiness  ^  The 
denial  is  because  he  would  have  been  very  old  in  A.D.  250,  that  he  had 
been  deported  to  Sardinia  in  a.D.  235,  and  that  he  is  not  heard  of  after- 
wards— unless  it  is  here. 

Dates  do  not  forbid  us  to  think  of  Hippolytus  as  interested  in  Nova- 
tianism  in  the  year  250. 

(i)  Bp.  Lightfoot  holds  that  it  is  not  possible,  because  his  literary 
activity  began  in  A.D.  190.  Unhappily  we  have  not  the  promised  proof 
of  this  date,  for  the  learned  and  interesting  essay  was  alas  !  never 
finished,  but  even  so,  60  years  is  no  unexampled  period  for  such 
interests  to  be  sustained. 

A  tradition  of  old  age  appears  again  and  again  in  Prudentius^  for 
what  it  is  worth.     If  he  were  25  in  190  A.D.  he  would  in  250  be  85. 

(2)  Bp.  Lightfoot  thinks  that,  having  been  deported  in  235  to  Sar- 
dinia, which  is  expressly  called  insula  nociva,  along  with  Pontianus,  who 
died  there  on  Sep.  27,  Hippolytus  was  not  likely  to  have  survived. 

The  statement  in  the  Liberian  Catalogue  is  this  (Mommsen,  Chronogr. 
■^•Z-  354»  P-  635,  Lipsiu5,  op.  cit.  p.  266), '  Eo  tempore  Pontianus  episcopus 
et  Yppolitus  presbyter^  exoles  sunt  deportati  in  Sardinia  in  insula  nociva 
Severo  et  Quintino  cons,  in  eadem  insula  discinctus  est*  iiii  Kl.  Octobr.  et 
loco  ejus  ordinatus  est  Antheros  xi  Kl.  Dec.  cons,  ss.'    Cf.  Liber  Pontificalis 


we  must  collect  that  Fabius'  intention  accepts  in  the  essay  quoted  a  juvenile 

was  to  aid   Novatianism   by   his   pro-  lucubration    On    the   Martyrdom    and 

posed   Council,    and    that   Helenus  of  Commemoration    of  S.   Hippolytus   in 

Tarsus,   Firmilian  of  Cappadocia,  and  the   youmul  of  Classical  and  Sacred 

Theoctistus  of  Palestine,  hoped  by  the  Philology ,  \o\.  i.  pp.  188  sqq. :  1854. 

help  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  to  avert  -  Prudent.,  ut  supr.,  senex  w.  23, 109, 

this  result ;    and  that  Demetrian,  sue-  senior  78,  caput  niveum,  canities  137, 

cessor  in  the  see,  but  not  in  the  views  138. 

of  Fabius,  decided  sensibly  to  hold  the  '  'Presbyter,'  see  p.  165,  note  3. 

Council  and  promulgate  its  conclusions  *  May  not    the    curious    expression 

against  the  schism.  'discinctus  est'  allude  to  the  divestiture 

'  I  acknowledge  the  tenderness  with  of  the  High  Priest  Aaron  in  prepara- 

which    he    partly  excuses  and    partly  tion  for  death  ? 


iyo  CYPRIAN^S  FIRST  COUNCIL  01^  CARTHAGE. 

(ed.  Duchesne,  vol.  I.  pp.  62,  145,  and  note),  which  reads  cUputati  ab 
Alexandra  and  insula  Bucina.    [a.d.  235  was  really  sub  Maxt'mino.] 

But  Sardinia  was  not  universally  fatal.  And  Pontian's  death  is 
mentioned,  and  that  of  Hippolytus  is  not.  If  it  be  said  that  Pontian's 
alone  is  mentioned  because  he  was  the  bishop,  this  would  have  also 
checked  the  mention  of  their  joint  exile.  The  passage  has  no  bearing 
on  the  date  of  Hippolytus'  death.  Its  one  suggestion  is  that  Hippolytus 
did  noi  die  when  Pontian  died. 

Neither  has  the  Depositio  martirum  any  bearing  on  that  date  (as 
G.  Salmon  in  Diet.  Christian  Biog.  III.  p.  88  s.v.  suggests).  It  has  'idus 
Aug.  Ypoliti  in  Tiburtina  et  Pontiani  in  Calisti.'  They  may  have  been 
put  together,  as  Cornelius  and  Cyprian  soon  were,  on  account  of  their 
connection  in  life. 

(3)  But  it  is  also  true  that  no  activity  of  Hippolytus  is  mentioned 
between  A.D.  235  and  250,  which  at  first  seems  strange  considering  the 
man  he  was. 

But  yet  again  what  documents  are  there  in  which  we  should  have 
expected  him  to  be  mentioned  as  alive?  And  old  age  and  infirmities  after 
an  exile  to  Sardinia  at  the  age  of  60  might  have  kept  him  quiet,  and 
nevertheless  he  might  be  the  right  person  to  transmit  a  letter  of  recon- 
ciliation. 

The  first  sixty  years  of  this  century  are  like  an  underground  tunnel 
with  two  breaks  of  broad  daylight.  One  is  that  vivid  light  which 
Hippolytus  himself  throws  on  the  times  of  Callistus  and  Zephyrinus 
A.D.  202 — 222  ;  the  other  is  that  of  the  Cyprianic  correspondence  247 — 
259. 

From  222 — 247  we  have  really  no  documents  likely  to  illustrate  such  a 
position  and  life  as  his.  We  have  remarked  in  the  text  that  he  was  not 
likely  to  be  prominently  in  request  with  either  Novatianists  or  Cornelians, 
and  the  Cyprianic  correspondence  only  deals  with  actors ;  if  in  fact  Dio- 
nysius  wrote  to  the  Romans  through  him,  we  find  him  at  once  in  a 
worthy  and  significant  position.  Valeat  quantum.  There  is  no  statement 
that  he  was  alive,  none  that  he  was  dead.  At  the  same  time  bC  'imvoKvTov 
cannot  be  explained  except  in  a  forced  way. 

(4)  Bp.  Lightfoot  (p.  372)  would  take  Sia  'lirnoKiirov  to  mean  only 
'the  delegate  charged  to  deliver  the  letter.'  But  surely  it  would  be 
strange  to  cite  and  identify  an  Epistle  to  the  Romans  by  the  name  of 
the  excellent  deacon  or  subdeacon  who  carried  it,  as  such  officers  were 
incessantly  doing.  Both  Eusebius  and  Jerome  mention  the  'through 
Hippolytus,'  and  only  eight  paragraphs  before  Jerome  has  given  a  list 
of  the  writings  of  '  Hippolytus.'  Eusebius  characterizes  or  quotes  more 
than  thirty  letters  of  Dionysius  {H.  E.  vi.  40,  41,  44,  45,  46,  vii.  2,  4,  5,  7, 
9,  10,  II,  21,  22,  26),  and  to  none  other  of  them  does  he  refer  by  the  name 
of  the  bearer. 

(5)  It  is  said  also  (p.  373)  that  '  Hippolytus  is  a  fairly  common  name.' 


III.  III.  COUNCIL  AT  ANTIOCH.  I/I 

But  this  I  do  not  find.  In  13  of  the  indexed  volumes  of  the  Corpus  Inscrr. 
Latt.  containing  over  63,000  inscriptions  there  are  only  fourteen  instances 
of  the  name  Hippolytus  and  three  of  Hippolyte.  It  is  a  most  rare  name. 
In  default  of  proof  that  he  was  dead,  a  more  venerable  Hippolytus 
may  still  seem  to  have  been  concerned  in  introducing  the  great  man's 
letter  to  the  great  church. 


Why  is  Dionysius'  Epistle  to  the  Romans  called  btuKoviKi^? 

(Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  46.) 

r.  The  bidding  prayers  and  litanies  recited  by  Deacons  in  the  Greek 
Liturgies,  which  begin  with  eV  elprjin]  Serjdafifu  and  pray  first  for  the  Peace  of 
the  World  and  the  Church,  are  called  indifferently  biaKovLtca  and  tlpriviicd. 
This  has  led  Bp.  Chr.  Wordsworth  {Hippolytus,  p.  I79,ed.  1880)  to  interpret 
hiaKoviKT]  as  equivalent  to  elprjviKi].  See  Goar's  Euchologion  (Paris, 

1647),  p.  65,  Liturg.  Chrys.  6  SiAkovos  X€yet...Ta  elprjvLKa  ;  p.  195,  Liturg. 
of  Presanctijied,  \iyovTai  [ra]  Tovra  ra  btaKoviKa,  and  Goar's  note.  p.  123. 
Sophocles  (Gk  Lex.  of  Rom.  and  Byz.  periods)  s.v.  ra  ilprjviKa  'said  by 
the  Deacon,'  'called  also  ra  buiicoviKa.^  Cp.  the  7rpo(T({)oivr](Tis  of  the 
Deacon,  Apost.  Constt.  viii.  13.  But  when  one  thing  is  called  by 

two  different  names  for  such  wholly  different  reasons,  the  names  do  not 
in  serious  language,  or  except  in  slang,  become  interchangeable  in 
other  entirely  different  applications.  I  cannot  think  this  interpretation 
possible. 

2.  Bp.  Lightfoot  thinks  it  'a  reasonable  conjecture'  that  the  letter 
had  some  reference  to  the  arrangements  of  Fabian  about  deacons  (see 
sup.  pp.  67,  68).  But  Eusebius'  notice  of  this  letter  is  embedded  in  his 
notices  of  the  letters  on  Novatian,  and  it  is  not  written  to  Fabian,  or 
even  Cornelius,  but  'to  those  of  Rome' — to  the  people.  How  Fabian's 
Deacons  can  have  been  to  such  an  extent  the  subject  of  the  letter  as  to 
give  it  the  name  of  a  '  Diaconic '  letter,  I  do  not  see.  Again  a  '  Diaconic  ' 
letter  no  more  seems  to  mean  a  letter  about  Deacons  than  an  '  Epis- 
copal' or  '  Pastoral'  letter  is  a  letter  about  Bishops  or  Pastors. 

3.  Both  guesses  are  those  of  learned  and  ingenious  men.  But  StaKo- 
vi.KT\  is  not  a  technical  word  for  any  kind  of  letter,  and  perhaps  Dionysius 
may  have  himself  used  it  in  his  own  letter  as  a  lively  expression,  in 
setting  forth  that  he  was  not  writing  to  them  as  bishop,  in  any  authori- 
tative way,  but  that  he  simply  meant  to  minister  to  their  deliberation  as  a 
deacon  rather  than  a  bishop  might  do — that  the  e'lria-ToXij  is  not  (iria-Tpeir- 
TiKTi  like  that  to  his  own  flock  (Eus.  vi.  46),  nor  iiriaKOTviKrj,  nor  even 
Tvpea^vTepiKTi,  but  merely  such  as  a  deacon  might  submit  to  them.  The 
word  might  be  taken  from  some  such  phraseology,  as  it  has  seemed 
to  me.  [Cf.  anoh€iKTiKTj...TrpoTpeTrrtK6s,  ap.  Bp.  Lightfoot,  op.  cit.  pp.  395 
and  397.] 


172  CYPRIAN'S  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

4.  Nevertheless  I  rather  incline  to  a  suggestion  made  to  me  by 
M.  Larpent  that  the  word,  which  means  simply  'serviceable,'  in  Plato 
Gorg.  LXXII.  (p.  517  B)  ov8'  iya>  ^«'ya>  rovrovi  ««  yf  hto-Kovovi  (ivai  iroXtugf 
dWa  fioi  doKovai  rav  ye  vvu  biaKOViKcirepoi  ytyovfvai  Koi  ficiWov  ocoi  t'  eV- 
nopl^dv  TTJ  TTokfi  av  tTTfdifKi ',  Xenophon,  (Econotn.  VII.  41  onorap  dv- 
€Tri(mjfiova  ra/xteiar  koi  dicucovias  irapaKa^oiKra  «jri<rnJ/xoi/a  koi  iriaTTjv  koi 
8iaK0viKT]v  iroii]<TanfVT)  iravrbs  d^iav  exV^  >  Aristoph.  Plout.  1 1 70  Iv  fvdfa>s 
BiaKopiKos  (ivai  8ok^s,  may  be  applied  in  the  same  sense  to  a  Letter  of 
practical  advice. 


IV. 

Constitutional  Results  of  tJie  First  Council. 

All  these  evidences  of  activity  and  wide-spread  communi- 
cation are  made  still  more  interesting  by  the  observation 
of  certain  constitutional  points  which  the  decision  of  the 
Carthaginian  Council  involved.     We  note  four  such. 

First,  the  submission  of  the  views  of  the  primate  himself 
to  his  Council.  They  were  substantially  modified.  The 
course  which  he  proposed  to  them  in  the  De  Lapsis  was 
less  lenient  than  theirs*  (although  even  this  was  to  be  still 
more  softened  in  the  course  of  the  next  year),  and  he  was 
aware  of  the  change  produced  in  himself  ^  Charged  with  the 
inconsistency,  he  does  not  deny  it.  Again  the  Novatianist 
deputation  appealed  from  the  Council  to  him  as  a  sympathizer 
with  their  rigorism.  But  in  fact  purism  in  him  was  sub- 
ordinate to  his  broader  views  on  Unity.  He  evoked  a  spiritual 
power  as  wiser,  more  liberal,  stronger  and  more  divine  than 
any  solitary  utterance,  and  he  remained  loyal  to  it. 

Seco7idly,  Cyprian  had  in  his  epistolary  proposals  assigned 
weight  to  the  verdict  and  recommendations  of  the  martyrs 
in  procuring  reconciliation.  The  Council  wholly  ignores 
these  intercessions.  Fifty  and  sixty  years  later  the  Letters 
of  Confessors   might,   by   canons    of  Elvira   and    Aries,  be 

'  Ep.  54-  4.  "  Ep.  55.  3- 


III.  IV.  CONSTITUTIONAL  RESULTS  OF   IT.  I73 

exchanged  for  Episcopal  letters* ;  value  being  thus  attached 
to  them  while  the  proper  regimen  of  the  Church  was  formally- 
supported.  But  the  Council  of  Carthage  is  in  its  reaction 
strong  enough  to  pass  over  in  silence  the  'merits'  which  had 
lately  threatened  all  organization. 

For  now  comes  out  the  unity  of  their  decisions  as  against 
both  of  the  schismatical  leaders;  since  it  is  definitively  settled, 
thirdly,  against  Novatian,  that  there  are  no  remissible  offences 
which  it  is  beyond  the  power  of  the  regular  organization  of 
the  Church  to  remit, 

hx\^  fourthly ,  against  Felicissimus,  that  no  sanctity",  con- 
ferring authority  to  assign  terms  of  communion  or  remit  sin, 
resides  in  any  class  or  person  save  in  the  body  of  the  Church 
with  its  authentic  administrators ^ 

The  principles  then  which  had  now  been  solidified  into  legis- 
lation specifically  invested  the  primaeval  Christian  institution 
of  episcopacy  with  all  the  functions  of  government,  and  accord- 
ingly the  private  sentiments  of  the  metropolitan  were,  with 
his  cheerful  consent*,  overruled,  while  his  past  acts  as  bishop 
of  Carthage  were  ratified.  No  representations  against  a 
bishop  once  seated  were  to  be  admissible^  The  Resolu- 
tions went  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Bishops  only. 

1  Cone.  Eliber.  A.D.  305-6,  can.  25  '  We  must  not  say  the  administrators 

'  omnis  qui  attulerit  literas  confessorias,  alone.      The   function   of  the  laity   is 

sublato  nomine  confessoris,  eo  quod  om-  repeatedly,  though  not  very  explicitly, 

nes  sub  hacnominis  gloria  passim  concu-  urged.    In  £/.  64.  i  it  is  an  objection  to 

tiant  simplices,  communicatorise  ei  dan-  one  readmission  that  it  was  made  'sine 

dse  sunt  litterae.'    Cone.  Arel.  (314),  can.  petitu  et  conscientia  plebis.' 

9  '  De  his  qui  confessorum  literas  affe-  •*  ...scias  me  nihil  leviter  egisse  sed... 

runt,  placuit  ut,  sublatis  iis  Uteris,  alias  omnia  ad  commune  concilii  nostri  con- 

accipiantcommunicatorias.'     Hefelehas  silium  distulisse...et  nunc  ab   his   non 

not  understood  the  application  of  these  recedere  quae  semel  in  concilio  nostro  de 

canons.  communi  conlationeplacuerunt....    Ep. 

^  Perhaps   the  miraculous   argument  55.  7. 

in    the    De   Lapsis   from   instances   of  '  Gravitati  nostrse  negavimus  conve- 

divine  anger  against  the  irregularly  ad-  nire    ut    colleg?e    nostri    jam    delecti 

mitted  is  meant  to  meet  the  particular  et   ordinati...ventilari  ultra  honorem... 

feeling  which  rested  on  the  exceptional  pateremur.     Ep.  44.  2. 
sanctity  of  the  martyrs. 


174  CYPRIANS  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

And  now  if  we  remember  that  each  bishop  was  the  represen- 
tative of  a  free  election,  and  their  assembly  a  free  assembly  of 
equals, — the  only  free  elections,  the  only  free,  the  first  represen- 
tative assembly  in  the  world — ^we  shall  see  that  Episcopacy  had 
virtually  taken  its  place  among  Roman  Institutions,  informed 
with  Roman  strength  and  Roman  respect  for  Law,  summing 
in  itself,  and  disparting  to  its  members  powers  judicial  and 
executive,  reserving  to  itself  all  appeals,  and  originating  legis- 
lation. It  was  an  Institution  not  only  fraught  with  the  ruin 
of  polytheism  but  rich  with  the  freedom  and  the  order  of  the 
coming  society. 


V. 

Corollaries  : — Puritanistn  :  Saint-Merit :  Flight  from 
Suffering.  The  De  Lapsis. 

Cyprian's  Letter  to  the  Confessors  on  their  return  contains 
a  passage  of  about  twenty  lines  which  Augustine  cites  in  full 
no  less  than  three  times  in  separate  works  \  as  containing  the 
absolute  Scriptural  answer  to  Puritan  separations.  It  is  the 
earliest  exposition  of  the  parable  of  the  Tares,  and  of  S.  Paul's 
image  of  the  Palace  with  its  Vessels  precious  or  vile  as  accu- 
rate presentments  of  the  lasting  conditions  of  Church  Society. 
No  human  right  exists  to  eradicate  tares,  or  to  break  the 
poorest  earthen  vessels  in  pieces.  Freedom  to  become  good 
corn,  or  make  a  golden  urn  of  itself  belongs  to  every  soul. 
The  forfeiture  of  light  will  ever  mark  assumptions  of  the 
divine  judgeship. 

Against  Novatianism,  Donatism,  and  how  many  long 
perpetuated  species  of  Puritanism  and  Calvinism,  rudimen- 
tary inorganic  forms  of  the  first  reaction  of  converted  spirits 

^  To  Macrobius,  Ep.  io8,  c.  ro.     Against  the  Donatist  Cresconius,  ii.  43,  and 
Gaudentius,  ii.  3. 


III.  V.  COROLLARIES   FROM   FIRST  COUNCIL.  1 75 

against  the  kingdom  of  sin,  do  these  few  words  bear 
witness. 

The  Letter  was  accompanied  by  an  interesting  gift : — 
Copies  of  his  treatises  On  THE  Lapsed  and  Of  the  Unity 
OF  THE  Catholic  Church. 

Of  the  latter  we  shall  speak  presently. 

To  postpone  with  Bp.  Pearson*  the  date  of  the  former  to 
November  is  to  attribute  to  Cyprian  a  publication  out  of  date 
at  its  appearance,  and  counsels  upon  which  he  had  already 
improved.  'The  Avenging'  of  which  he  speaks  in  the  open- 
ing is  no  doubt  the  destruction  of  Decius  in  that  November*. 
But  while  large  parts  of  the  book,  as  we  have  it,  wear  all  the 
marks  of  an  oration',  other  parts  never  can  have  been  so 
delivered,  and  are  plainly  to  be  reasoned  out  in  the  study. 
In  fact  we  have  in  our  hands  the  edition  published  some 
months  later  ;  as  we  have  in  several  of  Cicero's  orations ;  and 
to  this  edition  belongs  the  actual  exordium. 

On  the  other  hand  the  strong  and  immediate  Apology 
for  Fugitives  marks  the  moment  when  prejudice  against  his 
own  retirement  has  not  yet  died  out*. 

It  is  a  work  of  a  high  order.  Its  literary  form  is  excellent, 
but  far  beyond  that  praise  is  the  power  with  which  it  lifts  the 
contentions  of  parties  and  the  vexing  questions  of  the  moment 
into  a  region  in  which  they  can  be  seen  as  deductions  from 
leading  principles,  and  determined  on  high  grounds.  So 
to  rise,  so  to  uplift  is  to  the  full  as  difficult  in  church  politics 
as  in  mundane  controversies.  And  the  high  aim  is  effected, 
and  the  tone  sustained  without  one  failure. 

Its  outline  may  be  sketched  as  follows : — 

After   the   close   of  a   persecution    an    ideal    position  of  p<^  Laps 

ii.,  iii. 
^  Ann.  Cypr.  a.d.  •251,  c.  xv.  ^  See    for   example   c.    2,  when   he 

2  There  is  nothing  in  the  overthrow       speaks   of  confessors   as   present,   and 

of  Julius  Valens  or  Priscus  which  would       then  addresses  them. 

wear  this  aspect  to  Christians  of  the  ^  c.  3. 

time. 


XIV. 


1/6  CYPRIAN'S   FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

spiritual  influence  is  occupied  by  faithful  sufferers,  even  by- 
voluntary  exiles  for  conscience'  sake ;  and  by  those  who  had 
been  faithful  in  danger,  although  not  in  actual  suffering. 

To  the  Lapsed  sympathy  is  due  ;  and  his  sympathy  rings 
as  true  as  his  sense  of  discipline ;  especially  with  those  who 
had  broken  down  under  intensity  of  torture.  Between  these 
and  others  he  draws  a  broad  line. 

After  shewing  that  Persecution  is  not  without  its  good 
and  useful  service  he  proceeds  to  analyse  the  causes  of  Lapse 
which  have  been  so  wide-spread  and  so  operative  through 
the  whole  Church, — and  that  in  spite  of  forewarnings,  of  the 
unnatural  horrors  of  the  very  act,  of  all  the  given  opportunities 
for  avoiding  it.  He  concludes  that  the  secret  is  to  be  found 
in  the  world-leavened  spirit  of  the  Church. 

He  next  enters  upon  a  close  argument  (i)  with  the  party 

xxxvi.        Qf  jj^x  readmission,  (2)  with  the  Confessors  who  promote  it, 

and  (3)  with  those  of  the  Lapsed  who  seek  it ;  setting  before 

them  deterrent  experiences  and  the  dishonesty  of  the  position. 

He  concludes  by  an  exhortation  to  honesty  of  confession, 
to  seriousness  of  repentance  and  to  activity  in  good  works. 
High  hope  is  yet  in  store  for  them. 

The  book  on  the  Lapsed  has  largely  contributed  to  our 
narrative.  Its  teachings  concerning  the  Eucharist,  and  its 
evidence  upon  contemporary  Supernaturalism  will  be  dis- 
cussed each  in  its  own  place.  Upon  Penitential  Discipline, 
its  views,  equally  remote  from  Protestant  and  Roman  stan- 
dards, have  been  exemplified  sufficiently. 

L  Yet  we  may  now  further  remark  on  the  singularity  of 
the  relation  in  which  Romanism  stands  to  the  Cyprianic  view 
of  the  influence  of  interceding  saints.  Their  merit,  (Cyprian 
holds,)  may  aid  sinners  in  the  day  of  judgment,  in  the  world 
to  come\  But  they  cannot  on  earth  reverse  or  disturb 
the   organization  and  working   order  of  the  visible  Church. 

^  De  Lapis,  c.  17. 


III.  V.  CYPRIAN  *  OF  THE  LAPSED.'  \^^ 

Departed  martyrs  are  heard  in  the  Apocalypse  still  praying 
to  be  avenged.  How  can  they  in  that  situation  be  the 
defenders  of  others*.? 

How  ingenious  then  is  the  Romish  combination  of  a 
supposed  accumulation  of  meritorious  treasure  with  its  official 
dispensation  by  visible  authorities! 

n.  His  opinion^  that  there  might  be  occasions  when  a 
man  would  not  be  justified  in  accepting  the  offered  crown  of 
martyrdom,  and  that  flight  from  persecution  in  such  circum- 
stances was  'a  private  confession  of  Christ  as  martyrdom  is 
a  public  one,'  must  have  saved  to  the  Church  valuable  lives, 
although  the  problem  of  decision  in  any  given  case  was  not 
the  least  of  the  difficulties  which  arose  between  Christianity 
and  heathenism. 

The  eloquence  of  the  De  Lapsis  seems  almost  perfect. 
The  style  has  gained  in  lucidity  though  still  here  and  there 
the  touches  are  a  little  too  ornamental.  There  are  few  finer 
passages  than  the  triumphal  ode  in  prose  with  which  he  cele- 
brates '  The  White  Cohort  of  Christ,' — the  Confessors,  men, 
women  and  children,  restored  to  the  Church  after  their  war- 
fare. A  touching  instance  of  its  felt  power  is  an  adaptation 
of  two  passages  from  it  on  an  African  inscription', 

Magus  Innocent  Child. 

Now  thou  beginnest  existence  among  the  Innocent. 

How  stedfast  now  is  Life  to  thee. 

How  joyful  thou  art  to  be  welcomed  by  thy  MotJier  the  Church 

on  thy  return  from  this  world. 

Let  the  sighing  of  our  hearts  be  stilled. 

Let  tlie  weeping  of  our  eyes  be  stayed. 


^  De  Lapsis,  c.  i8.  turn  excipet  mater  ecclesia  cleoc  |  mun- 

^  c.  3,  cf.  c.  lo.  do   revertentem.      conprematur  pecto- 

^  Pitra,  Spicilegium  Solesm.  vol.  IV.       rum  |  gemitus.      struatur   fletus   oculo- 

p.    536,    MAGVS   puer  innocens  |  esse       rum.     The  name  Magus  and  a  peculiar 

jam    inter    innocentis  coepisti.  |  quam       ai-rangement  of  cross  and  palm  branch 

staviles  tivi  hsec  vita  est  |  quam  te  le-       indicate  a  Carthaginian  origin  for  the 

B.  12 


178  CYPRIAN'S   FIRST  COUNCIL  OF   CARTHAGE. 

Another  beautiful  passage^  and  one  which  illustrates  how 
the  oratory  of  Cyprian  sometimes  piles  itself  up  like  that 
of  Barrow,  is  worthy  of  quotation  upon  the  obliteration  of 
repentance  by  over  hasty  communion. 

'  This  is  no  peace  but  war.  He  does  not  join  the  Church 
'  who  parts  from  the  Gospel.  Why  do  men  call  an  injury  a 
'  blessing.?  Why  give  to  impiety  the  style  of  "  Pity".-'  How 
'  do  they  pretend  to  give  communion,  when  they  interrupt  the 

*  repentant  lamentation  of  those  who  have  need  to  weep  in- 
'  deed.-*  Such  teachers  are  to  the  lapsed  as  hail  on  corn  ;  are 
'  as  a  star  of  tempest  to  trees ;  the  ravage  of  pestilence  to 
•flocks  and  herds;  the  wildness  of  the  storm  to  ships  at  sea. 

*  The  solace  of  everlasting  life  they  steal  away ;  uproot  the 
'  tree ;  creep  on  with  sickly  suggestion  to  deadly  infection  ; 
'  wreck  the  ship  ere  it  enter  the  harbour.  Such  easiness  yields 
'  no  peace,  but  annuls  it ;  gives  no  communion  but  hinders 
'salvation.  It  is  a  fresh  persecution,  a  fresh  temptation.  Our 
'  subtle  foe  employs  it  in  his  advances  to  assail  the  fallen  yet 
'  again  with  unperceived  devastations :  stilling  their  lamenta- 

*  tion,  silencing  their  sorrows,  wiping  out  the  remembrance  of 
'  their  sin,  hushing  the  groaning  heart,  quenching  the  weeping 
'  eyes,  drowning  the  entreaties  of  long  and  full  repentance 
'  toward  a  deeply  offended  Lord, — and  all  the  while  it  stands 
'  written,  "  Remember  from  whence  thou  art  fallen  and  re- 
'  pent. 

monument  itself.     The  Cyprianic  pas-  monument.    However  j/a/wa/ttr  is  quite 

sages     are   £>e   Lapsis    (•2)    Quam    vos  Cyprianic  ;   '  Si  fontem  siccitas  statuat' 

Icvtos  excipit  mater  ecclesia  de  prcelio  ad   Denietr.    c.    7.      The   second   and 

revert entes,  (16)  comprimatur  pectorum  third  lines  also  of  the  inscription  seem 

gemitus,  statitattir  flatus  oculorum.    It  quoted,    but     I     know     not    whence. 

has  been  suggested  to  correct  statuatur  [Hartel  :  Ireto  sinu — pectoris.] 
as  in  itself  absurd  fo  struatur  by  the  ^  c.  16. 


III.  V.  CYPRIAN  'OF   THE   LAPSED.'  1 79 


Mai's  supposed  Fragtnent  of  CyPrian. 

I  can  find  no  place  among  the  Cyprianic  argnings  which  could  be 
filled  by  the  fragment  KYIIPIANOY  Trept  fitravolas  (Mai,  C/ass.  Auctt.  e  Vat. 
codd.  editorum  Tomus  X.  pp.  xxix.,  485 — 7),  nor,  I  suppose,  could  Mai,  who 
says  '  videtur  hie  Cyprianus  Antiochenus.'  For  that  however  there  is  no 
colour.  The  point  of  the  extract  is  that  equal  sufferings  have  no 

power  to  equalise  the  bad  and  good.  Besides,  if  we  except  slight  touches 
on  S.  Paul  (which  compare  with  Cyprian  [Hartel],  p.  304,  26 ;  511,  16 — 18) 
not  one  of  the  Scripture  illustrations  is  Cyprianic  in  handling.  The  Frag- 
ment adduces  Pharaoh,  the  Penitent  Thief,  Naboth,  Ananias,  who  are  never 
named  by  Cyprian ;  Job  is  not  taken  from  Cyprian's  very  distinct  point  of 
view ;  Zedekiah,  also,  not  in  Cyprian,  is  curiously  dealt  with,  much  as  in 
the  spurious  De  Pascha  Computus  (Hartel,  App.^  p.  258,  22;  260,  19). 
The  contrast  between  Daniel  and  Nebuchadnezzar  is  that  the  former  was 
consigned  to  feed  beasts  and  the  latter  to  feed  with  beasts.  The  realistic 
contrast  between  our  Lord  and  the  Thief  lacks  Cyprian's  delicacy.  Thus 
the  Fragment's  first  air  of  resemblance  to  Cyprian  melts  away. 


12- 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CYPRIAN    'OF  THE   UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

I. 

Time  and  Substance  of  the  Treatise. 

The  two  or  three  leading  motives  of  this  victorious  essay- 
were  sketched  at  the  point  where  we  had  to  outline  the 
principles  on  which  the  Council  acted.  The  flesh  and 
blood,  so  to  speak,  the  colour  and  the  warmth,  claim  nearer 
attention. 

The  conjuncture  at  which  it  was  read  to  the  Council^ 
is  discernible.  Allusions  to  Novatian  and  to  his  having 
assumed  the  episcopate  are  plain  and  numerous'*.  On  the 
other  hand  there  is  no  reference  to  Felicissimus  and  his  fac- 
tion, a  subject  which  in  a  paper  on  unity  could  not  have  been 
avoided  unless  it  had  been  already  disposed  of.  Allusions 
there  are'  to  laxity  and  dissoluteness  on  the  part  of  former 
confessors,  but  without  any  reference  to  methods  to  be 
adopted  towards  them,  and  only  in  illustration  of  the  posi- 
tion that  confessors  (and  so  Novatian)  were  not  secure  from 
falling  away.     Thus  the  publication  of  the  treatise  is  marked 

^  Ep.  54.  4.     In  de  Unitate  c.  5  we  interitum  pro  salute,  &c.     c.  8,  uno  in 

have  a  trace   of  its  original  character  loco...  multos  past  ores...    c.  9,  luporum 

as  a  Lecture   or   Essay  addressed   to  feritas.     c.    10,    episcopi    sibi   nomen. 

colleagues:     *  Quam    unitatem   tenere  c.     13,    aemuli    sacerdotum    (bishops), 

firmiter  et  vindicare   debemus  maxime  c.   15,    sacramentum   profanat.     p.  17, 

episcopi  qui  \n  QCc\QS\2^pmsidemus.'  aliud  altare. 

*  c.  3,  ministros  justitiae  asserentes...  ^  c.  •21. 

\ 
\ 
\ 


IV.  I.  'THE   PROBLEM   OF  THE  UNITY.'  l8l 

as  after  the  settlement  of  the  question  of  Felicissimus  and 
before  that  of  Novatian  was  determined. 

The  position  of  Novatian  was  the  problem  of  the  hour. 
Heresy  had  hitherto  been  manifold  and  fantastic.  But 
Schism, — meaning  secession  upon  questions  not  originally 
doctrinal, — had  been  almost  unknown.  Now,  however,  be- 
ginning from  the  central  see,  the  Church  reeled  with  the  new 
possibility  of  being  cleft  in  twain  upon  an  enquiry  as  to 
whether  she  possessed  disciplinary  power  for  the  reconcilia- 
tion of  her  own  penitents. 

The  rationale  of  such  a  separation,  its  relation  to  the 
divinely  preconceived  economy — 'What  such  a  portent  meant.? 
How  God  could  suffer  it  ? ' — was  the  question  on  many  lips. 
'  It  is  not  (they  said)  as  though  a  new  dogma  or  mysticism 
'attracted  the  speculative  and  devout.  But  with  teaching 
'  identical,  amid  undoubted  holiness  of  life,  we  see  Altar 
'  against  Altar,  Chair  against  Chair,  in  the  metropolis  of  the 
'  world  and  Church.'  This  is  the  problem  which  Cyprian  sets 
out  to  solve.  '  The  characteristic  danger  of  the  age  when 
'  Christianity  is  for  the  first  time  widely  accepted  is  the 
'  presentment  of  old  error  under  Christian  forms. 

'  Such  danger  can  be  detected  only  by  distinct  concep- 
'  tions  as  to  the  abode  of  truth,  clearness  as  to  the  Scriptural 
'  idea  of  unity.  These  are  not  far  to  seek.  When  the  Lord 
'  gave  Peter  his  commission,  "  Whatsoever  t/iou  shalt  bind 
'  shall  be  bound,"  and  then  renewed  the  commission  to 
'  a//  the  Apostles,  "  Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit  they  are 
'  remitted,"  it  is  obvious  that  He  placed  all  alike  on  the 
'  same  level*,  yet,  by  first  addressing  Peter  alone.  He  indicated 
'the  Oneness  or  Unity  of  the  commission^  itself.     So  ever 

^  Hoc  erant  utique  et  ceteri  apostoli  ^  Pacian,  £p.  3,  c.  11,    repeats  the 

quod  fuit  Petrus,  pari  consortio  prae-  illustration  with  clearness :  Ad  Petrum 

diti  et  honoris  et  potestatis,  sed  exor-  locutus  est  Dominus,  ad  unum,  ideo  ut 

dium    ab   unitate    proficiscitur,    c.    4.  unitatem  fundaret  ex  uno,  mox  idipsum 

Then  follows  the  famous  interpolation,  in  commune  praecipiens. 
— of  which  below. 


1 82  'THE  UNITY.'      ITS  BASIS  AND   HISTORY. 

'since,  this  tangible  bond  of  the  Church's  unity  is  her  one 
'  united  episcopate,  an  Apostleship  universal  yet  only  one — 
'the  authority  of  every  bishop  perfect  in  itself  and  inde- 
'  pendent,  yet  not  forming  with  all  the  others  a  mere  agglo- 
'  meration  of  powers,  but  being  a  tenure  upon  a  totality,  like 
'that  of  a  shareholder  in  some  joint  property*.' 

Such  is  his  statement  of  the  historic  and  existent  con- 
ditions as  against  the  threatening  schism.  He  continues, 
'  The  man  who  holds  not  this  church  unity,  does  he  believe 
*  that  he  holds  the  Faith  ?  He  who  contends  against  the 
'  Church,  is  he  assured  that  he  is  within  the  Church }  The 
'Old  Testament  and  the  Pauline  teaching  harmonize  with 
'the  Gospel  as  to  this  unity.  And  the  episcopate  above  all 
'  is  bound  to  exert  itself  in  the  maintenance  of  its  own 
'  indivisible  oneness.' 

Then  follows  the  famous  and  beautiful  passage  on  the 
natural  analogies  of  this  spiritual  unity.  'There  is  one 
'  Church  which  outspreads  itself  into  a  multitude  (of  churches), 
'wider  and  wider  in  ever  increasing  fruitfulness ;  just  as  the 
'sun  has  many  rays  but  one  only  light,  and  a  tree  many 
'  branches  yet  one  only  heart,  based  in  the  clinging  root ; 
'  and,  while  many  rills  flow  off  from  a  single  fountain-head, 
'  although  a  multiplicity  of  waters  is  seen  streaming  away  in 
'diverse  directions  from  the  bounty  of  its  abundant  overflow, 
'  yet  unity  is  preserved  in  the  head-spring.  Pluck  a  ray  away 
'  from  the  sun's  body !  unity  admits  no  division  of  light. 
'  Break  a  bough  off  a  tree !  once  broken  it  will  bud  no  more. 
'  Cut  a  rill  off  from  the  spring !  the  rill  cut  off  dries  up.  So 
'  too  the  Church  flooded  with  the  light  of  the  Lord  flings  rays 
'over  the  whole  world.  Yet  it  is  one  light  which  diffuses 
'  itself  everywhere ;  the  unity  of  the  body  knows  no  partition. 
'  She  reaches  forth  her  boughs  over  the  universal  earth  in  the 
'  richness  of  her  fertility,  broadens  ever  more  widely  her 
'  bounteous  flowing  rivers,  and  still  there  is  one  head,  one 

^  Episcopatus  unus  est  cujus  a  sinptlis  in  solidum  pars  tenetur.  c.  5. 


IV.  I.  ITS  ANALOGY.      ITS   VIOLATION.  1 83 

'source,  one  mother,  rich  in  ever  succeeding  births.  Of  her 
'  we  are  born  ;  her  milk  our  nurture,  her  breath  our  life.' 

Scripture,  he  proceeds  to  shew,  teems  with  examples  and 
illustrations  of  this  unity.  *  The  Sons  of  Christ  are  the  sons 
'  of  his  undefiled  spouse.  He  cannot  have  God  for  his  father 
'  who  has  not  the  Church  for  his  mother.'  The  Ark  of  the 
Flood,  the  Seamless  Coat,  the  one  Flock,  the  one  House 
untouched  in  the  fall  of  Jericho,  the  one  House  of  the  Paschal 
Lamb,  the  '  one  mind  in  the  House '  of  Israel,  the  Dove-like 
form  and  nature'  of  the  Spirit,  all  are  parables  illustrating 
the  inferences  which  we  might  draw  from  the  Kingdom  of 
Nature,  and  from  the  Unity  of  the  Godhead,  as  well  as  from 
the  direct  injunctions  of  Christ,  S.  Paul  and  S.  John^. 

The  application  is  immediately  pointed.  '  There  are  now 
'  those  who  withdraw  from  the  Church,  and  build  them  alien 
'homes.  This  must  be  recognised  as  the  departure  of  alien 
'  spirits.' 

A  conception  of  Separatism  is  now  distinctly  obtained. 
'  Heresy  itself  has  its  place  in  relation  to  unity  in  the  economy 
'  of  God.  It  is  a  testing  power.  It  is  a  prae-judicial  separa- 
'  tion. 

'  Its  promoters  first  assume  preeminence  among  the 
'  unthinking,  then  holy  orders,  and  then  the  episcopal  pre- 
'  rogative,  of  which  the  essential  character  is  that  it  is  a  given, 
'  that  it  is  a  transmitted  power.  They  take  Christ's  special 
'  Blessing  on  the  United  "  Two  or  Three  "  and  apply  it  to  their 
'own  separatist  twos  and  threes^  as  if  the  Lord  meant  to 
'  commend   not  unity  but  paucity.     They  corrupt  the  Font 


^  The  gall-lessness  attributed  to  the  of  S.  Prassede  {Jnscrr.  Christ.  U.  R. 

Dove  is  brought  in  from  Tertullian,  De  vol,  I.  p.  ^11,  no.  937)  we  have  PALVM- 

Bapt.  8.     It  receives  interesting  illus-  BVS  SINE  FEL.   Compare  iya;«/^/,  Act  1 1, 

tration  from  contemporary  inscriptions.  sc.  2,  'But  I  am  pigeon-liver'd  and  lack 

In  the  cemetery  of  Callistus  (de  Rossi,  gall  To  make  oppression  bitter.'. 

Rom.  Soil.,  vol.  II.  p.  i85,Tav.  xxxvii. —  -  De  Unit.  cc.  6 — 9. 

xxxviii.  n.  19)  a   lady  is   described  as  *  De  Unit.  cc.  10 — 12. 
PALVMBA  SENE  FEL,  and  in  the  crypt 


1 84  'THE   UNITY.'     OBLIGATION  IS  OF  ESSENCE  OF  BELIEF. 

*  of  Baptism* — (mark  here  the  earliest  appearance  of  Cyprian's 
great  characteristic  error) — 'so  that  its  water  stains  rather 
'than  cleanses;  they  erect  a  rival  altar,  they  offer  a  rival 
'  sacrifice,  but  it  is  the  sacrifice  of  jealousy,  and  so  their  very 
'  martyrdoms  are  wretchedly  not  crowns  but  judgments.     For 

*  while  a  Lapse  from  the  faith  is  purged  by  the  Baptism  of 
'  Blood  the  religion  of  the  Schismatic  is  spurious  in  essence, 
'  not  for  any  narrower  cause  but  that  it  fails  in  the  first  broad 

*  principle  of  Christianity,  a  Loving  Union  with  the  brethren. 
'  Schism  is   accordingly   more   fatal   than   lapsing,   and   the 

*  schismatic's  death  under  the  persecutor  is  no  martyrdom, 
'  only  a  penalty  and  a  despair.' 

He  comes  to  passing  events  and  living  persons.  The 
eminent,  unnamed,  intemperate-tongued,  confessor  who  has 
established  a  separate  communion,  can  be  none  but  Novatian. 
'  Be  that  confessor  who  he  may,  he  is  not  greater,  better,  dearer 
'  to  God  than  Solomon  once  was.  Yet  he  retained  God's  grace 
'only  so  long  as  he  trode  God's  path... He  is  a  confessor! 
'  after  confession  the  peril  is  more,  for  the  foe  is  more  pro- 

*  voiced.     He  is  a  confessor!     The  more  should  he  stand  by 

*  the  Gospel,  for  of  the  Gospel  came  his  renown. ...He  is  a  con- 

*  fessor !  Let  him  be  lowly  and  calm,  let  him  be  modest  with 
'discipline  in  action,  like  the  Christ  whose  confessor  he  is. 
'  He  is  a  confessor — but  not  so,  if  afterwards  the  greatness 

*  and  worthiness  of  Christ  be  evil  spoken  of  through  him\' 

There  is  here  an  undertone  of  anxiety  for  the  fidelity 
of  confessors  at  large,  which  exactly  suits  the  immediate 
position  of  Roman  affairs,  mingling  with  his  thankfulness  for 
the  general  loyalty^  and  echoing  the  personal  appeals  already 
cited ^  He  proceeds  '  I  would  indeed,  dearest  brothers, — I 
'counsel,  I  urge — that,  if  it  be  possible,  not  one  of  the  brothers 
'should  perish — that  the  joyful  mother  should  lock  to  her 
'bosom  one  united  people.'     If  the  return  of  wilful  leaders  be 

^  De  Unit.  cc.  17,  20,  2i.  ^  Ep.  46. 

2  c.  22. 


IV.  I.  ITS  VIOLATION   IS   UNBELIEF.  1 8$ 

hopeless,  it  is  still  conceivable  to  him  that  the  mass  of  the 
misled  should  see  with  their  own  eyes,  and  extricate  them- 
selves from  personal  complications. 

Lastly,  he  restates  the  nature  and  obligation  of  unity  and 
the  causes  which  underlie  disunion. 

The  unity  of  the  Godhead,  of  the  person  of  Christ,  of  the  t 
ideal  church,  of  the  faith,  must  be  reproduced  in  the  unity  of  / 
the  earthly  congregation.     Agreement  is  the  medium  of  that/ 
unity.     Sections  from  the  living  organism  must  lose  vitality/ 
The  unity  of  humanity  within  itself  and  with  God  is  that  in   J 
which  alone  salvation  consists  \ 

■f^  '  As  for  the  real  causes  of  disunion,  its  origin  is  not  in  the  / 

*  theory  of  this  or  that  teacher.     Loss  of  unity  is  the  natural  / 

'  outcome  of  an  age  of  recognised,  sanctioned,  recommended/  / 
'  selfishness — selfishness  which  saps  belief  and  moral  force  / 
'together,   which    undermines    that   faith   whereon   rest   thai 

*  principles    of    God-fearing,    righteousness,   love    and    hara  j 
'  work,  and  diminishes  the  awe  of  things  to  come^' 

This  was  penetrating  doctrine  ;  went  to  the  heart  of  things. 
Which  of  the  churches  will  master  it  earliest  ? 

The  suitability  of  the  whole  argument  to  the  crisis,  and 
its  effectiveness,  need  no  illustration.  The  beauty  of  its  dic- 
tion is  a  fit  vehicle  for  the  loving  holiness  and  might  of  its 
spirit.  It  searches  alike  the  deeps  of  the  divine  word  and  of 
the  human  heart.  Again  and  again  its  persuasions  and  its 
warnings  have  availed  with  spirits  nobler  than  the  noblest 

^  Stripped  of  its  figures  this  climax  a  matrice  discesserit  seorsum  vivere  et 

(c.  23)  contains  the  ground  of  Cyprian's  spirare  non  poterit,  substantiam  salutis 

zeal  and  the  essence  of  his  doctrine.  amittit.' 

The  passage  almost  defies  translation —  Pkh  una,    Hartel,   misled  perhaps 

'  unus  Deus   est,  et  Christus  unus,  et  by  false  collation,  on  the  authority  of 

una  ecclesia  ejus,  et  fides  una,  et  plebs  PV,  a  mistake  for  M  (Monacensis) ;  and 

[una]  in  solidam  corporis  unitatem  con-  of  V  (Veronensis);  neither  MS.  of  any 

cordiae  glutino  copulata,     Scindi  unitas  value  on  such  a  point.    WGR  omit  una 

non  potest,  nee  corpus  unum  discidio  aSttr  plebs. 

conpaginis  separari,  divulsis  laceratione  ^  c.  26. 
visceribus  in  frusta  discerpi.     Quicquid 


1 86  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

which  have  agonized  themselves  into  separations — yes,  and 
in  hours  of  greater  temptation  than  theirs. 


II. 


Two  Questions  on  Cyprianic  Unity,     i.     Was  it  a  theory  of 
Conviction  or  of  Policy  f     2.    Does  it  involve  Roman  Unity  f 

Of  the  Unity  of  the  Catholic  Church  Cyprian  has  been 
suffered — reverently,  I  hope,  and  dutifully,  so  far  as  a  faithful 
purpose  is  able  to  represent  him — to  speak  for  himself 

Yet  the  merest  outline  reveals  the  defects  as  well  as  the 
merits  of  his  marvellous  book. 

The  impossibility  of  harmonizing  his  theory,  as  it  stands, 
with  some  phenomena  of  church  history  is  owing  to  its  non- 
developement  of  one  essential  principle. 

The  distinction  between  a  Visible  and  an  Invisible  Com- 
munion upon  earth  did  not  present  itself  to  him — still  less 
the  true  incorporation  with  the  Visible  Church  itself  of  mem- 
bers not  entirely  sound.  We  are  not  called  upon  to  dilate 
on  a  topic  which  has  engaged  Hooker',  but  we  must  notice 
that  it  is  this  same  deficiency  which  in  his  next  great  crisis 
placed  Cyprian  himself  in  some  danger  of  separatism. 

But  there  arise  two  further  questions  which  demand 
candid  answers. 

1.  Was  Cyprian's  view  of  the  Church  as  one  whole  with 
one  proper  and  characteristic  government  a  sincere  doctrine  .'' 
Had  he  received  it  ?  Had  it  been  a  reality  to  earlier 
Christian  thought }  Or,  was  it  only  the  justification  of  his 
practical  policy,  a  tissue  of  the  ingenious  suggestions  point 
by  point  of  a  difficult  position  ? 

2.  Did  this  theory  of  Unity  rest  on,  contain,  or  logically 

1  Eccl.  Polity,  B.  III. 


IV.  II.  QU.    I.      WAS  THE  THEORY  A   POLICY?  I87 

lead  up  to  a  recognition  of  a  central  church  authority  in  the 
Roman  or  Petrine  see  ? 

The  questions  are  of  moment  apart  from  their  interest,  or 
their  bearing  on  Cyprian's  honesty  and  on  his  foresight. 

The  first  enquires  whether  Cyprian  was  an  Expounder 
or  an  Inventor  of  the  Oneness  of  the  Church. 

The  second  enquires  whether  Roman  Supremacy  was  an 
outcome  of  his  teaching  on  that  Oneness. 

Before  the  former  question  can  be  well  answered  we  must 
know  whether  the  word  Ecclesia  had  until  now  described  only 
the  individual  congregation — or,  if  more,  more  only  by  trans- 
ference. If  that  were  so,  the  Cyprianic  theory  was  novel — 
not  more  than  an  engine  against  Novatian.  If  it  were  not 
so,  the  course  of  the  enquiry  would  probably  reveal  the 
principle  on  which  Oneness  was  attributed  to  an  Ideal  more 
complex  or  more  abstract  than  that  of  '  parishes.' 

Now  a  review  of  Cyprian's  few  writings  before  the  Decian 
persecution  is  enough  to  shew  in  the  first  instance  that  the 
idea  then  conveyed  in  the  word  '  Church '  was  not  limited  to 
the  individual  congregation,  either  with  or  without  its  chief 
pastor.  That  name  is  from  the  first  used  equally  and  without 
distinction  of  the  Congregation,  of  the  Diocese,  and  of  the 
Whole  Body  of  the  Faithful.  It  is  not  the  case  that  the 
former  senses  are  earlier  in  Cyprian  than  the  latter.  The 
latter  sense  also  appears  without  effort  and  without  explana- 
tion, as  familiar  to  all. 

Thus  in  the  First  Book  of  Testimonies,  the  Church  is  the  Test.  i. 
New  People  in  contrast  with  the  Jewish.  It  is  the  Barren  ^i  20. 
Mother  of  Old  Testament  figures,  proving  more  fruitful  than 
the  fruitful  wife.  It  is  the  Sara,  the  Rachel,  the  Hannah, 
whose  sons  are  types  of  the  Christ.  It  is  '  She  who  hath 
borne  the  Seven  Sons,'  for  it  was  to  Seven  Churches  that 
St  Paul  wrote  as  well  as  St  John.  In  this  one  passage  two 
of  the  senses  stand  clearly  out. 

In  the  Second  Book  the  'Church  '  is  the  *  Spouse  of  Christ'  ii.  19. 


l88    CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

H.  V.  3.  In  the  *  Dress  of  Virgins,'  the  virgins  themselves  are  '  the 

glorious  fruitbearing  of  the  Mother  the  Church.' 
H.  V.  10.         '  The  Church  had  been  planted  and  founded  upon  Peter.' 
In  these  three  passages  the  larger  sense  alone  is  possible. 

Ep.  10.5.  In  the  loth  letter,  'Happy  is  our  Church'  means  specifi- 
cally the  Church  of  Carthage  ;  but  in  the  very  first  letter  the 

Ep.  I.  I,    word  is  used  in  both  the  first  and  second  of  the  three  senses. 

'■  A  certain  rule  of  clerical  discipline  'in  the   Church  of  the 

Lord,'  which  had  been  laid  down  in  a  Council  of  earlier 
bishops,  is  mentioned  in  the  same  passage  with  the  direction 
that  certain  offenders  are  not  to  be  prayed  for  'in  the  Church,' 
that  is  in  the  congregation.  In  the  same  epistle,  Clerks  are  to 
have  their  time  free  from  private  business  to  serve  '  the  Altar 
and  the  Church,'  just  as  in  the  3rd  (so  numbered)  it  is  said 

Ep.  3.  3.  that  the  disobedience  of  Deacons  to  their  Presbyter  leads  to 
the  '  forsaking  of  the  Church  and  the  substitution  of  a 
profane  Altar.' 

Ep.  1.  3.  In  the  2nd  letter  the  Christian  who  has  to  give  up  his 

profession  as  a  Dramatic  Tutor  is  maintained  by  'the  pro- 
vision' and  'at  the  charges  of  the  Church'  seemingly  the 
local  church  to  which  he  belongs,  but  is  urged  to  'learn 
'  saving  things  witJiin  the  Church  instead  of  teaching  deathful 
'  things  outside  the  Church.' 

It  cannot  be  said  then  that  the  use  of  this  word  in 
the  sense  of  '  Congregation '  or  '  Diocese '  is  earlier  than  its 
aggregate  sense,  and  it  is  needless  to  point  out  how,  in  some 
of  these  instances,  the  eye  sees  in  the  Diocese  the  true  image 
and  life  of  the  whole. 

It  is  similarly  impossible  to  say  that  the  earliest  idea  was 
that  of  the  plebes  apart  from  its  governing  body.  It  is  no 
^/.  63. 13. 'definition'  when  Cyprian  writes  'The  Church,  that  is  the 
'  plebes  established  in  t/ie  Church,  faithfully  and  firmly  per- 
'  severing  in  what  it  has  believed.'  It  is  no  definition,  for  the 
word  to  be  defined  actually  recurs  within  it,  and  forms  part 


IV.  II.  'THE  CHURCH'  NOT  THE  ISOLATED  CONGREGATION.  189 

of  the  definition  so-called'.  The  question  remains,  'What  is 
the  Church  within  which  the  plebes  is  thus  established  .!*'  Is 
it  an  unorganized,  undisciplined,  unruled  aggregate  of  indi- 
viduals }  On  this  the  3rd  (so  numbered)  letter  is  significant  Ep.  3.  3. 
enough  when  it  says  that  the  Apostles  constituted  the 
Deacons  '  to  be  the  ministers  of  their  own  Episcopate  and  of 
the  Church.'  This  imagined  '  Definition '  has  in  it  nothing 
which  is  inconsistent  with  other  words  which  really  belong  to 
the  same  period — '  they  are  the  Church — a  Commons  united  Ep.  ^d.  8. 
to  a  Bishop — a  Flock  clinging  to  its  Shepherd.' 

In  the  4th  letter,  one  of  his  very  earliest,  we  find  an  Ep.  4. 4. 
exposition  of  which  the  hardness  and  definiteness  is  never 
again  exceeded.  '  If  they  refuse  to  be  pure  in  life  and  habit, 
'  they  cannot  be  readmitted  to  the  C/mrch  ;  they  cannot  count 
*  on  life  and  salvation  if  they  will  not  obey  the  Bishops.  In 
'  the  old  Law  he  who  would  not  obey  the  Priest  was  slain 
'  with  the  temporal  sword.  To  be  cast  out  of  the  Church  now 
'  is  to  be  slain  with  the  spiritual  sword.  For  outside  the 
'  Church  they  cannot  live,  inasmuch  as  the  House  of  God  is 
'  One,  and  no  one  can  be  safe  but  in  the  Church.' 

In  the  3rd  Book  of  Testimonies  we  read,  '  Schism  not  to  Test.  Hi. 
'  be  made,  even  if  he  who  departs  remain  in  the  one  Faith  and 
'the  same  Tradition V 

It  is  then  uncritical  and  unhistorical  to  suppose  that  the 
thought  of  the  aggregate  Church  rose  later  on  Cyprian's 
mind,  or  grew  up  gradually  out  of  the  idea  of  the  individual 
Church.  From  the  first  it  was  impossible  not  to  see  literally 
each  in  the   other.      It    is  also  equally   uncritical   to    think 

^  Ep.6i.  Yet  Ritschl  (p.  91,  pp.  241,  this  Catena,  if  anyone  would  give  a  date 
24'2)  actually  proposes,  on  account  of  later  than  I  do  to  this  3rd  Book.  See 
the  supposed  simplicity  and  absence  of  p.  23.  But  it  is  clear  that  this  is  a 
organization  implied  in  what  he  is  general  precept  on  schism,  and  has  no 
pleased  to  treat  as  a  'definition,'  to  reference  to  Novatianism,  and  is  there- 
transpose  this  epistle  and  place  it  fore  earlier  than  Novatian.  Cyprian 
among  the  earliest  letters  before  the  would  not  have  allowed  that  Novatian 
Decian  persecution.  remained  '  in  the  one  Tradition.' 

2   This  passage  is  not  necessary  to 


190  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

I  that  there  ever  was  a  time  when  the  Church  was  contem- 
plated apart  from  its  Ministering  Rulers  or  they  from  it. 
Each  again  was  essential  to  the  other.  With  the  passage 
from  the  4th  epistle  before  us,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
I  that  the  Church  appeared  to  Cyprian  to  have  ever  carried 
I  itself  on  or  subsisted  without  its  episcopal  order — or  ever  to 
'  have  been  anything  but  a  Unity. 

We  have  seen  before'  what  the  Bishop  was  to  his  own 
Congregation  and  '  Diocese.*  Was  there  anything  which  for 
the  whole  Church  Catholic  corresponded  to  the  Bishop's 
position  in  respect  of  his  own  Diocese  ?  The  Cyprianic 
answer  is  absolutely  clear: — What  the  Bishop  was  to  his 
own  Diocese  that  the  whole  united  Body  of  Bishops  was  to 
the  whole  Church. 

When,  in  his  one  sarcastic  letter — and  sarcastic  indeed 
it  is — Cyprian  writes  to  Florentius  Puppianus,  '  The  Church, 
'  which  is  "  CATHOLIC,  ONE,"  is  not  split  nor  divided  but 
'  is  certainly  knit  together  and  compacted  by  a  cement  of 
'  Bishops  fast  cleaving  each  to  each  other'^,'  this  grotesque- 
ness  may  put  more  forcibly,  but  does  not  express  more 
substantively,  the  ground  which  is  assumed  in  the  earliest 
epistles. 

In  the  1st  epistle — The  Church  Law  forbidding  clerics  to 
engage  in  secular  business  '  had  been  long  ago  determined 
'  in  the  Council  of  the  Bishops '  ;  '  the  Bishops,  our  prede- 
'cessors,  religiously  considering  and  soundly  providing  for 
'•  this,  enacted  &c. '  ;  '  that  so  the  decree  of  the  Bishops,  reli- 
*  giously  and  needfully  passed,  may  be  observed  by  us.' 

More  palpably  still  than  single  phrases  can  state  it,  the 
Roman    presbyters    assume,  in    the    8th    letter,   that   in    the 

1  c.  11.  viii.  sup.  una'  without  ei  is  conclusive;  and  for 

-  Ep,    66.   8    quando    ecclesia    quae  this  reason,  and  because  it  is  assumed 

'  catholica  una'  est  scissa  non  sit  neque  (qua  est)  as  the  ground  for  deduction, 

divisa,  sed  sit  utique  conexa  et  cohce-  I  take  it  to  be  meant  as  a  quotation 

rentium  sibi  invicem  sacerdotum  glutino  from  the  Baptismal  Creed, 
copulata.     The  authority  for  '  catholica 


IV.  II.   *AS  BISHOP  TO  DIOCESE  SO  BISHOPS  TO  CHURCH.'  I9I 

absence  of  both  Bishops  the  two  churches  have  to  maintain 
the  brotherhood  of  mutual  counsel. 

In  the  3rd  (so  numbered) — An  individual  Bishop  having 
laid  before  the  body  of  Bishops  a  complaint  against  a  Deacon 
of  his  own,  Cyprian's  reply  speaks  of  '  the  Apostles,  that  is 
the  Bishops  and  Prelates' — a  description  of  a  united  college 
surely,  if  words  can  describe  one. 

Lastly — to  go  no  further — the  great  decision  is  postponed 
until  all  the  Bishops  of  Africa  can  assemble  and  make  sure 
of  acting  in  harmony  with  the  Bishops  of  Italy. 

The  College  of  Bishops,  then,  is  the  very  form  and  sub- 
stance of  the  inherited  free  government,  advising  by  resolu- 
tion, commanding  by  mutual  consent,  yet  not  even  when 
unanimous  constraining  a  single  dissentient  bishop \  As  the 
Nicene  Fathers  did  not  make  but  formulated  the  Nicene 
Faith,  so  the  characteristic  of  Cyprian,  his  merit  as  some 
venture  to  think,  is  the  clear  outlining  and  distinct  expression 
which  he  gave  to  the  principles  which  he  found  in  use,  and 
the  stedfastness  with  which  he  worked  the  code  and  submitted 
himself  to  it.  His  characteristic  reward  was  the  loyalty  of 
those  who  felt  his  loyalty  to  them, — felt  it  rendered  because 
they  were  Bishops  in  council,  though  evidently  not  his  peers 
in  learning  or  in  policy. 

If  then  the  First  Question  be,  Did  Cyprian  create  his 
theory  of  government  in  the  Church  in  order  to  solve  his  own 
problems  .'*  the  answer  is  that  it  was  far  older  than  Cyprian, 
although  in  him  it  was  lit  and  fired  by  that  sense  of  Love 
and  feeling  after  Unity  which  seemed  to  Augustine  the  most 
special  characteristic  of  the  man**. 

^   See  Cyprian's  speech  on  opening  of  these  criticisms  that  they  force  him 

the  seventh  Council.  to  place  the  63rd  epistle  very  early  (see 

2    Ritschl's    incredible    remarks    on  p.    189  n.),    because   the   simplicity  of 

this  character  having  been  put  on,  and  its  language  on  the  Church  appears  to 

assumed  by  Cyprian  as  a  mere  weapon  him  inconsistent  with   Cyprian's   later 

and  instrument,  may  be  read  in  the  ori-  views — only,  he  ought  then  also  to  have 

ginal  (pp.  89,  106,  109).     It  is  worthy  placed    the   earliest   Epistles   and    the 


192     CYPRIAN  '  OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

Our  Second  Question  was,  Did  the  theory  of  Cyprian 
demand  or  lead  up  to  or  suggest  a  single  Centre  of  Church 
Government — at  Rome  or  elsewhere  ? 

Rome  could  not  but  be  a  centre  of  thought  and  feeling. 
It  was  not  merely  the  largest,  richest  or  strongest  city.  It 
was  the  head  of  the  civilised  world,  with  a  practical  reality  of 
power  and  fitness  unattributable  to  and  unimaginable  of  any 
other  head  before  or  since.  Was  the  Christian  Church  in  it 
similarly  not  only  the  foremost  church,  but  was  it  the  head 
of  the  world-Church  which  was  already  in  existence } 

We  need  not  stay  to  enquire  whether  Cappadocia,  Antioch, 
Jerusalem  could  so  regard  it — but  was  it  such  to  the  West.'' 
was  it  such  even  to  Carthage  ?  Principalis^  Ecclesia  it  was. 
It  had  a  lofty  undeniable  primacy  among  all  churches  which 
believed  it  to  be  the  Foundation  of  Saint  Peter,  and  to 
have  in  it  S.  Peter's  CatJiedra,  ascended  by  his  successors. 
Certainly  not  less  veneration  could  attach  to  it  than  to  the 
Alexandria  of  S.  Mark,  or  the  Ephesus  of  S.  John — say 
even  more — but  Wcis  it  of  a  different  kind  or  order.-* 

Did  the  theory  of  Cyprian  either  in  itself,  or  as  embodying 
the  Western  feeling,  whatever  this  was,  towards  Rome,  sug- 
gest that  this  see  was  a  centre  of  authority  or  jurisdiction  to 
the  Church  at  large .''  We  have  seen  how  each  Bishop  was 
held  to  be  a  centre  of  authority  and  fountain  of  jurisdiction 
to  his  diocese.  Did  the  theory  of  the  Oneness  of  the  Church 
involve  that  there  should  be  One  See  whose  influence  em- 
braced all  other  sees  analogously.-'  that  there  should  be  a 
Bishop  of  Bishops .-' 

The  only  possible  answer  is  that  this  conception,  so  far 
from  being  verified  or  supported  by  Cyprian's  theory,  contra- 
dicts that  theory,  has  overthrown  it  in  practice,  and  tends  to 
obliterate  it. 

Testimonies    (which    are    not    at    all  de  Unit.  5  the  words  from  nemo  to  cor- 

^ simple^   in  his  sense)  very  late.     He  rw/w/a/ are  a  later  interpolation. 
is  compelled  further  to  assert  (p.  94)  ^  Cyp.   Ep.  59.    14.     See  Appendix 

without  a  vestige  of  authority  that  in  on  Principalis  Ecclesia,  p.  537. 


IV.  II.   QV.  2.  DOES  IT  LEAD  UP  TO  THE  ROMAN  THEORY?    I93 

1.  We  shall  presently  see  in  detail  that  in  order  to  adapt 
even  the  very  language  of  Cyprian  in  the  passage  which  they 
thought  the  most  favourable  to  their  pretensions,  the  papal 
apologists  have  framed,  and  at  all  hazards,  and  against  evi- 
dence full  and  understood,  have  stedfastly  maintained  the 
grossest  forgery  in  literature.  Without  the  insertion  of  their 
phrases  the  passage  means  something  palpably  different. 
This  does  not  look  as  if  Cyprian  here  had  ever  been  felt  to  be 
on  their  side. 

2.  Does  Cyprian's  practice  exemplify  the  Roman  theory  .-^ 
We  shall  see  how  the  subsequent  history  of  his  intercourse 
with  the  Roman  see  exhibits  him  sometimes,  as  we  should 
say,  rightly  in  conflict  with  it,  sometimes  wrongly  ;  but  in 
conflict  almost  always — exhorting  the  Roman  bishop,  re- 
buking him  or  making  excuses  for  him,  or  assuring  him  that 
he  had  excommunicated  himself  by  his  vain  threats  of  excom- 
municating others — obeying  him  never\ 

3.  But  it  may  perhaps  be  said,  that  great  men  and  saints 
are  not  always  consistent,  that  his  practice  may  have  been 
inferior  to  his  theory,  or  even  contradictory. 

The  answer  to  this  is  that  the  very  mention  of  the  supre- 
macy of  one  Pontiff,  or  the  universality  of  one  jurisdiction,  is 
the  precise  contrary  of  the  Cyprianic  statements.  The  form 
of  government  for  the  whole  Church  which  these  enunciate  is 
that  of  a  Body — its  whole  episcopate.  This  is  a  Representa- 
tive Body.  Its  members,  appointed  for  life  by  free  election, 
represent  each  one  diocese*.  They  give  their  judgment  by 
suffrages.  They  have  no  power  of  delegation,  for  Christ 
constituted  t/iem  to  govern, — not  to  appoint  governors.    Purity 

^  Cyp.   £/>/>■  68.  2,  3 ;   72.   3 ;   75.  perly  representative  of  their  congrega- 

(Firmil.)  2,  3,  6,  17,  24,  25.  tions.     Cooption  by  other  Bishops   is 

^  This  is  no  less  the  case  wherever  still  less  satisfactory,   while    the    only 

they  are  appointed  by  the   Represen-  intolerable   plan  is  that   of  their   ap- 

tatives    of  Representatives.     Appoint-  pointment    by    one    superior    of   their 

ment   by    Presbyters  is   less   after   the  own    order    appointed    by    a    few    of 

first  model,  Presbyters  not  being  pro-  themselves. 

B.  13 


194  CYPRIAN  *0F  THE  ONITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

of  conduct  was  essential  to  the  continuance  of  any  one  of  them 
in  his  authority*.  No  minority  among  them  could  be  over- 
borne by  a  majority,  in  a  matter  of  administration,  even 
though  it  were  so  grave  a  question  as  that  of  Rebaptism.  If 
all  but  one  voted  one  way,  that  one  could  not  be  overruled  in 
the   direction  of    his   diocese.     '  These   considerations,  dear 

*  brother,'  writes  Cyprian  in  the  name  of  his  sixth  Council, '  we 
'  bring  home  to  your  conscience  out  of  regard  to  the  Office 

*  we  hold  in  common  and  to  the  simple  love  we  bear  you. 
'  We  believe  that  you  too,  from  the  reality  of  your  religious 

*  feeling  and  faith,  approve  what  is  religious  as  well  as  true. 
'  Nevertheless  we  know  there  are  those  who  cannot  readily 
'part  with  principles  once  imbibed,  or  easily  alter  a  view 
'  of  their  own,  but  who,  without  hurting  the  bond  of  peace 
'  and  concord  between  colleagues,  hold  to  special  practices 
'once  adopted  among  them — and  herein  we  do  no  violence 
'  to  anyone  and  impose  no  law.  For  in  the  administration  of 
'  the  Church  each  several  prelate  has  the  free  discretion  of  his 
'  own  will — having  to  account  to  the  Lord  for  his  action*.' 
The  prelate  who  is  thus  allowed  the  same  freedom  as  the 
rest  of  his  order  in  governing  his  own  diocese  is  Stephanus, 
Bishop  of  Rome.  No  protest  of  his  in  answer  claimed  the 
right  to  direct  all  or  any  of  the  rest. 

'It  remains  for  us  to  deliver  each  our  judgment  on  the 
'  particular  question,'  so  said  Cyprian,  opening  the  seventh 
of  his  Councils,  '  without  judging  any,  without  removing 
'  any  from  our  communion,  whose  judgment  may  differ  from 
'  our  own.  None  of  us  constitutes  himself  a  bishop  over 
'  bishops,  or  makes  it  imperative  for  his  colleagues  to  obey 
'  him,  through  any  despotic  awe,  inasmuch  as  every  bishop 
'by  leave   of  his    freedom    and    office,   has  a  free  scope  of 

^  Ep.    67.    3    '  Propter   quod    plebs  ipsa    maxime    habeat    potestatem    vel 

obsequens  prseceptis  dominicis  et  Deum  eligendi  dignos  sacerdotes  vel  indignos 

metuens  a  peccatore  pmposito  (sc.  epis-  recusandi.'     Cf.  Ep.  68.  3. 

copo)  separare  se  debet,  nee  se  ad  sacri-  "  Ep.  72.  3. 
legi  sacerdotis  sacrificia  miscere,  quando 


I  V.II.  THE  CYPRIANIC  AND  ROMAN  THEORIES  CONTRARIES.  I95 

'  his  own,  and  can  no  more  be  judged  of  another  than  he 
'  can  himself  judge  another.  We  must  all  alike  await  the 
'judgment  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  alone  by  Himself 
'  hath  the  office  {potestas)  of  promoting  us  in  the  govern- 
'  ment  of  His  Church,  and  of  judging  our  course  of  action  V 

4.  In  what  then  consisted  in  effect  the  unity  of  a  body 
so  constituted?  It  was  a  practical  unity,  a  moral  unity,  held 
together  by  its  own  sense  of  unity,  by  '  the  cement  of  mutual 
concord""'.'  As  problems  arose  they  were  to  consider  them 
each  by  itself.  The  first  thing  was  that  they  should,  with  as 
deliberate  consultation  as  could  be  had,  state  their  several 
opinions  without  favour  or  fear. 

If  we  consider  what  great  effects  were  produced,  what  far- 
reaching  and  enduring  results  were  secured,  through  the  mere 
exercise  and  utterance  of  this  moral,  or  spiritual,  judgment, 
by  men  whose  divine  commission  was  simply  to  use  this,  and 
to  express  this,  we  may  perhaps  think  that  an  incessant 
complaining  of  the  unwillingness  of  imperial  assemblies  to 
discuss,  decide  and  give  effect  to  church  measures,  is  at 
least  not  primitively  church-like.  The  periods  in  which 
the  Church  has  worked  its  will  upon  us  through  civil  rule  are 
not  times  of  impressive  spirituality.  The  immeasurably 
higher  enthusiasm  and  stronger  effectiveness  which  has  at- 
tended its  moral  judgments  under  governments  as  hostile,  or 
as  surly,  or  as  indifferent  as  mere  politicians  could  wish 
governments  to  be  towards  really  Christian  matters,  might 
encourage  the  faith  of  modern  churchmen  in  the  value  of 
their  one  undisputed  prerogative. 

A  bishop  could  not  then  resist  their  united  voice  without 
hardihood,  but  if  he  did,  he  was  unassailable  unless  vicious- 
ness  or  false  doctrine  were  patent  in  his  life  or  teaching.     In 


^    VII.  Cone.  Carth.  Prafat.  Cypriani.  so  often  to  shew  the  simply  moral  force 

^  Ep.  68.  3.     An  important  passage  of  its  action — which  is  what  it  really 

and  often  quoted  to  evince  the  consti-  shews. 

tutional  character  of  the  body,  but  not 

13—2 


196   CYPRIAN  *0F  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

that  case  the  allegiance  of  his  flock  was  to  be  withdrawn. 
He  was  to  be  regarded  (says  the  African  primate,  with  a  strong 
local  colouring)  as  a  brigand  chief  who  had  got  possession 
of  a  caravanserai  \ 

The  divine  reality  of  such  their  unity  had  been  taught 
typically  in  the  respective  charges  of  the  Lord  to  Peter  and 
to  the  Twelve ^  The  authority  and  power  committed  is  the 
same  to  each  several  apostle.  But  for  the  sake  of  shewing 
(such  is  Cyprian's  interpretation)  that  many  apostles  did  not 
make  many  churches,  but  one  only,  therefore  the  first  decla- 
ration of  the  foundation  of  a  universal  Church  is  couched 
in  language  addressed  to  one  only — S.  Peter.  For  that  one 
occasion  the  words  are  to  one,  but  the  meaning  is  for  ever 
to  all. 

As  nothing  limited  it  in  space,  but  the  authority  belonged 
to  all  the  apostles,  wherever  they  went,  so  in  time  also,  after 
they  were  departed,  nothing  limited  that  authority  to  Peter's 
successors  among  the  successors  of  them  all.  Though  the 
charge  to  Peter  appears  among  the  earliest  of  Cyprian's 
Christian  ideas^  as  does  also  the  obedience  due  to  bishops*, 
yet  Peter's  successors  are  nowhere  mentioned  or  hinted  at  by 
Cyprian  as  necessary  to  the  Church's  Unity^  But  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  other  Apostles  are.  And  of  them  it  is  said  that 
the  power  given  by  Christ  to  them,  in  equal  measure  with 
S.  Peter,  passed  on  to  the  churches  which  they  established, 
and  to  the  bishops  who  everywhere  succeeded  them^ 

A  headship  attributed  to  the  successors  of  one  among 
them   would   simply  ruin  at  once   the  whole  theory  of  the 

1  Ep.  68.  3.  priest. 

2  See   Catena   of   passages   on   the  '  This  Ritschl  himself  confesses.     It 
Unity  from  Peter,  infra  p.  197.                     will  be  understood  that  he  plays  the 

3  De  Habitti  Virgg.  10.  dangerous  game  of  maintaining  presby- 
*  Ep.  4-  4,  where  the  spiritual  sword       terianism  against  episcopacy,  by  trying 

is  described  to  be  as  deadly  to  the  spirit       to   saddle    Cyprian's    episcopacy    with 
as  the  material  sword  was  to  the  life  of      the  papacy  as  its  necessary  deduction, 
any  who  disobeyed   the  ancient  high  ®  Ep.  75.  16,  see  Catena  below. 


IV.II.  THE  CYPRIANIC  AND  ROMAN  THEORIES  CONTRARIES.  I97 

unity  and  of  the  authority  which  subsisted  in  the  copiosum 
corpus  sacerdotum — the  episcopatus  unus,  episcoporum  multorum 
concordi  numerositate  diffusus^.  And  this  is  Cyprian's  theory. 
5.  Yet  again,  as  that  Body  might  not  rule  any  one 
Bishop,  it  follows  a  fortiori  that  any  one  Bishop  could  not 
rule  that  Body.  It  is  plain  that  such  pretension  could  never 
be  set  up  without  violating  the  principle  and  essence  of 
Cyprian's  theory.  This  theory  could  not  even  coexist  with 
the  theory  of  a  dominant  centre.  The  two  views  are  mutually 
exclusive. 

A  singular  fate  overtook  two  strong  sentences  of  the  early 
Latin  fathers.  It  is  comprehensible  how  the  sentence  of 
Cyprian  could  be  vivisected  and  injected  with  corruption  till, 
as  we  find  it,  it  seemed  to  yield  a  sense  contrary  to  its 
original  force,  and  to  the  context,  and  to  the  whole  scheme 
of  the  treatise,  and  to  the  leading  idea  of  its  author.  But, 
that  Tertullian's  scornful  parody  of  some  Bishop  of  Rome's 
assumption — '  Po?itifex  scilicet  maximus,  quod  est  episcopus 
episcoporimt,  edicif,' — should  have  worked  round  into  be- 
coming the  actual  title  and  style  of  his  successor,  exhibits  a 
feat  of  that  brilliant  imagination  which  even  itself  could 
never  have  realised. 


Catena  of  Cyprianic  passages  on  the  Unity  signified  in  the  Charge  to  Peter. 

[a.d.  248.    Petrus  etiam   cui  oves  suas   Dominus  pascendas  tuendasque 
commendat,  super  quern  posuit  et  fundavit  ecclesiam,  aurum 
quidem  et  argentum  sibi  esse  negat,... 
A  rhetorical  contrast  of  the  facts   in  Matt.    xvi.  and  Acts  iii.    not  by  itself 

touching  the  question  of  Unity.] 

A.D.  251.  Probatio  est  ad  fidem  facilis  compendio  veritatis.  Loquitur 
Dominus  ad  Petrum:  'ego  tibi  dico'  inquit  'quia  tu  es  Petrus 
'et  super  istam  petram  asdificabo  ecclesiam  meam,  et  portas 
'  inferorum  non  vincent  earn.    Dabo  tibi  claves  regni  caelorum  : 

1  In  Cyprian  this  thought  and  these       Cf.  Ep.  68.  3. 
words  are  in  perennial  flow.     But  Ep.  *  Tert.  de  Ptidicit,  i. 

55.  24  is  a  strong  condensed  chapter. 


198    CATENA  FROM  CYPRIAN  ON  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH 

'et  quae  ligaveris  super  terrain  erunt  ligata  et  in  caelis,  et 
'quaecumque  solveris  super  terram  erunt  soluta  et  in  caelis.' 
Super  unum  aedificat  ecclesiam,  et  quamvis  apostolis  omnibus 
post  resurrectionem  suam  parent  potestatem  tribuat  et  dicat : 
*Sicut  misit  me  pater  et  ego  mitto  vos.     Accipite  Spiritum 

*  Sanctum :   si  cujus  remiseritis  peccata,  remittentur  illi :   si 

*  cujus  tenueritis  tenebuntur,'  tamen  ut  uniiatem  manifestaret, 
unitatis  ejusdem  originem  ab  uno  incipientem  sua  auctori- 
tate  disposuit.  Hoc  erant  utique  et  ceteri  apostoli  quod  fuit 
Petrus,  pari  consortio  praediti  et  honoris  et potestatis^  sed  exor- 
dium ab  imitate  proficiscitur,  ut  ecdesia  Christi  una  monstretur. 

Whatever  may  be  the  value  of  the  argument  or  illustration,  there  can  in  this 
its  genuine  shape  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  passage.  The  Apostles 
are  all  made  equal  in  honour  and  power  by  our  Lord's  commission.  Simply  to 
declare  the  unity  of  His  Church,  He,  the  first  time  that  He  gives  that  commission, 
gives  it  to  one.  Afterwards  he  .repeats  the  same  commission  (as  Cyprian  under- 
stood it)  to  all.  The  origo,  exordium,  of  unity  starts  {proficiscitur)  from  one  as  a 
manifestation  or  demonstration  {manifestaret,  monstretur)  of  unity. 

The  same  teaching  identically  appears,  with  greater  or  less  compression,  but 
with  no  variation  of  idea,  in  all  other  references  to  whomsoever  addressed :  as  follows 

Ep.  43.  5.  A.D.  250.   {Plebi  universes).   Deus  unus  est,  et  Christus  unus  et  una  ecdesia 
et  cathedra  una  super  Petrum  Domini  voce  fundata. 
The  unity  is  here  inferred  from  the  Lord's  voice  speaking  to  Peter  alone,  as  set 
forth  in  the  De  Unitate  published  the  year  after  at  the  same  place. 

Ep.  45.  3.  A.D.  251.  {Cornelio  Frairi).  Hoc  enim  vel  maxime,  frater,  et  laboramus  et 
laborare  debemus  ut  unitatem  a  Domino  &\.per  apostolos  nobis 
successoribus  traditam,  {not  vobis  nor  per  Petrum  successoribus, 
but  to  the  bishops  as  succeeding  to  that  equal  authority  of 
the  apostles]  quantum  possumus  obtinere  curemus,  et  quod  in 
nobis  est  palabundas  et  errantes  oves... in  ecdesia  colligamus. 

Ep.  48.  3.  ,)  »,  {Cornelio  Fratri).  Communicationem  tuam  id  est  catholicas 
ecdesice  unitatem  pariter  et  caritatem  [n.  b.  not  honorevi  or 
potestatem.\ 

Ep,  55.  8.  A.D.  252.  {AntoniaJto  Fratri).  The  see  of  Rome  is  Fabiani  locus,, .locus 
Petri  et  gradus  cathedrae  sacerdotalis. 

Ep.  59.  7.       „     „       {Cornelio  Fratri).      Petrus   tamen   super  quem  sedificata  ab 
eodem  Domino  fuerat  ecclesia,  unus  pro  otnnibus  loquens,  et 
ecdesice  voce  respondens  ait,  '  Domine,  ad  quem  imus  V 
r4.      „     „       ...et  ad  Petri  cathedram  atque  ad  ecclesiam  principalem  unde 
unitas  sacerdotalis  exorta  est. 

Ep.66.i.  A.D.  254.  {Florentio  cui  et  Puppiano  Fratri).  On  same  passage  as  ^_^.  59.  7 
'ad  quem  ibimus  &c.'  loquitur  illic  Petrus  super  quem  aedifi- 
cata  fuerat  ecdesia,  ecdesice  nomine  docens. 


AS  TYPIFIED   IN   THE  CHARGE  TO  S.   PETER.  I99 

Ep-  71.  3.  A.D.  255.    {Quinto Fratri,  referred  to  in  Ep.  72  Stephana  fratrt).    Cyprian 
here  shews  what  deduction  is  not  to  be  drawn  from  the  commission  of  our  Lord. 
Nam  nee  Petrus,  quern  primum  Dominus  elegit  et  super  quern 
aedificavit  ecclesiam  suam,  cum  secum  Paulus  disceptaret,  vin- 
dicavit  sibi  aliquid  insolenter  aut  adroganter  adsumpsit  ut  diceret 
se  primattim  tenere  et  obtemperari  a  novellis  et  posteris  sibi 
potius  oportere.... 
I.e.  Peter  did  not  draw  the  inference  of  his  primacy  from  the  fact  of  his  selec- 
tion to  be  the  '  origo '  or  '  exordium '  of  unity. 
E-P-  73-  7-   A.D.  256.    {Jubaiano  Fratri).     Manifestum  est   autem  ubi   et  per  quos 
remissa  peccatorum   dari   possit,   quae   in   baptismo    scilicet 
datur.     Nam  Petro  primum  Dominus,  super  quem  aedificavit 
ecclesiam,   et   unde   unitatis   origiiiem    instituit   et   ostendit, 
potestatem  istam  dedit  ut   id  solveretur  [in  terris]  quod  ille 
solvisset.    et  post  resurrectionem  quoque  ad  apostolos  loquitur 
dicens  'sicut  misit  me  pater  et   ego  mitto  vos.'    hoc  cum 
dixisset,  inspiravit  et  ait  illis  'accipite  spiritum  sanctum,     si 
cujus   remiseritis   peccata....'  unde   intellegimus  non  nisi  in 
ecclesiae  prcBpositis  et  evangelica  lege  ac  dominica  ordinatione 
fundatis  licere  baptizare.... 
In  manner  precisely  parallel  to  the  Dc  Unitate  he  infers  that  what  was  first  said 
to  one  in  token  of  unity  was  afterwards  said  to  all  as  their  charter  of  authority — 
and  to  none  but  them. 
Ep.  75.  16.  A.D.  256.    {Firtnilianus  Cypriano  Fratri).    Qualis  vero  error  sit  et  quanta 
caecitas  ejus  qui  remissionem  peccatorum  dicit  apud  synagogas 
hsereticorum  dari  posse,  nee  permanet  in  fundatnento  unius 
ecclesiae,  quae  semel  a  Christo  super  petram  solidata  est,  hinc 
intellegi  potest  quod  soli  Petro  Christus  dixerit  'quaecumque 
ligaveris,  ...'  et  iterum  in  evangelio  [quando]  in  solos  apostolos 
insufflavit   Christus   dicens    'accipite   spiritum   sanctum,      si 
cujus...'  potestas  ergo   peccatorum   remittendorum  apostolis 
data  est  et  ecclesiis  quas  illi  a  Christo  missi  constituerunt  et 
episcopis  qui  eis  ordinatione  vicaria  successerunt. 
Here  similarly  Firmilian  (who  as  is  well  known  echoes  Cyprian  to  the  letter) 
holds  the  voice  to  Peter  to  be  the  token  of  unity,  and  the  powers  to  be  shared  by 
the  apostles,  the  churches  and  the  successive  bishops  all  alike. 
17.  A.D.  256.    ...banc  tam  apertam  et  manifestam  Stephani  stultitiam  quod 
qui  sic  de  episcopatus  sui  loco  gloriatur  et  se  successionem 
Petri  tenere  contendit,  super  quem  fundamenta  ecclesiae  collo- 
cata  sunt,  multas  alias  petras  inducat  et  ecclesiarum  multarum 
nova  aedificia  constituat,  dum  esse  illic  baptisma  sua  auc- 
toritate  defendit. 
I.e.  The  present  bishop  of  Rome,  Stephanus,  who  so  prides  himself  on  his 
succession,  sacrifices  the  prerogative  of  himself  and  all  other  true  bishops  by 
recognising  baptism  external  to  the  church  and  them. 


200  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 


III. 

The  Appeal  of  the  modern  Church  of  Rome  to  Cyprian  on  *  The 
Unity  of  the  Catholic  Church ' — by  way  of  Interpolation. 

Notwithstanding  its  somewhat  technical  character,  I  can- 
not but  present  this  strange  matter  as  part  of  the  continuous 
narrative  of  Cyprian's  '  Life  and  Work,'  The  conception  of 
his  formative  influence  on  the  Church  of  Christ  would  be  at 
once  exaggerated  and  incomplete  without  some  account  taken 
of  an  immense  power  claimed  in  his  name,  and  exercised 
through  the  shadow  of  his  name,  by  men  and  societies  who 
have  no  act  or  real  word  of  his  to  shew  on  their  side. 

In  the  year  1682  the  Galilean  Church  held  that  celebrated 
assembly  which  affirmed  their  ancient  Liberties,  and  described 
in  The  Four  Articles  the  limits  of  papal  authority.  Yet,  as 
Bossuet  in  the  most  eloquent  perhaps  of  his  harangues  had 
discoursed  to  them,  'The  object  of  that  assembly  was  Peace' 
— Peace  with  Innocent  the  Eleventh.  '  Conserver  I'Unite ' 
was  the  guiding  thought  of  Bossuet's  life\  Their  Synodical 
Letter^  therefore,  addressed  to  the  whole  French  hierarchy, 
prefaced  its  protest  against  that  pontiffs  usurpations  with 
a  confession  of  their  duty  to  his  See.  That  duty  was  estab- 
lished and  acknowledged  by  words  borrowed  from  Cyprian's 
fourth  chapter  on  Unity — the  printed  text. 

It  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  effisct  of  those  words  even 
amid  the  universal  indignation  which  then  possessed  court. 
Church  and  people.  The  authority  of  that  primaeval  voice 
was  once  more  as  conclusive  as  it  had  now  been  for  some 
centuries.    It  was  alleged  as  conclusive,  and  was  alleged  alone. 

And  yet  the  great  orator  of  Meaux,  amid  his  own  array 

1    Sermon   preche    (9   Nov.    1681)  a  ^  Lettre  de  I'assemblee  du  Clerge  de 

I'ouverture  de  I'assemblee  generale  du  France,  tenue  en  1682, k  tousles  Prelats 

Clerg6   de    France,   '  Sur   I'Unite    de  de  I'figlise  Gallicane.     Dupin,  Liberies 

r£glise.'  de  r£glise  Gallicane  (i860). 


IV.  III.  THE  ROMAN   APPEAL  TO  THE  BOOK.  201 

of  inconclusive  authorities,  forbore  to  marshal  this  capital  and 
decisive  text 

That  very  year  there  appeared  the  new  English  edition 
from  which  that  text  was  omitted. 

The  words  are  spurious.  The  history  of  their  interpola- 
tion may  be  distinctly  traced  even  now,  and  it  is  as  singular 
as  their  controversial  importance  has  been  unmeasured.  It  is 
a  history  which  well  may  make  it  the  most  interesting  of 
literary  forgeries.  But  the  Ultramontane  is  still  unconvinced, 
and  as  he  may  long  remain  so,  we  lay  the  evidence  before 
others. 

The  eloquent  Mgr.  Freppel,  Bishop  of  Angers,  late  Pro- 
fessor at  the  Sorbonne, — in  which  capacity  he  delivered  his 
course  of  lectures  on  Saint  Cyprian,  repeats  the  contention 
that  the  giving  of  the  keys  to  Peter  and  the  charge  to  feed 
the  flock  is  '  the  charter  of  investiture  of  the  papacy,'  and  in 
support  of  it  asks  leave  '  to  place  under  our  eyes  this  remark- 
able passage'  of  Cyprian.  'Whatever  difficulty  criticism 
'may  raise  on  the  authenticity  of  such  or  such  a  word  in 
'particular'  does  not  affect  the  argument.  'We  have  a  right 
'to  maintain  a  reading  which  has  such  numerous  and  such 
'antient  testimonies  for  itself  V 

I  quote  this  merely  as  a  clear  statement  of  the  position 
which  Romish  argument  has  taken  and  still  takes  as  to  the 
passage  and  as  to  its  value  as  it  stands  I  It  is  easy  to  allege 
that  'Cyprian  only  repeats  here  what  he  says  so  many  times 
elsewhere,'  but  the  tenacity  with  which  this  place  is  reprinted 
and  repeated  betokens  well  enough  the  misgiving  as  to  the 
other  passages  being  capable  of  enduring  the  required  mean- 
ing without  the  comment  of  this  fabrication'. 

1  S.  Cyprien.  Par  M.  I'Abbe  Frep-  »  Most  old  copies  of  Cyprian  bear 
pel,  Prof,  k  la  Faculte  de  Theologie  de  witness  to  the  agitations  of  spirit  over 
Paris  1865  (Cours  fait  a  la  Sorbonne),  these  clauses.  Beside  me  casually  is  a 
pp.  277 — 2gi.  Maran    (Venet.  1758);   some  lines  are 

2  See  also  Prof.  Hurler,  S.  J.,  .S^".  erased  and  references  placed  at  the 
Patrum  Opusc.  I.  p.  72.  sides.     A    Pamele,    clean   throughout 


202   CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 

The  'numerous  and  ancient  testimonies'  consist  of  (i) 
the  editions  which  contain  the  passages,  and  the  manuscripts  on 
which  they  are  supposed  to  rest.    (2)  Citations  of  the  passage. 

Our  simplest  method  is  to  give  the  passage  in  full,  exactly 
as  this  author  reproduces  it  (as  he  says)  from  'the  editions 
of  Manutius  (1563)  (who  first  printed  it),  De  PamHe  (1568), 
Rigault  (1648),  Dom  Maran  (i726)V 

"  The  Lord  saith  unto  Peter, '  I  say  unto  thee  that  thou 
art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  will  I  build  my  Church,  and 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  I  will  give 
unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven:  and  what- 
soever thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven, 
and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed 
in  heaven.'  And  to  the  same  [apostle)  He  says  after  His  re- 
surrection 'Feed  my  sheep.'  He  builds  His  Church  upon  that 
one,  and  to  him  entrusts  His  sheep  to  be  fed.  And  although 
after  His  resurrection  He  assigns  equal  power  to  all  His 
apostles,  and  says  *As  the  Father  sent  me  even  so  send 
I  you,  receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;  whosesoever  sins  ye 
remit  they  shall  be  remitted  unto  him,  and  whosesoever 
sins  ye  retain  they  shall  be  retained,'  nevertheless  in 
order  to  make  the  unity  manifest.  He  established  one 
CJiair,  and  by  His  own  authority  appointed  the  origin  of 
that  same  unity  beginning  from  one.  Certainly  the  rest 
of  the  apostles  were  that  which  Peter  also  was,  endued 
with  equal  partnership  both  of  honour  and  office, 
but  the  beginning  sets  out  from  unity,  and  Primacy  is 
given  to  Peter,  that  one  Church  of  Christ  and  one  Chair 
may  be  pointed  out;  afid  all  are  pastors  aftd  one  flock  is 

except  for  two  very  soiled  pages  here  pencil,  the  other  with  a  knife, 

with  rufHed  corners.     A  Baluze  (Paris  ^  We  must  however  state  that  Manu- 

1726)  has  racy  passages  written  out  into  tius  does  not  give  the  clause  'he  who 

the    margins,    and   the   whole   of  this  deserts  the  chair  of  Peter  on  which  the 

so  appears.     So  of  the  two  Pembroke  Church  was  founded,'  nor  Maran  the 

Mss.,  one  has  the  passage  scored  with  a  words    'established    one    chair    and.' 


IV.  III.  THE   ROMAN   INTERPOLATIONS.  203 

shown t  to  be  fed  by  all  the  apostles  with  one-hearted  accord, 
that  one  Church  of  Christ  may  be  pointed  out.  It  is  this 
one  Church  which  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Person  of  the 
Lord  speaks  of  in  the  Song  of  Songs,  saying  '  My  dove 
is  one,  my  perfect  one,  one  is  she  to  her  mother,  elect  to 
her  who  brought  her  forth.'  He  that  holds  not  this  unity 
of  the  Church,  does  he  believe  that  he  holds  the  faith  .-* 
He  who  strives  and  rebels  against  the  Church,  he  who 
deserts  the  Chair  of  Peter  on  which  the  Church  was  founded, 
does  he  trust  that  he  is  in  the  Church.-*  Since  the  blessed 
Apostle  Paul  also...'" 

The  words  in  italics  admittedly  must  be  from  the  pen  of 
one  who  taught  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Roman  see.  If 
Cyprian  wrote  them  he  held  that  doctrine.  There  is  no  dis- 
guising the  fact.  Onofrio  Panvinio-  for  instance  in  his  great 
treatise  on  the  Primacy  of  Peter  places  this  whole  passage 
from  Cyprian  'foremost  of  the  holy  Fathers'  next  after  his 
citations  of  Scripture,  and  the  words  we  have  printed  in  italics 
he  has  anticipated  us  by  printing  in  capitals  as  the  crucial  and 
decisive  ones. 

But  the  reader  will  observe  that,  separated  from  the 
italicised  words,  the  passage  runs  smooth  and  the  doctrine 
is  a  different  one.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  a  catholicity  perfect 
in  unity  without  hint  of  Petrine  or  of  any  primacy.  As  we 
have  already  seen,  it  exhibits  a  unity  indicated  (such  is  the 
special  argument  of  the  passage)  by  Christ's  committing  one 
and  the  same  charge,  first  to  one  and  then  to  all  of  the 
apostles  as  peers  or  equals  of  that  one. 

Now  the  indictment  we  prefer  is  that  every  italicised  word 
is  a  forgery;  and  a  forgery  deliberately  for  three  centuries 
past  forced  by  papal  authority  in  the  teeth  of  evidence  upon 
editors  and   printers  who  were   at   its   mercy.     The   recent 

^  See  Latin  Text  in  ^/)/^«(/ir  (p.  549)       et  Apostolicce  sedis  potestate,  pp.   3,  4. 
with  collations.  Veronse,  1589. 

2  O.    Panvinio,    De  primatii    Petri 


204  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

labour  of  Hartel  reveals  a  similar  process  at  work  long  be- 
fore upon  the  manuscripts.  The  corruptions  were  always 
patent,  but  now  we  can  actually  watch  the  agents. 

If  proven,  the  interest  of  our  tale  is  beyond  that  of  literary 
curiosity  or  even  literary  morality.  Dukes  and  Cardinals, 
Prelates  and  Masters  of  the  Palace  prevailed  over  broken- 
hearted scholars.  It  was  a  Battle  of  the  Standard,  fought 
that  a  forgery  might  not  be  (as  one  of  the  defenders  expressed 
it)  'ravi  a  I'Eglise.'  All  that  energy,  all  that  diplomacy, 
— the  very  tone  of  this  moment — are  the  best  witnesses 
to  the  value  of  the  Protestant  conviction  that,  although  all 
Cyprian  would  have  to  be  read  by  the  light  of  those  phrases 
could  they  be  saved,  Cyprian  without  them  is  an  irrefragable 
witness  against  those  assumptions.  But  our  business  is  now 
with  the  literary  evidence.     The  reader  may  point  the  moral. 

We  will  take  the  manuscript  history  of  the  passage  first. 

The  codices  of  Cyprian^  de  Unitate  which  are  older  than 
the  tenth  century  are  as  follows : 

The  Seguier  manuscript  at  Paris ;  so  styled  from  its  first 
known  possessor  the  great  Chancellor,  from  whom  it  passed  to 
the  Prince  Bishop  Coislin  of  Metz,  thence  to  the  Abbey  of 
S.  Germain  des  Pr^s  by  his  gift,  thence  after  the  fire  of  1793 
to  the  Library  of  Paris,  where  it  is  now.  It  is  a  most 
precious  volume  of  the  Sixth  or  the  Seventh  century  pre- 
serving the  most  genuine  readings  and  oldest  forms  of  words, 
and  it  is  distinguished  in  collations  as  S. 

The  Verona  Codex  of  the  Sixth  or  Seventh  century  (V), 
an  uncial  MS.  which  was  given  to  Charles  Borromeo  by  the 
canons  of  Verona,  used  by  Latinius  in  preparing  his  notes  for 
the  edition  of  Manutius,  and  further  known  to  us  by  his 
collations,  copies  of  which  were  in  the  hands  of  Baluze  and 
Rigault,  and  another  copy  is  extant  at  Gottingen.  A  some- 
what inaccurate  collation  was  also  made  by  R.  Rigby  for 
Bp.  Fell.    Latinius  was  certain  that  it  was  of  the  Sixth  century. 

^  Hartel,  Praef.  ii.,  iii.,  v.,  ix.,  xii.,  xiv.,  xix.,  xxii.,  xxiii.,  Ixxx.,  Ixxxiv. 


IV.  III.  THE  INTERPOLATIONS  AND  THE  MANUSCRIPTS.     20$ 

The  Codex  Beneventanus  (called  also  Neapolitanus)  was 
one  of  the  best  manuscripts \  We  are  acquainted  with  it 
from  the  collations  made  by  Ant.  Agostino  Bishop  of  Alifi  and 
used  by  Rigault,  and  those  made  by  Rigby  for  Bishop  Fell. 

The  MS.  of  Wiirzburg  (W)  of  the  Eighth  or  Ninth  century, 
ascribed  by  some  to  the  Seventh. 

The  codices  Reginensis  ii6  (R)  and  San  Gallensis  89  (G), 
both  of  the  Ninth. 

In  not  one  of  these  manuscripts  have  the  italicised  words 
appeared  in  any  shape. 

Of  Trecensis  (Q)  of  the  Eighth  or  Ninth  Century,  and  of 
Monacensis  (M)  of  the  Ninth,  we  will  speak  presently. 

The  great  scholar  Latino  Latini,  Canon  of  Viterbo,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  80  in  1593,  tells  us  he  had  seen  seven 
manuscripts  (integros)  of  Cyprian  in  the  Vatican  in  which  all 
these  words  were  wanting^ 

Baluze^  says  that  he  had  himself  seen  twenty-seven 
manuscripts  without  them. 

Bishop  Fell  used  four  English  codices  of  which  none 
have  a  trace  of  our  italics*;  and  besides  these  four  English 
manuscripts  (to  which  we  add  a  Pembroke  codex  missed 
by  him^)  all  have  only  the  additional  Post-Resurrection 
Charge  to  St  Peter,  (a  mere  parallel  text,)  without  any  word  at 
all  about  the  Chair,  the  Primacy  of  Peter,  the  Unity  of  Peter, 
or  the  desertion  of  the  Church  founded  on  Peter.  These 
manuscripts  are  all  of  the  tenth  century  or  later. 

Baluze®  says  that  the  German  manuscripts  of  the  time  of 

^  Hartel,  pp.  citatis.  For  a  description  and  new  collations 

^  Latino  Latini,  Bibliotheca  Sacra  et  ofthe  English  manuscripts  see  Appendix 

Prof  ana  a  D.  Macro  (Magri),  Romse  at  end  of  this  volume. 

1677,  p.  179.  '  Viz.   Bod.  2,    Lambeth,    Lincoln, 

3  Cypriani    Opera.     Baluze.    Paris,  N.  C.  i,  and  Pem.  2.     [Fell's  readings 

1726,  p.  545.     Comm.  in  loc.  of    Voss'    Mss.    have    not     been     re- 

*  Viz.  Bod.  I,  Ebor,  New  College  2,  vised.] 

Sarum.     In  spite  of  these  Fell  kept  the  ^  Cypriani  Opera.     Paris,   1726,   p. 

interpolated  post-resurrection  charge  to  545. 
Peter. 


206  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

Venericus  bishop  of  Vercelli*  seem  not  to  have  had  these 
words ;  nor  are  they  found  in  any  of  the  earlier  editions  (or 
their  numerous  reprints)  of  Cyprian  which  appeared  before 
that  of  Manutius  in  1563  and  which  represent  to  us  many 
manuscripts  which  have  long  disappeared'. 

We  must  now  see  what  authority  there  is  in  favour  of 
the  italics  against  this  mass  of  negative  evidence. 

In  1568  Jacques  De  Pamele,  canon  of  Bruges,  brought  out 
his  Cyprian.  Ignorant  of  the  facts  and  of  Latini's  griefs  (of 
which  we  shall  presently  speak),  he  accepted  Manutius' 
edition  as  representing  the  famous  Verona  manuscript.  But 
as  Latini  hinted  'he  had  no  nose';  he  was  absurd  enough 
to  think  the  spurious  tract  *  on  Dice-players '  was  in 
Cyprian's  style,  and  careless  enough  to  say  that  its  Latin 
texts  were  in  Cyprianic  form.  He  surrendered  himself  to 
a  manuscript'  belonging  to  the  abbey  of  Cambron*  in 
Hainault,  which  was  more  interpolated  throughout  than 
any  known  copy.  He  thought  it  confirmed  the  Verona 
reading. 

The  corruption  according  to  Baluze  was  found  also  in 
an  ancient  manuscript  of  Marcello  Cervini,  afterwards  Pope 
Marcellus  II.,  and  this  one  was  used  by  Onofrio  Panvinio^ 
It  was  found  in  a  certain  Bavarian  manuscript  which  Bishop 
Fell   knew  only   through   Gretser^   who   assures   us   it    was 

^  A.D.    1078 — 1082.      Gams,   Series  him  {Epp.  i.  p.  309),  admires  the  con- 

Episcoporttm,  p.  825.  dition  in  which  we  should  see  ancient 

2  Very  inaccurate  accounts  of  these  authors  'in  aliam  formam  a  nativa  de- 
editions  are  prefixed  to  the  editions  of  generasse'  if  they  were  edited  as  his 
Baluzius  by  Maran  and  of  Fell,  and  re-  friend  edits  'contra  fidem  codicum.' 
peated  in  the  Oxford  translation  of  Cy-  *  Codex  Cambronensis — '  interpola- 
prian,  p.  151  (Library  of  the  Fathers).  tior  interpolatissimis' — Hartel. 
Hartel  has  examined  and  given  a  careful  '  Baluze,  Cypr.  Opera,  p.  545  ;  Pan- 
account  of  them  in  his  '  Praefatio.'  \imo,  De  Prim.  Petr.  p.  4,  only  alludes 

'  Not  that  manuscripts  caused  Jacques  to  '  scripta  exemplaria.' 

De  Pamele  unreasonable  trouble.    Lati-  '  J.  Gretser,  de  jure  et  more  prohi- 

nius,  in  one  of  his  polished  letters  to  bendi,   expurgandi^   et  abolendi   libros 


IV.  III.  THE  MANUSCRIPT  EVIDENCE  OF  THE  FORGERIES.  20/ 

of  'the  highest  stamp.'  We  shall  however  presently  know 
more  about  it  if  the  reader  will  only  bear  in  mind  that  this 
was  evidently  the  Munich  manuscript, — Monacensis  or  M. 

The  manuscripts  which  have  this  passage  have  it  with 
all  the  varieties,  omissions,  and  transpositions  which  uni- 
versally indicate  corruption  of  text.  The  oldest  which  has 
additions  like  those  in  Manutius  is  one  of  the  tenth  century. 
It  belonged  to  Isaac  Voss  and  is  called  h :  it  is  copied 
partly  from  T,  and  partly  from  interpolated  manuscripts\ 
But  we  may  pass  it  over  as  we  shall  meet  the  corruption 
higher  up  the  stream.  Similarly  we  need  not  here  concern 
ourselves  about  a  manuscript  of  the  fifteenth  century  in  the 
Bodleian*  which  has  a  like  tale  to  tell. 

But  there  is  one^  in  the  Bodleian  of  the  eleventh,  or 
perhaps  the  tenth  century,  which  exhibits  well  the  most 
peculiar  and  interesting  phenomenon  connected  with  the 
manuscripts.  There  once  existed  a  manuscript  of  Cyprian 
of  which  three  others  now  extant  belonging  to  the  tenth 
and  earlier  centuries  are  copies.  These  three  are  the 
Troyes  Codex, — Trecensis,  or  Q,  of  the  eighth  or  ninth 
century ;  the  Munich  codex, — Monacensis,  or  M,  of  the 
ninth  ;  and  the  Bodleian  just  named,  of  the  tenth  or  eleventh. 
These  three  are  all  copied  from  copies  of  one  lost  manuscript 
which  we  may  call  the  Archetype*. 


hareticos  et  noxios.  (Ingoldstadt,  1603,  Monacensis,  M,  are  independent  copies 
Lib.  11.,  c.  7,  p.  303.)  He  says  he  fell  ofone  copy  ofthe  lost  Archetype  (Hartel, 
upon  this  codex  '  in  Bavarica  bibliotheca  p.  xxxv).  Our  Bodleian,  which  is  not 
— membranaceum...optim3e  notae.'  See  described  by  Hartel,  is  not  copied  from 
Appendix,  p.  549,  as  to  its  readings.  that  same  copy  of  the  lost  manuscript, 
^  Hartel,  p.  xl.  He  says  ^the  same  for  though  it  has  the  interpolations 
additions,'  pp.  xi.  and  xii.  n.,  but  almost  the  same,  still  its  readings  de- 
it  is  worse  than  Manutius  in  reading  viate  from  M  and  Q,  and  these  devia- 
'this  unity  of  Peter's'  instead  of  'this  tions  are  better  and  more  genuine  read- 
unity  of  the  Church. '  ings.     It  was  copied  then  from  a  lost 

2  Fell's 'Bod.  3.'  manuscript  other  and  better  than  the 

3  Fell's    'Bod.    4,'    loth    or     nth  immediate  original  of  M   and  Q.     If 
cent.  with  Hartel  we   call   M  and  Q's  lost 

*  The   Codex    Trecensis,    Q,     and  original   <X>   we  may  call   the  lost 


2oS  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

Now  it  seems  almost  incredible  but  it  is  true  that 
these  manuscripts  should  reveal  so  minutely  as  they  do 
the  manipulation  practised  on  their  forefather.  Codices  M 
and  Q  give  the  interpolated  passage  in  full,  and  having 
come  to  the  end  of  it  with  its  four  inserted  clauses  they 
proceed  without  stop  or  stay  to  give  the  genuine  passage 
without  any  interpolations  at  all.  First  comes  the  doctored 
recension  which  the  scribe  of  the  Archetype  was  intended, 
by  the  person  who  directed  him,  to  substitute  for  the 
original.  This  remodelled  paragraph  was  finished  up  with 
an  emphatic  repetition  of  the  keyword  with  which  it 
began — '  He  built  His  Church  upon  One\'  But  the  thrice- 
fortunate  copier  supposed  this  final  repeated  keyword  to 
be  the  cue  in  the  original  from  which  he  was  to  go 
on.  Accordingly  having  copied  out  his  interpolated  pattern 
schedule  he  went  on  from  those  words  in  the  genuine 
manuscript  before  him,  and  wrote  out  in  his  simplicity  the 
genuine  passage  which  began  with  them'^.  The  Bodleian 
Codex  gives  first  three  interpolated  clauses  only  but  in 
its  repetition  of  the  whole  passage  inserts  the  fourth  inter- 
polation. 

If  any  one  asks,  How  copyists  could  so  flagrantly  go  on 
giving  a  genuine  and  an  interpolated  text  on  the  same  page, 
we  can  only  be  thankful  to  the  fatuous  or  cynical  fidelity 
which  wrote  out  what  was  before  it.  Many  and  inferior 
manuscripts  give  only  the  corrupt  form.  But  the  double 
form  went  on  being  copied  for  a  long  time.  For  example, 
the  third  Bodleian  MS.  of  Fell,  as  we  have  mentioned,  has 
still  the  duplicate  form*  as  late  as  the  fifteenth  century, — 
and   what    is   still    more   remarkable   the  Jesuit   theologian 

original  of  the  Bodleian   <X  i>.     It  words  'That  the  Church  of  Christ  may 

is  coordinate  with  Hartel's  <X>and  be  shewn  as  one.* 

<Y>.  *  See   Appendix f   p.   549.      Hartel, 

^  'Super  unum  sedifiraz'iV  ecclesiam,'  Prsef.  pp.  x.,  xi.,  xliii.,  notes  pp.  an, 

just   as  others  have  similarly  empha-  213. 

sized  by  redoubling  them  the  similar  *  Bod.  3,  Laud  Misc.  217. 


IV.  III.  INTERPOLATIONS  FORCED  ON  MANUTIUS*  TEXT.    2O9 

Gretser  copies  it  out  double  word  for  word  in  triumphant 
fury  to  demolish  Thomas  James  the  'English  Calvinian,'  to 
prove  as  he  says  that  '  papistae  have  seen  manuscripts  \' 

Thus  if  there  never  was  a  viler  fraud  than  the  inventor's, 
there  was  never  a  worse  nemesis  than  the  honest  obtuseness 
of  his  instrument. 

We  must  now  enquire  how  interpolations  against  which 
the  manuscripts  bore  such  conclusive  evidence  came  to  be 
embodied  for  the  first  time  in  the  edition  of  Paulus  Manutius 
in  1563  after  all  earlier  editions  and  reprints  had  escaped 
them^ 

The  son  of  the  great  Aldus  had  been  two  years  settled  in 
Rome,  loaded  with  every  kindness,  honour,  and  privilege  ;  his 
failing  health  spared  by  a  staff  of  able  correctors  who  were 
assigned  to  him  for  the  great  undertaking  of  the  new  Papal 
press  in  Greek,  Latin  and  the  Vernacular.  Cyprian  was  the 
first  author  issued  from  that  press.  Charles  Borromeo  had 
been  truly  anxious  for  the  restoration  of  the  text  of  Cyprian 
to  its  primitive  integrity.  The  Verona  manuscript  had  been 
procured  by  him  for  the  purpose. 

The  editing  of  the  text  was  committed  to  Latino  Latini. 
Besides  'collecting  with  many  watchings  and  labours'  an 
illustrative  commentary  on  obscure  passages,  he  made 
accurate  collations  and  prepared  a  brief  critical  commentary 
on  the  readings^  In  one  of  his  private  letters'*  he  complains 
that  after  the  most  conscientious  labour  upon  the  text  he 
found  that,  while  passing  through  the  press,  not  only  were 
Biblical  quotations  altered  to  conformity  with  the  Vulgate, 
but  besides,  '  whether  it  was  at  the  mere  pleasure  of  certain 

^  Gretser,   I.e.   p.   303   (Ingoldstadt  ascertains  that  he  had  of  our   extant 

1603).  ones  Vat.  (0)  n.  199  and  prob.  Mona- 

"  Hartel  names  10  edd.,  and    there  censis  (/t). 

were  at  least  20,  including  reprints  of  *  Ad  Andr.  Masium   (Maes)    II.    p. 

Erasmus.  109  [Hartel,  p.  x.,  of.  p.  Ixxx.],  and 

'  Besides  the  Verona  and  Benevento  Life  of  Latini  prefixed  to  the  Biblio- 

'(or   Naples)   codex,   Hartel,  p.  Ixxx.,  theca. 

B.  14 


2IO  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

*  persons  or  of  set  design,  he  knew  not,  some  passages  were 
'  retained  contrary  to  the  evidence  of  the  manuscripts,  and  even 

*  some  additions  made!  Under  these  circumstances  he  would 
not  allow  his  name  to  be  connected  with  the  edition, '  deeming 
'  it  no  light  crime  to  conceal  the  truth  or  to  alter  the  smallest 
'  letter/  and  withdrew  his  annotations.  In  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra 
et  Profatia,  or  collected  notes  of  the  same  critic \  he  mentions 
three  epistles  of  Cyprian  first  discovered  by  himself  in  the 
MS.  then  at  Saint  Salvadore's  at  Bologna,  and  in  two 
Vatican  MSS.,  of  which  epistles  the  arrogant  8th  letter  from 
the  Roman  Clergy  which  Cyprian  treats  contemptuously  was 
one.  These  he  says  the  superior  authorities"  would  not  allow 
to  be  published  '  un-emended,'  and  accordingly  the  8th 
epistle  does  not  appear  at  all  in  that  edition.  They  refused 
also  to  allow  the  anti-Roman  epistle  of  Firmilian  to  be 
'  brought  forth  out  of  darkness  ' — but  in  this  Latini  seems  to 
have  acquiesced,  '  detesting  the  man's  petulance*.'  Upon  a 
remark  of  Pamelius*  censuring  a  certain  reading  of  Manutius 
a  few  lines  forward  in  the  De  Unitate,  he  observes  '  this 
'  is  one  of  the  alterations  which  were  made  neither  by  me,  nor 
'by  Manutius,  but  by  one  who  had  permission  to  pervert, 
'  to  add,  to  cut  out,  or  to  corrupt  whatever  he  would,  against 
'  my  will.' 

That  our  present  interpolations  were  among  this  per- 
sonage's manipulations  is  clear  from  Latini's  statement  on 
the  same  page,  that  he  had  7iever  seen  these  in  any  manu- 
script except  '  in  a  fragment  very  recently  written  at  Bologna, 
' — a  small  book  containing  only  a  few  treatises  of  Cyprian, 
'belonging  to  Vianesius  de  Albergatis, — and  also  in  a  com- 
'plete  copy  at  Bologna  (from  which  the  said  fragment  was 
'  copied)  which  was  itself  also  written  in  a  recent  hand.' 

There  is  in   the  Library  at  Gottingen^  a  copy  (brought 

"^  Bibl.  Sacr.et  Prof.,^.  \-]j^b.  «  ramel.,    Cypr.    (Antv.    1568),    p. 

*  Qui  prseerant,  I.e.  262  a,  note  4.    B.  S.  et  P.,  p.  179  a. 

3  B.  S.  et  P.,  p.  177^.  '  Hartel,  p.  xi.  and  p.  21311. 


IV.  III.   INTERPOLATIONS  FORCED  ON  MANUTIUS'  TEXT.    211 

from  Venice)  of  the  edition  of  Manutius,  with  notes  written  on 
its  margin.  Those  notes  are  copies  of  manuscript  notes  by 
Latini.  One  of  these  notes  says  upon  this  place,  '  These 
'  words  were  added  out  of  a  single  manuscript  belonging  to 
'  Virosius  (a  clerical  error  for  Vianesius)  of  Bologna,  now  in 
'  the  Vatican,  by  P.  Gabriel  the  Poenitentiary  with  the  consent 
'  of  the  Master  of  the  Sacred  Palace.'  So  close  a  chain  of 
evidence  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  time,  manner  and  per- 
formers of  the  interpolation. 

The  most  competent  editor  of  his  age  and  country  felt 
compelled  to  resign  his  work  because  he  was  powerless  to 
prevent  the  Theologues  of  the  Vatican  from  remodelling  his 
text.     But  we  are  not  quite  at  the  end  of  this  strange  story. 

In  the  Council  of  Trent  in  the  year  1563  the  debate  was  at 
its  height  'whether  Bishops  have  their  powers  of  Divine  right 
or  of  Papal  right^.'  The  ambiguous  canon  proposed  from 
Rome,  that  bishops  hold  the  principal  place  dependent  on 
the  pope,  was  under  discussion  with  a  view  to  substituting 
for  it,  chief  under  the  pope  but  not  dependent.  Quotations 
from  Cyprian  were  rife.  About  the  20th  of  June,  Carlo 
Visconti,  Bp.  of  Ventimiglia,  the  pope's  secret  minister  at 
Trent,  and  his  spy  upon  his  legates,  an  experienced  diplo- 
matist and  '  man  of  exact  judgment,'  received  letters  from 
Rome  telling  him  that  the  new  Cyprian  had  appeared,  with 
the  passages  which  the  correctors  had  expunged  from  the  De 
Unitate'\  The  possible  effect  on  the  Council  itself  was  serious. 
Visconti  went  straight  to  Agostino,  now  bishop  of  Lerida,  a 
great  lawyer,  diplomatist  and  antiquarian,  who  had  received 
the  same  intelligence  and  with  it  a  copy  of  the  new  book.  He 
could  tell  Visconti  that  Latini  himself  had  many  days  back 
communicated  the  facts  to  Cardinal  Hosio  (Osius) ;  facts  which 
he  thoroughly  understood,  for  it  was  he  who  had  years  before 

^  De  jure  divino,  de  jure  pontificio.  -  Visconti    wrote  '  de    Authoritate. ' 

See  Sarpi,  Books  vi.,  vii.,  esp.  vii.  52.       An  apt  slip. 

14 — 2 


212  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

made  the  collation  of  the  Benevento  manuscript.  The  Agent 
told  the  one  Legate  whom  the  pope  trusted  there,  Cardinal 
Simoneta, and  on  June  22nd  advised  the  Vatican  that  'before 
such  an  opinion  got  established '  as  that  the  correctors  had 
been  overruled, '  they  should  find  means  to  remove  it ;  which 
'  could  be  done  by  giving  authority  to  those  words  which  had 
'  been  published,  authenticating  them  with  the  testimony  and 
'  approbation  of  persons  who  had  seen  and  confronted  the 
'  antient  codices  V 

So  writes  one  who  had  just  recorded  the  'testimony'  of 
the  persons  who  had  'confronted'  the  antient  codices, — the 
verdict  of  the  correctors. 

Even  in  1 563  it  was  a  little  late  for  such  measures.  But 
the  note  actually  attached  to  the  volume  is  now  full  of 
meaning ^  It  ends  thus,  'It  is  not  improper  if  pious  and 
'catholic  interpretations  and  true  senses  be  applied  to  the 
'  writings  of  the  old  fathers  in  order  to  preserve  always  the 
'  unity  of  the  Church  which  Cyprian  in  his  writings  had  most 
'  at  heart.  Otherwise  no  end  to  heresies  and  schisms.'  This 
must  have  sounded  mysterious  to  the  unsuspecting  student 
of  Cyprian  ;  and  they  were  few  who  knew  that  they  were 
meant  at  once  to  gloze  the  gloss  and  to  defend  the  scholar- 
ship of  the  perpetrators. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  interpolations  in  the  edition 
of  Manutius  where  they  first  appeared. 

Their  appearance  in  the  Benedictine  edition  is  no  less 
remarkable. 

Baluze  had  rejected  them  on  the  weighty  evidence  which 
he   states  with  utmost  clearness^  and  had    printed    off  the 

^  Epp.  Car.  Vicecomitis,  L.   xlv.  al  manuscripts,  Latini's   account,  the   27 

Card.  Borromeo  [Baluze,  Miscell.  III.,  codices,  the  condition  of  the  text  temp, 

p.  472  (Mansi),  Lucae  1761 — 1764].  See  Venerici  Vercell.,  and  the  citations  (see 

Appendix,  Visconti's  Letter,  p.  544.  below)  by  Calixtus  II.,  the  cardinals  in 

2  See  same  Appendix,  p.  545.  1408,  and  the  Roman  Correctors  (see 

*  His  witnesses  being  (as  we  have  p.  218,  n.  5)  p.  545  (Paris  ed.  1726). 
indicated)  the  Seguierian  and  Veronese 


IV.III.  INTERPOLATIONS  FORCED  ON  BENEDICTINE  TEXT.   21$ 

sheets  without  them.  His  death  in  171 8  interrupted  the  work 
which  had  been  committed  by  order  of  the  Regent  Duke 
of  Orleans  to  the  Royal  Press.  In  1724  it  was  resumed  for 
completion  by  the  Benedictines  of  S.  Maur  at  the  request 
of  '  Typographiae  Regiae  Praefectus/  and  entrusted  to  Dom 
Prudent  Maran.  Baluze  had  formerly  been  banished  by 
Louis  XIV.  and  his  property  confiscated,  for  publishing 
in  his  History  of  the  House  of  Auvergne  fragments  of  a 
cartulary  and  an  obituary  which  shewed  the  descent  of 
the  Cardinal  de  Bouillon  from  a  sovereign  house  in  France'. 
He  had  been  placed  in  the  Index  by  the  court  of  Rome  on 
account  of  his  Lives  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon.  And  now 
his  genuine  text  of  this  passage  in  Cyprian  was  assailed 
by  J.  du  Mabaret,  Professor  in  the  seminary  at  Angers,  in 
a  dissertation'^  which  he  submitted  to  Cardinal  Fleury,  now 
Minister,  to  the  dominant  Jesuits,  and  others  in  the  interest 
of  the  holy  see.  The  minister  named  a  commission  to 
decide  the  critical  question.  It  was  understood  that  a  diffi- 
culty with  the  court  of  Rome  would  follow  the  omission  of 
the  passages  from  an  edition  issued  under  the  authority  of  the 
ministry.  It  was  decided  to  restore  them.  The  prince  of 
courtiers,  the  Due  d'Antin,  of  whom  it  was  said  that  he  acted 
flatteries  which  others  spoke,  was  charged  with  the  delicate 
office.  He  requested  Dom  Maran  to  'confer'  with  the  abbe 
Targny^     The  result  of  the  'conference'  was  what  printers 

1  The  accuracy  and  honesty  of  Ba-  the  admirable  Camille  Le  Tellier,  abbe 

luze  in  that  most  curious  of  historical  de  Louvois,  to  whom  he  was  'Theo- 

disputes  are  demonstrated  by  M.  Ch.  logian,'   and    after   Le   Tellier's    early 

Loriquet,    'Le   cardinal   de    Bouillon,  death,  the  confidence  of  the  Cardinal 

Baluze,   Mabillon  et  Th.  Ruinart,  &c.'  de   Rohan,    and   died    in    1737.      See 

Rheims,  1870.  Sainte  Beuve,  Index  de /"(jr-/ i?^^a/.  The 

-  Lettred'uns9avantd'A.auxAuteurs  Latin  rendering  of  Chiniac  (see  p.  216, 

des  Memoires  de  Trevoux  pour  reclamer  n.    i)  confuses   the  history  by  a  mis- 

un   Passage  important  de    S.  Cyprien  translation  worth  noting.    'Cum  abbate 

pret  k  6tre  enleve  par  de  celebres  Edi-  Targny    (theologo    Domini    le    Tellier 

teurs.     Memoires  de  Trevoux  for  Oct.  dicti  Abbatis  de  Louvois)  tunc  in  rebus 

1726.     See  Appendix,  p.  e^^6.  ecclesiasticis     partes     agentis.''       The 

*  Targny  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Abbe  de  Louvois  had  died  in  17 18  and 


214  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

call  'a  cancel.'  The  leaf  was  reprinted  with  the  interpola- 
tions inserted,  at  the  expense  of  typographical  as  well  as 
moral  symmetry,  Baluze's  note  greatly  reduced,  and  a 
parenthesis  incorporated  with  it  stating  that  'it  had  been 
'necessary  to   alter  much  in  Baluze's   notes,  and   that  more 

*  would  have  been  altered  if  it  could  have  been  cofivenienily 

*  effected.'  The  double  sense  of  the  words  can  scarcely  be 
missed  \  The  sole  ground  alleged  for  the  reintroduction  is  that 
the  'words  had  appeared  in  all  French  editions  for  150  years, 
even  in  that  of  Rigault' — the  truth  being  that  Rigault 
in  his  foot-notes  repudiates  them  and  prints  the  uncorrupt 
text  in  full. 

I  perceive — and  anyone  who  will  look  in  the  first  edition 
published  at  Paris  in  1726  may  perceive — in  that  magnificent 
volume  the  traces  of  this  sad  story.  On  page  195  the  interpo- 
lation has  been  introduced.  In  order  to  make  room  for  it  this 
and  the  next  page  have  been  reprinted  with  forty-seven  lines 
of  type,  there  being  through  the  rest  of  the  volume  only  forty- 
six  lines  to  a  page.  On  these  or  on  the  adjoining  pages  he 
will  find  also  the  traces  of  the  binder's  'guards'  by  which 
the  separately  printed  pages  have  been  inserted. 

The  Index  seems  to  yield  the  same  evidence.  It  fails  to 
register  'cathedra,  primatus,  pastores,  grex'  from  page  195, 
apparently  because  the  clauses  containing  them  were  foisted 
into  it  after  the  Index  had  been  printed  off,  although  it  gives 
the  same  words  abundantly  from  other  passages,  and  though 
other  words  from  the  genuine  part  of  that  page  are  given 
copiously :  e.g. '  apostoli '  is  quoted  from  it  twice,  but  not  from 
the  forged  part. 


his  eloge  was  delivered  at  the  Academic  parentheses  are  as  I  give  them, 
des    Sciences    at    Easter    1719.     The  ^  'Quin  etiam  necesse  fiat  in  Baluzii 

French  is  'conferer  avec  I'abbe  Targny  Notis  non  pauca  mutare,  ac  plura  essent 

(Theologien   de  le  Tellier,  dit  I'Abbe  mutata,  id  si  fowwoa'^  fieri  potuisset' — 

de   Louvois)    qui  jouoit  alors  un   role  Maran's   parenthetic   note  p.   545  (ed. 

dans  les    affaires    de    I'^glise.'     The  Paris  1726)  on  p.  195. 


IV.  III.  ORIGIN   OF  THE  FORGERIES.  215 

Dom  Maran's  preface  betrays  the  very  moment  of  the 
change.  For  it  was  made  after  that  preface  was  actually  in 
print.  He  there  cites  the  passage  with  only  the  early 
and  honest  addition  'et  iterum  eidem  post  resurrectionem 
suam...^'  and  proceeds  'I  quote  this  testimony  [of  Cyprian's] 
'just  as  it  is  contained  in  this  edition  of  Baluze's,  but  the 
'words  of  Cyprian  are  read  differently  in  the  editions  of 
*  Manutius  and  PameliusV 

In  the  notes  which  are  placed  in  this  Paris  edition  at  the 
end  of  the  volume,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  cancel  what 
must  have  been  far  the  largest  part  of  Baluze's  original  note. 
A  whole  sheet,  a  pair  of  leaves,  printed  off  before  his  death, 
had  to  be  entirely  removed,  viz.  pages  545  and  546.  In  order 
to  preserve  the  continuity  of  the  paging  two  leaves  which 
precede  and  follow  the  abstracted  ones,  and  which  also  had 
to  be  reprinted,  have  two  page-numbers  on  each  of  their  two 
pages.  Thus,  page  543  is  now  numbered  also  544;  what 
would  have  been  544  is  now  545  and  546,  and  so  on  until 
page  551,  when  the  single  numbering  of  the  pages  is  resumed. 
Similarly,  at  the  foot  of  the  same  leaves,  the  notations 
GgggS  3-"d  Gggggij  which  designated  the  filched  sheet  have 
been  affixed  additionally  to  their  neighbours  Fffffij  and 
Hhhhh. 

Professor  Mabaret  now  had  a  sight  for  the  first  time  of 
Baluze's  original  note,  upon  which  he  penned  some  elaborate' 


^  It  is  necessary  to  observe  also  that  sequimur  non  solum  editionibus  Manu- 

Baluze  wrote  :  Super  ilium  unum  sedi-  tiana  antiquioribus  sed  etiam  codicum 

ficat...&c.     Praef.  p.  X.  manuscriptorum  auctoritate '  (Paris  ed. 

2  Prsef.  p.  X.     'Hoc  testimonium  ita  1726,  p.  545).     The  Venice  ed.   1758 

protuliuthabeturinhacBaluziieditione.  (p.  461)  adds  '  confirmatur.' 

Sed  Cypriani  verba  aliter  leguntur  in  ^  *  ...I'apostilla  de  point  en  point,' 

editionibus  Manutii  ac  Pamelii.'  In  the  Chiniac,  as  note  3.     Mabaret's  paper 

mutilated   note  the  Benedictine  editor  had  the  grand  title  '  Baluzii  in  Cypriani 

has  left  one  sentence  without  a  verb —  locum  Primatus  Petro,  &=€.  primigenia 

♦  sed  tamen  scriptura,  quam  in  contextu  Observatio  censoria  virgula  castigata.' 


2l6  CYPRIAN  AND  PELAGIUS  PAPA  SECUNDUS. 

annotations    which     the    editors    did    not    consider    worth 
printing  \ 

III.  I.  What,  lastly,  is  the  Origin  of  the  interpolated 
passages  themselves?  It  will  be  observed  that  they  are  four. 
To  the  first,  namely  'And  to  the  same  apostle,  &c.'  applies 
the  remark  of  Latinius  that  the  corrections  have  crept  in  from 
marginal  summaries,  not  all  at  once  but  from  time  to  time. 
This  is  the  oldest  of  all,  occurring  in  manuscripts  which  have 
no  other  trace  of  addition.  It  is  simply  a  second  text  ad- 
duced and  affirmed  to  be  illustrative  of  that  which  Cyprian 
had  quoted.  The  word  ilhun,  'upon  that  one'  apostle,  is 
alone  later  and  polemic. 

2.  The  second  interpolation  'established  one  chair' 
apparently  exists  only  in  the  most  corrupted  manuscripts^ 
It  is  omitted  even  by  Maran  when  replacing  the  forgeries. 
It  makes  nonsense  of  the  argument  as  regards  its  order,  but 
may  also  have  been  a  marginal  note. 

3  and  4.  The  opening  words  'and  the  Primacy  is  given 
to  Peter'  of  the  third  interpolation  had  a  similar  origin.  For 
in  that  state,  in  the  form  namely,  'Here  the  primacy  is  given 
to  Peter,'  Cardinal  Hosius'  mentioned  that  they  existed  still 
in  a  manuscript  of  his  own,  where  they  found  place  immedi- 
ately before  the  first  interpolation. 

But  the  rest  has  a  very  different  origin. 

The  Bishops  of  Istria  had  from  the  time  of  Vigilius 
onward  contended  against  the  authority  of  the  second  Council 


^  The  history  of  the  Paris  edition  is  Cambronensis.  On  the  source  of  atque 
given  in  the  Catalogus  Operum  Steph.  rationem  B2  Fern.,  atque  rationem  sua 
Baliizii  by  P.  de  Chiniac  prefixed  to  B3B4,  atque  orationis  suae  M  after 
Baluze's  Capitularia  regum  Francorum  originem,  see  Appendix  on  the  Inter- 
Paris  1780,   I.  pp.  73,  74,  and  in  his  polation,  p.  550. 

Histoire    des    Capitulaires    1779   (the  ^  Ap.    Pamelii   adnot.  (Cypr.    1568, 

same  essay  and  Appendix  in  French),  p.  261)  and  Lat.  Latinius  Bibl.  S.  et  P., 

pp.  226 — 228.  p.    178.     Latinius  here  writes  Hosius, 

2  MQ.,  B3B4  Pern,  and  Pamelius's  but  in  his  Letters  he  writes  Osius. 


IV.  III.  EXTRA   PLEAS.  21/ 

of  Constantinople  as  having  virtually  censured  that  of  Chal- 
cedon.  In  A.D.  585  Pelagius  the  Second  invoked  the  effective 
authority  of  the  Exarch  Smaragdus  of  Ravenna  and  in  an 
Epistle  to  the  Bishops  appealed  to  the  'terrible  testimonies 
of  the  fathers' — as  he  may  well  call  his  own  quotations. 
Among  them  Pelagius  alleges  a  passage  from  Augustine 
which  has  never  been  identified  and  bears  small  resemblance 
to  the  views  of  that  father.  Then,  four  centuries  before  its 
appearance  in  any  known  or  any  evidenced  manuscript  of 
Cyprian,  Pelagius  produces  the  passage  from  the  De  Unitate, 
with  the  interpolations  which  we  are  now  considering,  and 
without  the  citation  from  the  Canticles.     Thus, 

Aye  and  Blessed  Cyprian  too,  that  noble  martyr,  in  the  book 
which  he  called  after  the  name  of  Unity,  among  other  things  says 
thus :  '  The  beginning  sets  out  from  unity  :  and  Primacy  is  given  to 
'  Peter,  that  one  Church  of  Christ  and  one  Chair  may  be  pointed 
'  out  :  and  all  are  pastors,  but  one  flock  is  shewn,  to  be  fed  by  the 
'apostles  with  one-hearted  accord,'  and  a  few  words  later,  '  He  that 
'holds  not  this  Unity  of  the  Church  does  he  believe  that  he  holds 
'the  faith.''  He  who  deserts  and  rebells'^  the  Chair  of  Peter,  on 
^  which  the  Church  was  fotinded,  does  he  trust  that  he  is  iti  the 
'  Church  r 

These  interpolations  can  never  have  been  meant  as  honest 
paraphrases.  The  manipulation  is  too  much.  However  here 
they  appear  for  the  first  time,  and  the  inspection  of  the 
passages  side  by  side  will  shew  how,  down  even  to  their 
omission  of  the  verse  of  Canticles,  the  later  recensions  of  the 
manuscripts  have  been  formed  upon  this  Epistle  of  Pelagius. 

The  omissions  are  as  evidence  of  design  no  less  instructive 
than  the  insertions,     i.     The  text  which  assigns  to  all  the 

1  Obsei"ve  the  retention  with  an  im-  itself  have  been  interpolated  from  manu- 

possible    construction    of  the   genuine  scripts   of  Cyprian.     Pelagii   Pap£E  ii. 

resistit  which  better  scholars  dropped  Ep.  6  (2  ad  Epp.  Istr.)  Labbe  (ed.  Ven. 

out  of  their  remodelled  Cyprianic  text.  1729),  vol.  vi.  c.  632. 

This  one  fact  also  prevents  our  accept-  See  with  '  Note  on  the  Citation  from 

ance  of  the  possibility  that  the  solitary  Pelagius    II.,'   p.   ■220,   Appendix    on 

manuscript  of  the  loth  century  which  the  Interpolation,  p.  551. 
contains  the   letter   of   Pelagius   may 


2l8    CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

apostles  the  remission  of  sins  is  left  out,  and  that  which  gives 
the  Feeding  of  the  Flock  to  Peter  is  substituted  for  it.  2.  Those 
expressions  are  left  out  which  indicate  that  unity  begins  from 
one  apostle,  as  being  to  the  corrector's  mind  inadequate.  3.  So 
also,  as  irrelevant  to  his  purpose,  is  the  text  of  Canticles. 

After  this  we  have  the  awkward  introduction  of  '  Paul's 
unity '  because  at  Rome  the  later  watchword  became  '  Peter 
and  Paul'  ;  and  the  reading  kanc  et  Pauli  unitatem.  is  the 
attempt  to  invoke  Paul  also  after  Petri  had  been  already 
adopted. 

We  must  also  note  the  force  of  the  earlier  interpolation 
ilium  before  unum.  The  contention  of  Cyprian  was  that  the 
Church  was  built  on  otie.  For  the  corrector's  purpose  it  must 
be  '  that  one.' 

Mgr.  Freppel's  last  argument  for  the  interpolations  is 
that  they  are  cited  in  the  Acts  of  Alexander  III.\  in 
the  Decretum  of  Gratian'*,  and  in  the  Decretum  of  Ivo  of 
Chartres'. 

If  such  quotations  in  the  twelfth  century  possessed  any 
importance,  it  would  be  more  worth  while  to  observe  on  the 
other  hand  (with  Baluze)  that  Pope  Calixtus  II.  in  a  Bulla  to 
Humbald  of  Lyons*,  that  the  Cardinals  of  Gregory  XII. 
assembled  at  Leghorn  in  A.D.  1408^,  and  that  the  Roman 

^  Baron.  Ann.  Eccl.  A.D.  1 164,  xxix.  ^  Baluze,  p.  545,  and  others  mention 

'  Hanc  igitur  unitatem  non  tenens  Fri-  this,  but  the  text  is  first  published  in 

dericus  Imperator  tenere  se  fidem  ere-  Bullaire  du   Pape   Calixte  II.   by  U. 

didit.  Qui Cathedram  Petri deserit super  Robert,  Paris,  iSpr  (l- p.  307;  B.  212, 

quam  fundata  est  ecclesia  quomodo  se  5  Jan.  1121). 

in  Ecclesia  esse  confidit.'     But  he  does  ^  Ep.  Cardinalium  Greg.  xii.  ad  Epis- 

not  give  the  'phrase  entiere'  as  Mgr.  copos A.D.  1409  (1408),  Labbe,  vol.  xv. 

Freppel  (p.  279  n.)  states.  p.  1159.     Nearly  all  of  c.  4  and  s  of 

2  A.D.  1 151.  Cyprian  are  quoted  without  one  trace  of 

3  A.D.  1090-1116,  Ivo  Z^ffr.  pars  v.c.  corruption,  although  the  interpolations 
361,  where  it  is  thus  quoted, '/'i?/rz  uni-  would  have  so  precisely  suited  their 
tatem  qui  non  tenet,  tenere  se  fidem  purpose  that  in  default  of  them  they  in 
credit?  Q\x\catkedramPetHsM^Gx  quam  fact  introduce  a  new  one  of  their  own 
fundata  est  Ecclesia  deserit,  in  Ecclesia  inserting  '  Episcopatus,  ergo  summus, 
se  esse  confidit  ? '  unus  esse  debet.'    [In  Bibliotheca  Max. 


IV.  III.  THE   PAPAL  PROFIT.  219 

Correctors,  with  the   edition   of  Manutius  before   them,  all 
gave  the  passage  pure  of  corruption. 

And  as  to  the  appeal  to  Gratian  who,  in  the  93rd  Distinc- 
tion \  quotes  as  from  Cyprian  the  4th  interpolation  thus, 
'He  who  deserts  the  chair  of  Peter  whereon  the  Church 
'  was  founded,  let  him  not  trust  that  he  is  in  the  Church,'  it 
actually  yields  us  a  fifth  instance  of  the  singular  fatality  which 
has  haunted  the  dealers  in  this  forgery,  for  in  another  passage 
Gratian''  cites  the  4th  and  5th  chapters  entire  from  'the  Lord 
saith  to  Peter,'  not  only  omitting  the  phrase  he  elsewhere 
cites  but  absolutely  without  any  trace  whatever  of  any  even 
the  earliest  corruptions. 

Singular,  hateful,  and  in  its  time  effective,  has  been  this 
forgery  as  a  Papal  aggression  upon  history  and  literature.  Its 
first  threads  may  have  been  marginal  summaries  in  exaggerated 
language.  Then  came  an  unwarrantable  paraphrase  and  a 
deliberate  mutilation  for  a  political  purpose.  Then  it  ap- 
peared in  manuscripts  of  the  author  with  its  indictment  round 
its  neck,  side  by  side  on  the  same  page  with  the  original  which 
it  caricatured.  Then  it  was  forced  into  two  grand  editions 
with  an  interval  of  a  century  and  a  half  between  them,  first 
by  the  court  of  Rome  itself,  then  by  the  court  of  France  with 
the  fear  of  Rome  before  its  eyes. 

TantcB  molis  erat  Romanam  condere  Sedem. 

This  is  the  true  'Charter  of  the  Investiture  of  the  Papacy' 
and  as  authentic  as  other  documents  in  that  cartulary. 


How  to  make  the  best  of  the  forgeries  now. 

The  surrender  by  some  of  so  important  a  help  suggested  to  others  the 
endeavour  to  do   without   it  by  weaving  together  different  texts   from 

Pontificia,  Rom.  1697,  torn.  vi.  p.  905,  ^  Decreti  Pars  I.  Dist.  xciii.  c.  iii. 

the    interpolations    are    not    only    not  ^  Decreti     Pars    II.     Causa    XXIV. 

omitted  but  specially  insisted  on.]     See  Quaestio  i.  c.  18. 
however,  Baluze,  pp.  545,  546. 


220  CYPRIAN  'OF  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.' 

Cyprian  to  shew  that  this  one  (in  its  corrupt  state)  represented  what  after 
all  was  his  real  teaching: — an  attempt  which  would  never  have  been 
thought  of  if  this  spurious  passage  had  not  first  caused  him  to  be  thought 
so  powerful  a  support.  This  is  done  with  the  utmost  special  pleading  by 
P.  Ballerini  A.D.  1766  de  vi  ac  ratione  pritnatus  Romtn.  Pontiff,  xill.  iii. 
ed.  Westhoflf  1845.  But  a  Catena  of  the  passages  is  given  sup.  pp.  197 
sqq.     To  any  fair  mind,  Roman  or  other,  I  commend  them. 

It  is  nothing  to  say  that  they  also  have  scholars  as  alive  to  the  forgeries 
as  we  are.  These  forgeries  have  been  important  steps  in  their  ascent  to 
power  and  maintenance  of  claim.  Unreproved  and  honoured  scholars 
of  theirs  still  uphold  their  genuineness  and  reprint  them  in  text-books. 
Others  with  superior  art  like  the  Rev.  L.  Rivington  avoid  quoting  the 
intruded  words,  but  force  the  whole  gist  of  them,  and  infallibility  besides, 
if  he  had  been  so  understood  antiently,  into  the  genuine  words.  If  such 
had  been  the  meaning  of  Cyprian,  the  forger  would  have  had  no  occasion 
for  his  craft. 


Note  on  the  'Citation'  from  Pelagiiis  II.  (p.  217). 

The  'Citation'  from  Pelagius  II.  is  of  course  the  decus  et  colutnen  of 
the  Roman  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  forgery.  But  there  are  three 
alternatives  (i),  (ii),  (iii),  which  have  to  be  faced.  I  will  call  the  text  (as 
it  stands)  of  Pelagius  II.  P,  as  seeming  less  to  insist  upon  his  personal 
responsibility  for  it. 

We  have  no  external  evidence  to  the  authenticity  of  the  first  two 
epistles  of  Pelagius  II.  to  the  Bishops  of  Istria,  beyond  the  fact  that 
the  third  alludes  to  some  earlier  'epistles'  and  'words  of  admonition.' 
Paulus  Diaconus  (Warnefridus),  de  gestis  Langobardorum  ill.  20,  men- 
tions '  an  Epistle '  of  his  (written  for  him  in  fact  by  Gregory  when  a 
deacon)  on  the  Tria  Capitula,  and  Gregory  Epp.  II.  36  mentions  'a 
Book '  {liber)  of  Pelagius,  on  the  subject.  The  '  Book '  is  no  doubt  our 
long  third  '  Epistle.'     Hence 

Alternative  (i).  If  the  second  Epistle  were  not  authentic  of  course  its 
testimony  to  the  interpolation  would  be  valueless. 

But  assume  it  to  be  authentic.  There  being  only  one  MS.  of  the  Three 
Epistles^  and  that  of  the  xth  century;  and  codex  M  of  Cyprian  being 
of  the  ixth  century;  we  ought  to  consider  whether  P  can  have  been 
interpolated  from  M  ox  its  relations.     Hence 

Alternative  (ii).    In  that  case  again  Pelagius  would  yield  no  evidence. 

^  Given  to  Baronius  by  Nicolas  Fabre,  cc.  434,  891,  895],  and  now  in  Paris. 
Baron.  Ann.  Eccl.  a.d.  586,  Pelag.  ix.,  See  Catalogus  codd.  MSS.  Bid/.  Reg. 
xxviii.  Labbe  [Mansi  ix.  Florent.  1763,       P.  3,  t.  3,  Paris  1744,  p.  170. 


IV.  Ill,  THE  'citation'   FROM   PELAGIUS   II.  221 

However  I  think  that  the  reading  of  the  Cyprianic  interpolation 
which  stands  in  P  is  not  derived  from  the  interpolation  which  appears 
in  codex  M.  Reference  to  the  Texts  in  Appendix  will  make  the  facts 
clear. 

It  was  of  course  not  sufficient  for  the  argument,  as  it  stands  in  P,  to 
rely  on  Ecclesice  without  express  mention  of  Cathedra  Petri.  Therefore 
for  Ecclesice  renititur  the  manipulator  has  put  Cathedram  Petri  deserit; 
but  he  has  left  et  resistit  coupled  to  deserit^  thinking  this  connection  of 
resistit  with  the  accusative  over  the  body  of  deserit  might  pass.  But  the 
scribe  of  M  knew  this  coupling  to  be  inadmissible  in  a  good  style,  and 
smoothed  the  difficulty,  as  any  good  grammarian  would,  by  leaving  out 
the  genuine  qui  Ecclesice  renititur  et  resistit  and  replacing  it  by  qui 
cathedram  Petri  super  quam  fundata  ecclesia  est  deserit.  This  seems  to 
be  the  genesis  of  the  wording  in  the  interpolated  part  of  M.  And  so  P 
remains  the  fount  of  the  phrase. 

Alternative  (iii).  Whether  the  text  is  Pelagius'  own  or  not,  its  wording 
convicts  it  of  awkward  but  intentional  manipulation.  M  had  P  before 
him  and  corrected  it. 

The  'Citation'  is  indeed  a  valuable  one.  Its  presence  in  this  Epistle 
suffices  to  shew  that  either  i,  the  Epistle  is  not  genuine,  or  that  2,  it  has 
been  corrupted  since  it  was  written,  or  that  3,  Pelagius  himself  adulterated 
the  '  Citation ' — a  '  Citation '  of  much  value  in  establishing  the  text  of 
Cyprian — but  to  whom  ? 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  HARVEST  OF  THE   NEW   LEGISLATION. 

I. 

The  softening  of  the  Penances. — SECOND  COUNCIL. 

In  spite  of  all  the  care  and  circumstance  which  had  waited 
on  it,  the  Rule  of  restoration  for  the  Lapsed  was  the  work 
of  a  class,  the  most  austere  and  in  reality  the  least  tempted. 

For  we  must  recollect  that,  although  the  clergy  were  most 
exposed  to  persecution,  yet  the  sorest  of  all  tempters,  repu- 
tation, position,  and  even  (if  they  ever  expected  a  cessation 
of  persecution)  worldly  advantage,  called  on  them  to  stand 
firm  as  strongly  as  the  same  motives  invited  many  of  the 
laity  to  yield.  The  Rule  was  too  rigid  to  be  a  real  aid  to 
human  nature  and  it  was  therefore  injurious  to  the  Church. 
A.D.  252.  The  Persecution  of  Gallus  (as  it  may  be  called  for  con- 

1005.  venience)  was  a  general  movement  of  popular  feeling 
Imp.  Ctes.  against  those  who  refused  to  perform  the  sacrifices  ordered 
C.  Vibius    \^y  edict  for  the  averting  of  the  spreading  Pestilence  of  the 

nianus        time.     Street  cries  demanded  'Cyprian  for  the  lions*.'     Mani- 

GallusP.F.  .  .  J      .  .  ^      ,  .  ,  ., 

Aug.  II.      testations  and  visions  to  him  and  to  others  gave  warning — 

C  Vibiifs    ^^^  wholly  justified  by  the  event ** — of  sufferings  at  hand  more 

Afinius       severe  than  ever^     Of  the  libellatics  condemned  to  indefinite 

Gallus 

Veldum-     Suspension   many  were  living  in  penitence,  '  never  quitting 

nianus  L. 

p°P^^""^      1  Ep.  59.  6.    Cf.  edicta  feralia,  58.  9.  ^   Ostensiones,  Ep.  57.  i,  2,  5;  and 

In    ad    Nffvatianum    6,    Hartel,    Ap-  this   non-fulfilment    is   a   fair   chrono- 

pendix  p.  57,  it  is  spoken  of  as  a  secun-  logical  note  that  such  anticipations  are 

dum  pmlium,  in  which  they  who  had  not  a  forgery  later  than  the  persecutions. 

been    'wounded'   prima    acie    id    est  ^  ...non  talem  qualis  fuit  sed  multo 

Deciana  persecutione  recovered   them-  graviorem  et  acriorem,  Ep.  57.  5;  cf. 

selves.  58.  I. 


V.  I.  THE   EXAMINATIONS   OF  THE   LAPSED.  223 

the  threshold  of  the  Church* ';  some,  where  the  clergy  had  a 
Novatianist  bias,  died  unaneled' ;  some  clerical  delinquents 
had  quietly  resumed  their  posts,  whence  no  material  power 
was  able  to  dislodge  them ;  many  persons  had  resumed  with 
the  name  of  Christians  their  old  unchristian  lives',  and  many 
families  of  those  who  despaired  of  practical  restoration  to 
the  blessings  of  the  Church  had  been  lost  to  heresy  and  even 
to  gentilism.  The  examination  into  individual  cases  had 
revealed  unexpected  palliations  ;  men  had  sacrificed  to  save 
families  and  friends  from  the  'question';  or  had  without 
reflection  allowed  themselves  to  be  registered  as  '  sacrificers,' 
while  simply  intending  to  purchase  exemption.  Cases  where 
there  was  less  excuse  deserved  no  less  compassion. 

At  or  near  to  Capsa*  three  men  named  Ninus,  Clementian 
and  Florus,  after  enduring  much  violence  from  their  own 
magistrates  and  the  angered  populace,  were  thrown  victorious 
into  prison.  Dragged  out  on  the  arrival  of  the  Proconsul 
upon  his  progress*,  and  submitted  to  repeated  tortures  in 
which  life  was  carefully  guarded,  they  '  could  not  endure  till 
the  crown  came®.'  They  fell.  Then  they  crept  back  as  miser- 
able penitents  to  the  Church.    More  than  two  years  after^  their 

'  Ep.  57.  3.  to  the  city. 

^  Ep.  68.  I.  ^  The  halt  at    Capsa    of  an   earlier 

^  Ep.  65.  3.  proconsul,   C.  Bruttius  Praesens,  father 

*  Ep.  56.    I.    Capsa   (Gafsa)    lay   a  of  the   unhappy   wife    of    Commodus, 

little  north  of  the  Tritonian  Lake  in  the  consul  in  153  and  iSo  A.D.,  seems  to  be 

proconsular  province  ;  a  rich  and  very  marked    by   the   epitaph   of  his   wife, 

antient  town  in  a  beautiful  oasis;  had  C  I.  L.,  viii.  i.  no.  no. 
been  strongly  national,  suffered  horrors  ^  Ep.  56. 1 '  coronam  non  potuisse  per- 

under  Marius  for  loyalty  to  Jugurtha,  ferre.'  Note  use  of /^^y^r^?  with  an  object 

the  Capsitani  were  still  in  Pliny's  time  of  the  thing  to  be  attained.  Corp.  Inscrr. 

'as  much  a  clan   as  a   Roman   town'  Za/^  viii.  i.  •2803a,  at  Lambassis, 'con- 

(non  civiias  tantum  sed  etiatn   na'io).  jugis  absentisreditum  perferre  nequisti' 

Then  it  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  of  a  lady  dying  before  his  return. 
'Colony';   and   was   one   of  the    two  '  Triennium  {Ep.  56.  i),  a  good  in- 

capitals  of  the  Byzacene  province  under  stance    of  the    inclusive   reckoning  in 

Justinian.      See    Corp.    Inscrr.    Latt.  vogue.     This  was  before  Easter  (Apr. 

VIII.  i.  p.  22'.     Pliny's  Capsitani  refers  11)  a.d.  252,  so  that  even  if  the  pro- 

rather  to  the  natio^  Cyprian's  Capsensis  consul  had  visited  Capsa  (which  is  not 


224 


SECOND   COUNCIL  OF  CARTHAGE. 


May  IS, 
A.D.  252. 


bishop  Superius  presented  them  to  the  new  bishop  of  Capsa, 
DonatuIusS  and  the  five  colleagues  who  had  assembled  for 
his  consecration,  and  asked  whether  their  pitiable  exclusion 
might  not  now  be  closed.  It  was  agreed  to  refer  the  question 
to  the  Council  which  Cyprian  had  convened  for  after  Easter. 
And  Cyprian  on  receiving  their  application  did  not  hesitate 
to  express  in  warmest  terms  his  conviction  in  their  favour. 

In  very  many  cases  sympathy  and  policy  united  their 
claims  for  mitigation,  and  the  SECOND  COUNCIL,  which 
assembled  at  least  two-and-forty  bishops  in  the  May  of 
this  year^  ruled  'that  all  who  had  so  far  continued  stedfast  in 
penance  should  be  at  once  readmitted.'  Cyprian  penned  the 
Synodical  Letter  which  announced  the  decision  to  Cornelius ^ 


likely)  as  early  as  January  350,  two 
years  and  three  months  is  the  longest 
time  possible.     See  p.  41,  n.  2. 

^  The  meeting  at  Capsa  was  for  the 
purpose  of  ordaining  a  new  bishop. 
Donatulus  is  among  the  Fratres  saluted. 
In  A.  D.  256  he  appears  as  Bp.  of  Capsa 
at  vii.  Cone.  Carth.,  and  was  therefore 
no  doubt  the  person  now  ordained. 

^  Easter  fell  in  A.D.  252  on  Ap.  ir. 
The  Second  Council  UNDER  Cyprian 
De  pace  lapsis  t?taturius  danda  is  dated 
Id.  Maij,  May  15. — Ep.  59.  10. 

^  Mr  Shepherd  {Letter  it.  p.  10, 
following  the  wake  of  Lombert  ap. 
Pearson,  Ann.  Cypr.  A.D.  253,  ix.) 
argues  that  the  censure  passed  upon 
Therapius  {Ep.  64)  for  readmitting  the 
lapsed  presbyter  Victor  to  communion 
could  not  have  been  consistently  passed 
after  the  relaxation  granted  by  the 
Second  Council,  and  that  accordingly 
the  Council  which  censured  him ,  which 
we  count  Third,  placing  it  about  the 
.September  of  253  a.d.  {Ep.  64),  must 
have  preceded  our  Second  Council  of 
May  252  A.D.  which  issued  Ep.  57. 
This  is  so  poor  an  attempt  at  harmoniz- 
ing that  we  can  only  wonder  why  for  a 


moment  Mr  S.  should  seem  to  drop  his 
universal  scepticism  in  its  favour.  We 
must  briefly  observe  (i )  with  Pearson  that 
the  Conciliar  Epistle  57  makes  reference 
to  otie  previous  Council,  and  emanated 
therefore  more  probably  from  a  second 
than  a  third,  but  Pearson's  (second) 
observation  that  it  is  improbable  that 
so  many  as  (s(>  bishops  should  have 
again  met  before  Easter  252  after 
their  session  of  a.d.  251,  has  nothing 
in  it.  (3)  In  Ep.  57.  i  the  relaxa- 
tion is  granted  in  anticipation  of  the 
persecution  under  Gallus  'necessitate 
cogente,'  but  Ep.  64  is  written  in  a 
calm,  such  as  set  in  when  ^Emilian's 
seizure  of  empire  in  April  253  withdrew 
attention  from  Christian  progress,  and 
was  continued  by  Valerian  from  June 
onward  upon  principle.  (4)  Ep.  64.  i 
distinctly  speaks  of  the  conditions  of 
relaxation  granted  by  the  Second  Council 
as  having  been  neglected  in  the  act  of 
Therapius.  He  had  received  Victor 
not  only  '■nulla  infirmitate  urgente,^ i\vQ 
plea  allowed  by  the  First  Council,  but 
also  'cu  {nulla)  necessitate  cogente,'  i.e.  the 
relaxation  granted  by  the  Second.  The 
very  words  are  borrowed  from  Ep.  57, 


V.  11.  'DE   PACE  MATURIUS  DANDA.'  22$ 

It  may  be  described  as  an  able  answer  to  his  own  once 
sterner  language.  To  his  former  argument  that  restitution  was 

*  superfluous  in  the  case  of  men  ready  to  seal  their  sincerity 
'  by  martyrdom,  since  the  Baptism  of  Blood  was  higher  than 
'  Ecclesiastical  Peace,'  he  replies  that  '  it  was  the   Church's 

*  duty  to  arm  such  combatants  for  that  last  encounter  with  the 
'protection  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ'  'Men  might 
'  well  faint  (he  says)  who  were  not  animated  by  the  Eucharist.' 

He  remained  the  guiding  spirit  of  the  movement  although 
his  policy  had  so  altered, — -rather  perhaps  because  it  had 
so  altered — and  even  when  its  working  had  evoked  one  anti- 
pope  in  Rome,  and  two  in  Carthage.  The  letter  of  Antonian 
exhibits  commonplace  bewilderment  at  the  change.  At 
the  results  of  the  change  Cornelius  gazed  in  horror,  Cyprian 
with  an  unaffected  though  not  careless  contempt  \ 

11. 

The  Effect  on  Felicissiimis  and  his  Party. 

It  happened  thus.  The  effect  of  the  late  amnesty  upon 
the  Puritans  would  be  to  confirm  them  in  their  austerity. 
At  the  same    time   their   numbers  were   increased   by  new 

and  are  again  expanded  in  the  words  laid  down  the  conditions  for  neglect  of 
'nunc  non  injirrnis  sed  fortibus  pax  which  Therapius  was  censured:  surely 
necessariaest.'  (5)  Some  time  then  after  not  by  the  same  Council. 
Easter  253,  and  before  Autumn  254  ^  Satis  miratus  sum  te...  ah  quantum 
when  the  4th  Council  was  held,  we  must  esse  commotum.  {Ep.  59.  2.) — Quod 
place  the  3rd  Council  which  replied  to  autem  tibi  de  Fortunato  isto  pseud- 
Fidus.  Autumn  or  September  of  253,  episcopo  non  statim  scripsi,  frater 
which  is  Pearson's  conjecture,  seems  a  carissime,  non  ea  res  erat  quae,  &c....nec 
reasonable  time.  The  4th  and  7th  tamen  de  hoc  [Maximo  pseudepiscopo] 
Councils  were  certainly  held  at  that  tibi  scripseram  quando  haec  omnia  con- 
time  of  year.  Maran's  (§  xxiv.)  notion  temnantur  a  r\oh\s. ..{Ep.  59.  9).  To 
(adopted  by  Hefele)  that  Fidus  was  an-  conceive  (Rettberg  §  13,  p.  152)  that 
swered  by  66  bishops  on  Id.  Mai  252  in  Cornelius  repaid  the  services  which 
the  second  Council  seems  unreasonable,  Cyprian  had  rendered  him,  and  now 
for  why  should  only  42  of  them  have  in  turn  upheld  the  tottering  throne  of 
concurred  in  the  Synodic  Epistle?  It  Carthage,  is  indeed  to  misunderstand 
was  this  Synodic  Epistle  which  actually  the  circumstances  and  mistake  the  men. 

B.  15 


226  SECOND  COUNCIL.      ITS   EFFECT  ON 

converts  from  heathenism,  and  what  would  be  the  relation 
of  these  to  the  Church  whenever  the  enlargement  of  their 
dogmatic  views  should  incline  them  to  the  Catholic  body^ 
was  sure  presently  to  become  a  serious  question.  They  now 
cast  off  their  last  hope  of  Cyprian  and  elected  and  conse- 
crated the  head  of  their  first  legation,  Maximus,  to  be  their 
anti-bishop  (or  more  accurately  '  anti-pope')  at  Carthage  I 

Meantime  the  laxer  party  perceived  that  the  ground  was 
cut  from  under  their  feet,  and  their  leading  adherents,  never 
having  done  penance,  found  themselves  as  far  as  ever  from 
readmission  to  the  Church ;  their  numbers  also  had  been 
swelled  by  disciples  who  wished  for  communion  on  easy  terms  ^ 
and  all  these  clamoured  for  some  action  on  the  part  of  their 
heads  which  would  give  them  a  tenable  position'*.  They  had 
been  taunted  as  the  'only  unepiscopal  body'  among  pro- 
fessed Christians'.  Accordingly,  when  Privatus,  once  bishop 
of  the  new  great  colony  of  Lambesis®,  but  some  years  since 

^  Ep.  69.  I,  Ep.  71.  I,  2.  s.Qxx^'is.oiQy'^ni.n,  Lambese{Sentt.  Epp. 
^  I  think  this  cannot  have  been  done  6;  Ep.  36.4;  Ep.  58.  10).    The  history 
earlier.     In  Ep.  5c.  1  Novatus  has  not  of  this  striking  though  much  spoiled 
yet  made  a  Bishop  in  Carthage.    In  Ep.  place,   now    Lambessa,    is    beautifully 
59.  9  Maximus  is  spoken  of  as  sent  «M/^  worked  out  by  Wilmanns  from  its  in- 
(viz.  A.D.  251)  and  consecrated «««f,  i.e.  scriptions,  above  1700  in  number  (Corp. 
in  A.D.  252  (that  letter  having  been  writ-  Inscr.  Latt.  viii.  i.  p.  283).     It  was  a 
ten  this  year  after  the  Ides  of  May,  Ep.  wholly  modern  military  town,   sprung 
59.  10,  13).  Butin£/.  55.  lOadAnton.  from  the  great  camp  of  the  Third  Legion, 
we  find  they  had  appointed  bishops  in  which,  after  a.d.  123,  Hadrian  fixed  on 
many  places  before  the  second  Council.  the  north  slope  of  Aurasius  or  Middle 
If  therefore  this  step  was  delayed  in  Atlas,  to  keep  the  continent  quiet.     In 
Carthage,  it   may  have   been   because  a.d.  166  it  was  but  a  mV«j,  but  the  leave 
hopes  were  still  entertained  of  some  de-  given  to  the  legionaries  to  have  families 
claration   in  their  favour  by  Cyprian.  increased  it  immensely,  and  by  A.D.  208 
Nor  can  I  think  that  the  hope,  though  it  was  a  viunicipmm  and  capital  of  Nu- 
misplaced,  was  unnatural.  midia.     lis  streets  and  great  structures 
3  Ep.  59.  15.  began  shortly  before   that.     Even   its 
*  Ep.  59.  15,  16.  temples   remained   under  military   au- 
'  Ep.  43.  5.  thority,  exempt  from  civic  magistrates. 
«  Lambasis    more   often   in   inscrip-  Analogy  leads  Wilmanns  to  believe  it 
tions,  and  (Hartel)  '  in  the  codices  of  was  made  a  Colonia  when  Gordian  re- 
Augustine'  (Sentt.  Epp.),  but  in  some  moved  the  Legion.    That  would  be  be- 
inscriptions,  as  uniformly  in  the  manu-  tween  a.d.  238  and  244.    I  should  infer 


V.  II.    THE  INDEFINITE  IN  DOCTRINE  AND  DISCIPLINE.    22/ 

condemned  of  heresy  in  a  Council  of  ninety  bishops  holden  at 
that  placed  and  severely  censured  by  letters  from  Donatus  of 
Carthage  and  Fabian  of  Rome,  applied  for  a  fresh  hearing  by 
the  Council  of  252  A.D.  and  was  refused,  this  party  too 
repaired  its  own  defect  by  procuring  his  adhesion  in  the 
heat  of  his  mortification.  A  new  coalition  of  Five*  created 
one  of  Cyprian's  oldest  opponents,  Fortunatus^  into  a  second 
anti-bishop  of  Carthage. 

The  fault  was  fatal*  and  it  was  followed  by  instant  collapse. 
Whatever  presbyteral  standing  they  had  was  gone.  Whatever 
hopes  they  had  cherished  of  a  grand  general  reconciliation 
with  the  Church  were  gone.  Their  followers  were  not  in  the 
main  prepared  to  accept  a  new  Church  and  a  new  bishop. 
They  had  thrown  away  the  advantage  which  numbers  gave 
them ;  although  those  numbers  were  up  to  that  moment 
scarcely  a  minority  as  compared  with  the  Cyprianic  church^. 
The  announcement  in  Carthage  that  twenty-five  bishops  were 
expected  from  Numidia  to  consecrate  Fortunatus  in  Carthage, 

from  Cyprian's  wording  that  it  was  a  literis  severissime  notatum.'    Thus  con- 

Colonia  not  only  when  he  wrote  in  A.D.  scientiously   expressed    by    an    Ultra- 

2$7,  but  many  years  before  when  Pri-  montane,  'Privat  s'etait  vu  condamner 

vatus  its  bishop  was  condemned,  'Pri-  ...par  une  assemblee  de  90  eveques, 

vatum  veterem  hsereticum  in  Lambesi-  dont  /e  pape  saint  Fabien  avait  confirme 

tana  colonia  ante  multos  fere  annos  con-  la  sentence  J'     Freppel,  p.  295. 
demnatum '  (,Ep.  58.  10).     As  that  was  ^  They  were  Privatus  himself;  Felix, 

in  Fabian's  time,  between  236  and  250,  a  pseudo-bishop  of  Privatus'  appoint- 

this  casual  Cyprianic  date  exactly  fits  ment;  Repostus,  a  lapsed  bishop  pro- 

in  with  Wilmanns'  observation.     Next  bably  of  Tuburnuc  (see  p.  80,  n.   5) ; 

year  253  the  Legion  was  restored,  and  Maximus    and    Jovinus,    convicted    of 

the  greatness   of  the   place,    with  its  lapse  and  sacrifice,  who  (from  their  hav- 

60,000  people,  continued  till  Constan-  ing  been  first  condemned  by  nine  bishops 

tine  made  Cirta  the  capital  and  gave  it  there  by  the  first  Council)  were  doubtless 

his  own  name.     Then   Lambesis  col-  bishops. 

lapsed.     In  a.d.  364  it  had  no  bishop.  ^  Dean  Milman  took  Fortunatus  for 

I  may  observe  that  in  252  its  bishop  ^  Novatianist  zx^'Cx-Mx^o'^.  It  apparently 

was  probably  Januarius,  as  he  is  a  very  escaped  his  observation  that  there  were 

senior  bishop  (6th)  in  256.    Sentt.  Epp.  /wo  anti-popes  in  Carthage.  Lat.Chris- 

^  Ep.  59.  10  'nonaginta  episcoporum  tianity,  I.  i. 
sententia  condemnatum,  antecessorum  ■*  Ep,  59.  15. 

etiam    nostrorum...Fabiani   et    Donati  *  If  I  rightly  understand  £/.  59,  15. 

15—2 


228      THEY  FORM  A  SHORT-LIVED  FREE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

the  announcement  in  Rome  that  they  had  actually  done  so, 
failed  to  accredit  him\  Felicissimus  sailed  for  Rome  in  the 
capacity  of  legate  to  his  new  chief  or  instrument :  Cornelius 
and  the  milder  party  might  yet  be  willing  by  a  recognition  of 
Fortunatus  to  drive  Novatianism  off  the  field  with  numbers. 
They  represented  Cyprian's  cause  as  lost.  'They  were  pre- 
'  pared  to  bring  him  to  trial  before  the  church  of  Carthage. 
'  His  flock  were  ready  to  expel  him  tumultuously  from  the 
'  city.  If  Cornelius  refused  to  hear  the  documents  which 
'  they  submitted,  they  should  feel  bound  to  communicate  them 
*to  the  Roman  laityV  Cornelius  was  disconcerted  by  the 
violence  of  Felicissimus  though  not  imposed  upon.  He 
repelled  him  with  spirit,  but  wrote  tartly  of  Cyprian's  neglect 
in  not  informing  him  of  the  movements  of  the  party.  Cyprian 
in  his  long-practised  tone  of  business  indicates  a  certain  defect 
in  the  memory  of  Cornelius,  and  apologizes  for  unavoidable 
delay  on  the  part  of  his  messenger,  the  acolyte  Felician.  His 
advice  is  keen  and  stimulating,  and  though  he  opens  half  sar- 
castically he  is  profoundly  affected  by  the  prevalent  disorders. 
'  If  Sacrificers  and  deniers  of  Christ  are  to  be  proposed, 
'  admitted,  and  then  to  terrorize,  the  Church  may  as  well  sur- 
'  render  to  the  Capitol  at  once;  Bishops  may  be  gone  and  take 
'  the  Lord's  altar  with  them ;  idols  and  images  may  transfer 
*  themselves  and  their  altars  into  the  assemblage  of  the  clergy.' 
'No  priest  of  God  is  weak  enough,  abject  or  prostrate  enough, 
'  nor  so  enfeebled  by  the  imbecility  of  mortal  incompetency,  as 
'  not  to  rouse  himself  against  the  enemies  and  assailants  of  God 
'  in  godlike  wise,  and  feel  his  lovvness  and  feebleness  inspirited 
'  by  the  valour  and  vigour  of  the  Lord.'  The  best  refutation 
however  was  that  Cyprian  himself  was  almost  worn  out  by  the 

1  £p.  59.  II.    Clear  it  is  that  among  tinctly  before  the  eye  of  Cyprian  as  the 

the   allusions   to    schism    and   pseudo-  divider  of  the  flock.     This  alone  might 

bishops  in  the  de  Unitate  none  bear  on  fix  the  date  of  the  treatise, 
the  incidents  of  the  two  Carthaginian  *  Ep.  59.  r,  16. 

pretenders.    It  is  Novatian  himself  who  ^  Ep.  59.  2,  3,  18. 

(in  all  the  chapters  viii.  to  end)  is  dis- 


V.II.  PURITAN  FIBRE  MORE  LASTING,  BUT  NOT  IMMORTAL.  229 

labour  of  examining  and  readmitting  the  fast-recanting  ad- 
herents of  Felicissimus  and  by  the  anxieties  of  rejecting  those 
whom  the  flock  (for  every  case  was  formally  put  to  them*  and 
considered  in  their  presence)  absolutely  refused  to  receive. 
The  Christian  public  witnessed  singular  pictures  of  the  brutal 
insistence  of  some,  the  tearful  thankfulness  of  other  candidates 
for  restoration^  Mistakes  were  made.  Cyprian  confesses 
that  he  had  disastrously  in  more  than  one  instance  overruled 
protests  against  false  penitents.  It  is  well  worth  remarking 
that  in  this  age  the  claim  for  stricter  penitential  discipline 
was  not  sacerdotal  or  official,  but  popular.  In  epochs  of 
suffering  it  will  be  always  so. 

These  causes  then,  the  decision  of  the  Council,  the  suicidal 
policy  of  a  rival  episcopacy  with  no  moral  basis,  and  the 
popular  demand  for  discipline,  acted  rapidly  to  break  up  the 
party.  Cyprian  estimated  that  at  the  moment  when  its 
emissary  was  intimidating  Cornelius  at  Rome  it  had  suddenly 
shrunk  in  Carthage  to  a  congregation  inferior  in  number  to 
the  clerical  members  of  the  first  CounciP.  Presently  all  trace 
of  them  is  lost.  They  vanished  before  more  earnest  ques- 
tioners. But  Novatianism  contained  no  such  seeds  of  speedy 
dissolution.  Although  Cornelius  represents  to  Antioch,  to 
Alexandria*  and  to  Carthage  in  terms  stronger  than  Cyprian 

^  Ep.  59.  18,  rc^arj,  cf.  rogarelegem,  as  in  the  East  shews  how  little  was 

magistratum.  known  of  the  date  or  origin  of  such 

^  Ep.  59.  15.  The  statement  of  officers. 
Socrates  (v.  19)  that  this  was  the  ^  ^/.  59. 15, z.^.  than  the  bishops,  pres- 
moment  at  which  Penitentiary  Pres-  byters  and  deacons  who  had  been  their 
byters  were  instituted  to  hear  private  'judges.'  Eighty-eight  bishops  from 
confessions  is  counter  to  the  whole  all  parts  of  Africa  are  scarcely  likely  to 
view  of  the  time.  Sozomen  (vii.  16)  have  been  attended  on  the  average  by 
gives  an  interesting  picture  of  the  more  than  two  clerics  each  at  the  out- 
Roman  method  of  penance  at  a  much  side.  If  we  add  forty  as  a  possible 
later  date  in  which  the  bishop  is  him-  number  for  the  presbyters  and  deacons 
self  the  fellow  penitent  and  the  ab-  of  Carthage — it  may  give  us  rather  more 
solver.  And  this  direct  contradiction  than  300  as  the  relics  of  the  Congrega- 
of  his  own  statement  that  Penitentiaries  tion  of  Felicissimus. 
were  an  institution  in  the  West  as  well  *  Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  43,  46. 


230  CLERICAL  AND  EPISCOPAL  SENTENCES. 

uses  of  Felicissimus,  that  Novatian  was  almost  abandoned, 
still  his  sect  with  its  episcopal  successions  endured  throughout 
Christendom  far  into  the  sixth  century, — a  stern  Puritan  relic 
of  the  Decian  persecution.  It  has  been  well  said  that  '  like 
'  all  unsuccessful  opposition  it  added  strength  to  its  triumphant 
*  adversary,  and  only  evoked  more  commandingly  the  growing 
'  theory  of  Christian  Unity.' 


III. 

The  Legacy  of  Clerical  Appeals  under  the  Law  of  tJie  Lapsed. — 
The  Third  and  Fourth  Councils. 

The  Spanish  appeal  against  Rome. 

From  this  point  we  may  with  advantage  carry  our  view 
forward  to  certain  illustrative  cases  which  arose  in  the  course 
of  the  next  two  years,  after  the  main  work  of  reconciliation 
for  such  as  returned  was  over.  We  have  notices  of  three 
appeals  made  to  the  See  of  Carthage.  They  are  clerical 
cases.  For  the  clergy,  as  they  were  less  tempted  to  fall, 
so  found  it  harder  to  return.  It  was  easy  for  them  to  achieve 
a  new  position  in  some  aggressive  sect ;  and  it  was  not  the 
wisdom  of  the  Church  to  confer  its  functions  on  the  timid 
or  vacillating.  We  cannot  with  confidence  assert  that  terms 
for  them  were  separately  considered  at  the  Second  Council, 
yet  we  find  it  immediately  and  generally  accepted  that 
lapsed  Bishops  and  Clerks  could  never  be  restored  to 
Orders \  Cyprian  rests  his  argument  for  this'^  not  on  in- 
junctions of  the  Council  but  on  Scripture,  drawing  the  rule 
from  the  Levitical  institutions,  and  from  visions  vouchsafed 
to  himself  Yet  elsewhere'  he  says  that,  in  common  with 
himself  and  all  the  bishops  of  the  world,  Cornelius  had 
concluded  this.  Not  for  four  years  more,  until  the  second 
Council  on  Baptism,  was  the  principle  of  degradation 
1  Ep.  55.  II.  2  Ep.  65.  3  Ep.  67.  6. 


V.  III.  HARVEST  OF  NEW  LEGISLATION — THIRD  COUNCIL.  23 1 

extended  to  any  presbyters  and  deacons  who  had  taken 
part  in  a  heresy  or  a  schism*;  and  it  presents  a  singular  and 
contradictory  appearance  of  laxity  that  only  Novatianists  and 
Donatists  held  the  mark  of  orders  to  be  so  indelible  that 
bishops  returning  to  them  after  lapse  resumed  their  functions'. 
Late  in  the  summer  of  the  next  year  one  of  the  African 
bishops,  the   same   Fidus,  who,  as   we   shall  learn,  counted  a.d.  253. 

A.U.C. 

infants  under  eight  days  old  too  impure  for  christening',  re-  1006. 
ported  to  the  primate  that  a  lapsed  presbyter,  Victor  by  name,  ^ssar  C^ 
had  after  an  insufficient  period  of  penance  been  admitted  to  Yj!''?^ 
communion  by  their  colleague  Therapius  of  Bulla*.     A  few  Callus 
words  of  this  worthy,  who  spoke  in  his  place  of  seniority  as  ^nus  L. 
sixty-first  bishop  in  Cyprian's  last  Council^  give  an  idea  of  p°p^'f^"^ 
one  whose  fancy  might  outrun  discretion.    '  He  who  concedes  n- 
*  and  betrays  to  heretics,'  he  then  said, '  the  Church's  (right  of)  us?]  Maxi- 
'  baptism,  what  is  he  but  the  Judas  of  Christ's  Spouse  ? '     But  "^"^' 
if  Therapius  thought  an  unsound  opinion  within  the  Church 
a  worse  betrayal  of  the  Church  than  apostasy  from  her,  the 
uncharity  of   Fidus  is  in  contrast  to  the   spirit  of  Cyprian. 
Fidus  evidently  desired  that  a  new  excommunication  should 
overtake  Victor. 

At   his   good  fortune  the  Third  Council  of  sixty-six  a.d.  253, 
bishops,  who  met  Cyprian  probably®  in  September  a.d.  253, 
were  less  offended  than  at  the  autocratic  manner  in  which 

^  Ep.  72.  2.  It  was  a  small  old  (Oros.)  Free-Town 

'^  Cod.     Cann.    Eccl.    Afr.     27    (C.  (Plin.)  above  the  vast  rich  plain  of  the 

Justellus,  Paris  1614,  I.  p.  98  ;  II.  p.  41).  Bagradas  (Procop.    de   Bell.    Vand.    i. 

L'Aubespine,  Observat.   V.  in  Optat.  25).     It  cannot  have  been,  as  Momm- 

3  V.  infra  ch.  viii.  v.  2.  sen    seems    to   suggest,    the    same   as 

^  Ep.  64.     Baluze  (copied  by  Routh,  Bulleria,    since    a    bishop    from    each 

R.  S.  vol.   III.   p.  144),  and  Morcelli  attended  the  summons  of  Huneric  to 

(S.V.),    take    Bulla    vidthout    sufficient  Carthage   in   a.d.    484.     A   sketch  in 

reason    to    be    a   different   place  from  A.  Graham's  Tunisia,  p.  188. 

Bulla  Regia.     It  was  in  Numidia  Pro-  '    We  cannot  attach  weight  to  the 

consularis,  near    where    the   boundary  statement  of  the  later  MSS.  of  the  Sen- 

crosses  the  Bagradas,  and  over  50  miles  tentt.  Epp.  that  he  was  a  confessor, 

from   Hippo   Regius   on   the   road   to  "  On  the  date   of  this  Council  see 

Carthage — now     Hammam     Darridji.  notes  2,  3,  p.  224. 
C.  /.   Z.   VIII.   i.  p.   157,  ii.  p.  934. 


232  EPISCOPAL  CASES.      FOURTH  COUNCIL. 

even  the  now  lenient  conditions  of  restoration  had  been 
ignored.  They  would  not  withdraw  the  boon  which  a  'Priest 
of  God'  had  granted,  but  a  vote  of  censure  was  passed 
upon  Therapius  (who  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  present 
in  his  place  in  Council*)  for  giving  a  gratuitous  indulgence 
which  the  Laity  had  neither  requested  nor  sanctioned ^ 

The  second  case  came  from  Assuras' — a  populous  inland 
town,  whose  ruins  lie  widespread  over  height  and  ravine. 
The  Temple  and  the  Christian  Church,  which  are  still,  after 
its  gates  of  the  Antonines,  the  most  marked  objects  there, 
may  well  have  witnessed  the  incidents  which  brought  on  the 
appeal.  The  diocese  had  already  elected  Epictetus  to  the 
Chair  vacated  by  the  idolatrous  sacrifice  of  Fortunatian*,  when 
this  traitor  bishop,  supported  by  a  party  of  fellow-lapsed,  re- 
claimed the  function  and  emoluments"  as  his  right.  Cyprian, 
whose  characteristic  mistake  was  to  consider  every  office  of 
a  church  vitiated  to  nullity  if  discharged  by  an  unworthy 
minister,  urges  that  view  more  than  the  broad  ground  of 
order,  in  answer  to  an  appeal  to  him  from  the  disquieted 
flock,  and  counsels  a  resort  to  individual  canvassing,  if 
necessary,  in  order  to  knit  the  church  firmly  together  under 
their  authentic  bishop. 

A.D.  254.  Par   the   most  important  to  us  however  of  all  cases  of 

1007.  appeal  is  one  which  did  not  come  before  Cyprian  until 
Cffis.p""^  about  September  A.D.  254.  Its  importance  lies  in  the  prin- 
ciples which  it  reveals  as  already  regulating  the  intercourse 

1  The  form  of  expression  may  seem  Assuras:  Senit.  Epp.  68  '  ab  Assuras'; 

to   warrant  this:    'satis  fiiit   objurgare  Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.  n.  631  inhabitants 

Therapium  collegam   nostrum... et   in-  K%%\!s\\.z.v\ passim ;   now Zaw/i/r,  but  its 

struxisse^     Ep.  64.  i.  plain  B'hairt  Essers.  Bruce's  drawing 

'  Ep.  64.  of  the  Temple  and  arch  is  in  Col.  R.  L. 

3  Ep.6i.  Also,  like  Bulla,  inNumidia  Playfair's  Travels,  p.  208. 

Proconsularis.     See  N.  Davis,  Ruined  *    PameHus    erroneously   treats    this 

Cities  within  Numid.  and  Carth.  Ter-  man  as  a  Novatianist.     Fell  follows. 

ritories,-p.  69,  and  Sir  G.  Temple's  i5"jr-  *  Ep.  65.  3  'stipes  et  oblationes  et 

cursions,  vol.  II.  p.  266.     Colonia  Julia  lucra.' 


Licinius 


V.  III.     SPANISH  APPEAL  TO  CYPRIAN  AGAINST  ROME.     233 

of  churches  or  dioceses.     But,  reserving  for  the  present  the  Valerianus 
development  of  these  principles,  we  will  here  relate  only  the  „* 
striking  circumstances  of  the  Lapse  and  the  immediate  action  p™Lidni^us 
taken   upon  it.     It  is  a  wild  tale,  so  to  speak,  of  the  old  Egnatius 

/-.I  •      •  1  T«  •  Gallienus 

Border  Life  between  Christianity  and  Paganism.  p.  f.  Aug. 

The  Bishops  of  Leon  and  Merida  in  Spain  had  accepted 
testimonials  to  their  orthodoxy  as  pagans \  The  former, 
Basilides  by  name,  repented  and  formally  abdicated  his  see 
when  the  persecution  lulled.  He  then  confessed  not  only  his 
crime  of  Lapse,  but  how  in  the  superstitious  terror  of  some 
illness  he  had  blasphemed  the  God  of  his  faith.  After  this 
confession  he  thankfully  accepted  the  position  of  a  Layman. 

Martial  of  Merida  had  long  ago  enrolled  himself  in  one  of 
those  religious  colleges  which,  besides  their  other  celebrations, 
performed  the  funeral  ritual  of  their  members  with  all  pagan 
solemnities  in  cemeteries  secured  to  them  by  law^  With 
such  rites  he  interred  children  of  his  own. 

The  Chairs  of  these  two  men  had  been  filled  by  other  two 
elected  by  their  own  churches  and  approved  by  the  neigh- 
bouring prelates.  Basilides  afterwards  recovering  from  his 
dejection  paid  a  visit  to  Rome,  and  there  he  and,  we  must 
infer.  Martial  also^  by  some  fraudulent  means  procured  a 
declaration  from  the  new  pope  Stephen  that  he  would  hold 
them  still  to  be  the  lawful  occupants  of  the  two  sees. 

Against  this  sudden  and  monstrous  utterance  the  Spanish 
churches  appeal  to  Cyprian.  A  FOURTH  COUNCIL  of  seven  a.d.  254, 
and  thirty  bishops,  assembling  under  him  at  Carthage*,  accept 
the  appeal,  reverse  the  Roman  sentence^  and  instruct  the 
churches  to  keep  to  their  righteous  course.  There  is  no 
further  reference  to  the  Roman  see  in  the  matter. 

^  Ep.  67.     See  above,  p.  82.  See  more  fully  on  this  appeal  and  on 

2  Renan,  Les  Apotres,  ch.    xviii.  p.  the  affair  of  Martian  of  Aries  in  the 

354,  gives  some  interesting   details  of  chapter  on  Stephen,  p.  311. 

these  colleges.                   ^  £/.  67.  5.  '    Simply,   'our    colleague   Stephen 

■*  IV.  Concil.  Carth.  sub  Cypr.  (Sep-  was  a  long  vyay  off  and  ignorant  of  the 

tember?)  a.d.  254.     Ep.  67,  Synodica.  facts  and  of  the  truth.'    Ep.  67.  5. 


234  FOURTH  COUNCIL.      EPISCOPAL  CASES. 

It  is  obviously  of  extreme  interest  and  importance  to 
observe  principles  not  created  but  unquestioningly  acted  upon 
in  this  cause.  The  action  taken  is  quite  compatible  with  the 
thought  of  Rome  as  Principalis  Ecclesia^  as  a  centre  of  *  unity,' 
but  irreconcilable  with  any  view  of  that  see  as  a  centre  of 
legislation  or  jurisdiction,  or  even  as  a  centre  of  reference. 

Meantime  we  may  remember  that  while  the  legislation 
provided  for  the  Lapsed  was  temporary,  the  principles  which 
it  first  brought  into  strong  relief  are  for  all  time.  And  we 
may  still  regard  our  possession  of  them  as  our  inheritance 
from   the  Decian  persecution. 

A  less  happy  forecast  attends  the  case  of  a  'contumelious' 
Deacon  and  a  Layman  abetting  him,  which  is  referred  to 
Carthage  by  the  Bishop  Rogatian^  in  all  likelihood  the 
same  who  figures  in  the  Councils,  Bishop  of  Nova,  deep  in 
Mauretania^ 

The  tone  of  the  letter  indicates  that  he  was  known  to 
Cyprian ;  *  Let  no  man  despise  thy  old  age,'  he  says.  He 
writes  however  not  for  himself  only  but  in  the  name  of '  col- 
leagues,' so  that  his  systematic  consultations  were  at  work. 
The  idea  of  authority  is  developed  and  fortified,  but  it  is  the 
same  idea  as  in  the  fourth  epistle,  resting  on  the  same  precept 
in  Deuteronomy*  of  reverence  and  obedience  to  the  High 
Priest.  That  means  simply,  that  details  had  taken  time  to 
work  out,  but  that  from  the  first  Cyprian  held  that  view  which 
he  held  last  of  the  identity  of  internal  relations  in  the  two 
polities  of  Israel  and  the  Church. 

The  case,  says  Cyprian,  might  have  been  properly  dealt 
with  by  excommunications  on  the  part  of  Rogatian  himself 
alone. 

This  is  the  course  which,  with  his  '  colleagues  who  were 


^  Seep.  192,  and  Appendix^  p.  537.  *   Deut.  xvii.  12,   13.      It  was  pro- 

■■'  Ep.  3.  bably  this  quotation  which  determined 

'  See  Appendix  on  Cities,  p.  575.  Pearson. 


V.  III.  EPISCOPAL  CASES.  235 

present,'  he  recommends  in  the  last  resort,  but  he  would  rather 
rely  on  an  appeal  to  good  sense  and  feeling*.  It  is  well  and 
sincerely  urged.  But  here  we  see  excommunication,  instead 
of  being  kept  as  the  discipline  of  sin,  already  looming  as  an 
engine  for  managing  the  Church. 

^  O.    Ritschl   pointed   out    (p.   239)  which  connects   it   with   the  time  we 

that  argument  and  allusion  in  Ep.  3,  are  discussing. 

as  Pearson  counted  it,  are   not  of  an  If   the    'colleagues   present'   are    a 

early    stamp ;     and    I    would    further  Council,  and  not  rather  the  Occasional 

observe    on    the   close   verbal    resem-  Board,  it  was  probably  the  Third  Coun- 

blance  between  Ep.  3.  i,  2  and  Epp.  cil,  for  Rogatian  attended  the  Second 

59.  4 ;    66.  3  ;    and  de  Unit.    17,   18,  and  Fourth. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EXPANSION   OF   HUMAN   FEELING  AND   ENERGY. 

I. 

The  Church  in  relation  to  Physical  Suffering. 

I.      Within  itself — The  Berber  Raid. 

Even  whilst  the  Council  sate  news  arrived  that  many- 
Christian  maidens,  wives  and  children \  had  been  kidnapped 
from  Numidia  by  the  Berbers.  The  frontier  tribes,  quieted 
last  by  Severus,  were  in  movement  this  year  and  were  carry- 
ing terror  into  the  provinces. 

Faultily^  and  fatally  these  indigenes^  ages  ago  rolled 
back  by  settlers  from  Asia  and  Europe,  were  being  now  ruled 
by  fortresses,  military  colonies,  farmers  holding  by  service- 
tenure,  absolute  magistrates,  without  any  attempt  to  interest 
or  incorporate  them.  Their  raids  were  really  waves  in  their 
steady  return. 
A.D.  252.  In  the  year  252  there  was  a  concerted  general  advance. 

Mauretania  felt  them.     They  broke  out  of  Aures*  through 
the  grand  chain  of  fortress  settlements,  harrying  the  domains 

^  Ep.    62.    5.     Cyprian    appeals    to  The  Rheims  MS.  is  not  a  good  text, 

fathers    and    husbands   as    necessarily  Hartel  has  to  set  it  aside  constantly, 

sympathizing.     It  was  a  raid  on  per-  ^  F.  Lacroix  in  the  Revue  Africaine, 

sons.     In  c.  3,  p.  699,  1.  ^i,  I  demur  vol.  vii.  p.  363. 

to   Hartel's  reading  '  vinculi  maritalis  *  There  are  and  were  traces  of  their 

amore'  from   the   Rheims   MS.,   which  name   over  all  North  Africa.     Tissot, 

Baluze  here  sets  aside   for  the   better  Geogr.  de  la  Prov.  d'Afriqiie,  i.  p.  394. 

expression  "■  pudore  vinculi  maritalis'  of  "*  See  Appendix  on  Cities,  p.  575. 
the  editions  which  represent  lost  mss. 


Coss. 


VI. 1. 1.  THE  CHURCH  AS  TO  SUFFERINGS  OF  HER  MEMBERS.  237 


of  the  strongest  towns,  Thubunae  on  the  Salt  Marsh,  and  the 
vast  soldier-colony  of  Lambaesis.  From  the  Sahara  they  came 
right  through  the  Province  itself  into  the  terebinth  woods  of 
Tucca  and  to  the  great  centre  of  traffic  Assuras,  little  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  from  Carthage. 

The  Christian  population  of  at  least  eight  sees  was  thus 
lacerated  \ 

As  memorials  of  transactions  so  fatal  ultimately  to  the 
church  of  Africa  and  to  all  the  civilization  which  depended 
on  it,  clearing  the  ground  as  they  did  for  Vandal  and  for 
Saracen,  there  remain  in  explanation  of  each  other  only 
scattered  notices,  a  few  inscriptions,  and  the  sixty-second 
epistle  of  Cyprian  which  went  with  a  ransom  ^ 

This  must  have  been  a  serious  time  for  the  dominion 
of  Africa,  though  we  know  nothing  direct  about  it.  Not 
Cyprian   but   two  or  three  unburied  marbles^   tell  us   how 

^  In  the  fourth  century  children  were       relate    to    the    defeats    of   FARAXEN  • 


constantly  redeemed  from  the  Berbers 
and  baptized  if  unidentified,  V.  Cone. 
Carth.  c.  6,  A.D.  398,  Labbe  11.  1455 
{Brev.  Cone.  Hipp.  A.D.  393,  c.  39,  but 
see  also  nn.  on  cc.  38,  39,  Hefele,  H. 
d.  C.  B.  VIII.  109),  Cod.  Caiin.  Eeel. 
Afr.  72,  Justell.  p.  198  (ed.  1614), 
Labbe,  11.  1308.  (?/ro  hinc /^^.  huic. ) 
In  A.D.  409  we  mark  them  kidnapping 
still  further  north  at  Sitifis  itself,  Aug. 
Ep.  cxi.  (cxxii.)  7. 

-  An  affecting  inscription  given  in 
Rev.  Afr.  vii.  p.  359  belongs  to  the 
year  A.D.  247  (Anno  Provincire  Maure- 
taniae  208)  A  p  ccviii  D  M  have  se- 

CVNDE  PARENTIBVS  TVIS  DVLCISSIME 
FLOS  IVVENTVTIS  AN  V  A  BARBARIS 
INTEREMPTVS  MVCIA  AMAk  [the  last 
four  letters  from  Wilmanns'  cast, 
who  has  s  after  D  m,  and  for  v  a  small 
L  (?),  C.  I.  L.  VIII.  ii.  9158].  A 
forgery  claiming  to  be  of  year  254  with 
a  curious  story  is  given  C.  I.  L.  viii.  i. 
p.  xxxvii.,  30.  Other  inscriptions,  be- 
longing to   the  next  30  or  40  years, 


REBELLIS     CVM     SATELLITIBVS      SVIS, 

C.  I.  L.  VIII.  ii.  9047,  the  chieftain  from 
whom  the  Fraxinenses  hod.  Frcumeen 
are  said  to  be  called,  of  the  quinque- 
GENTANEI  rebelles  at  Bougie,  Salda, 
C.  I.  L.  VIII.  ii.  8924  {Rev.  Afr.  iv. 
p.  434),  and  of  Babari  at  Cherchel, 
CcESarea.  ERASIS  FVNDITVS  BABA.RIS 
TRANSTAGNENSIBVS  C.  I.  L.  VIII.  ii. 
9324  {^Rev.  Afr.  iv.  p.  222.  Mus.  Alg. 
No.  74). 

The  Quinquegentanei  disappear  soon 
after  their  overthrow  by  Maximian 
(Eutrop.  ix.  23).  The  Berbers  between 
Sitifis  and  Cirta  are  by  Pliny  v.  30  (4) 
and  Ptolemy  iv.  3  (p.  11 1  b)  called 
Sabarbares,  Za^ovp^ovpes,  which  is  said 
to  contain  the  Numidian  prefix  Zal> 
{Revile  Africaine,  vol.  vii.  p.  27,  &c.), 
but  in  either  case  with  v.  1.  Sababares, 
2a/3oi)j3oi;pes,  as  in  one  of  the  above 
inscriptions.  In  Ep.6'2.  3  Barbarorum, 
&c.  would  correctly  have  a  capital  letter. 

*  Index,  Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.  II.  p. 
108 1  (published  since  the  previous  para- 


238       EXPANSION   OF  HUMAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

a  year  or  two  later  the  Bavares  under  four  united  native 
princes  wasted  Numidia  as  far  up  as  Milev.  There,  and 
again  on  the  Mauretanian  frontier,  they  were  violently  checked 
by  C.  Macrinius  Decianus,  propraetor.  He  defeated  at  the 
same  time  other  great  leagues  or  clans'  of  them,  as  the  Quin- 
quegentanei,  who  fell  on  Mauretania  itself;  and  while  he 
claimed  the  credit  of  the  capture  and  execution  of  Faraxen*, 
almost  a  chieftain  of  romance, — like  the  present  Berber  chiefs, 
'who  look  as  if  thawed  out  of  marble  statues  of  Roman 
emperors',' — it  would  seem  that  the  actual  seizure  of  him 
and  his  whole  staff  was  the  exploit  of  Gargilius  Martialis,  an 
officer  who  had  served  in  Britain  and  now  commanded  the 
loyal  Moorish  cavalry.  Still  further  west  Auzia,  now  Aiifnale, 
must  have  been  in  peril,  for  when,  in  A.D.  260,  Gargilius  him- 
self was  destroyed  by  a  Berber  ambush,  Auzia  commemorated 
by  a  statue  his  former  act  of  '  valour  and  vigilance.' 

The  redemption  of  captives,  like  the  portioning  of  orphans, 
had  long  been  among  the  Romans  a  favourite  work  of 
liberality — '  most  worthy  of  the  gravity  and  greatness  of  the 
senatorial  order*.' 

There  was  nothing  specifically  Christian,  nothing  novel 
in  the  collection  which  was  promptly  made  at  Carthage  for 


graph  and  its  note  i  were  written),  con-  ^  The    Dux   famosissimus    (full   of 

siders  that  the  victories  of  Decian  belong  legends)   of  the   Fraxinenses   must  be 

to   the  years   253   and  254.      He  was  Faraxen  himself.     Col.  R.  L.  Playfair, 

'  Legatus  duorum  Augustorum  Numi-  Travels     in    the    Footsteps    of    Bruce 

dise,'  i.e.  of  Valerian  and  Gallien,  in  (p.  72),  says  that  in  the  Aures  moun- 

A.D.  260,  to  which  year  the  movement  tains  over  Lambesis  is  a  high  wooded 

itself  belongs.  See  the  inscriptions,  C /.  and  secluded  valley  called  Ti  Farasain. 

L.  VIII.  i.  2615  (at  Lambesis),  ii.  9047  Its  name,  perhaps,  may  be  a  record  of 

(Auzia),  and  compare  ii.  9045.     Mark  this  raid. 

the  expressions  '  provinciam  Numidiam  ^  Col.  R.  L.  Playfair,  op.  cit.  p.  70. 

vastabant,^ '■'\-a.%\^\\%'&z.v2s\xm.  decepto.^  ■*   Redimi  e  servitute  captos...vulgo 

^  Gen.  Creuly  shews   that   Babares  solitum   fieri  ab  ordine    nostro...H3ec 

included  Quinquegentanei  and  Fraxi-  (consuetudo)    est    gravium    hominum 

nenses,  Rev.  ArcheoL  i86i,p.  51.    See  atque  magnorum.     Cic.  de  Off.  ii.  18. 

also  Tissot  I.  458,  il.  790.  63;  cf.  16.  55. 


VI.  1. 1.  THE  CHURCH  AS  TO  SUFFERINGS  OF  HER  MEMBERS.  239 

the  victims,  except  the  number  and  poverty  of  the  con- 
tributors. But  this  novelty  was  Christian.  The  motives 
which  they  had  found  irresistible  were  'that  the  captives 
'were  living  shrines  of  deity;  that  Christ  was  in  them  and 
*  they  in  Christ ;  that  such  an  event  was  a  probation  not  only 
'  of  sufferers  but  also  of  sympathizers ;  that  all  looked  for  a 
'Judgment  in  which  sympathy  would  be  the  main  subject  of 
'  enquiry.'  If  He  will  then  say  'I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  me,' 
much  more  will  the  Redeemer  say  'I  was  captive  and  ye 
redeemed  me.'  How  full  Cyprian's  mind  was  at  this  moment 
of  these  topics  we  shall  recognize  as  we  proceed. 

Nearly  eight  hundred^  pounds  was  subscribed  by  the 
community,  and  by  the  sitting  bishops;  by  these  partly 
on  behalf  of  their  poor  churches.  The  list  of  donors,  sent 
into  Numidia,  was  accompanied  by  the  request  that  they 
might  be  commemorated  at  the  sacrifices  and  in  private 
prayers,  and  with  an  assurance  of  further  help  should  the 
need,  as  was  too  likely,  recur. 

Of  Genuineness  Geographical. 

A  beautiful  incidental  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  our  documents 
comes  out  here.  The  relief  is  sent  from  Carthage  to  eight  Numidian 
bishops,  Januarius,  Maximus,  Proculus,  Victor,  Modianus,  Ne- 
mesianus,  Nampulus,  Honoratus,  but  there  is  no  mention  of  their 
sees.  Now  in  the  list  of  the  Council  of  256  four  of  these  reappear  as 
bishops  of  two  Numidian  sees  which  are  named  and  two  Provincial; 
viz.  Januarius  of  Lambassis  and  Nemesianus  of  Thubunse,  Victor  of 
Assuras  and  Honoratus  of  Tucca.  These  towns  with  Auzia  give 
the  geographical  line  I  have  indicated,  which  is  itself  a  sign  of 
accuracy.  What  forger  of  another  age  and  country  could  have 
marked  for  himself  upon  his  map  a  line  of  barbarian  advance  and 
then  have  forborne  to  indicate  it,  but  in  a  wholly  unconnected  docu- 
ment have  attached  to  the  sees  which  marked  that  line  the  names 
of  some  of  his  fictitious  bishops  ?  Behind  this  line  toward  Mt.  Aures 

1  £/.  62.4 'sestertium  centum  millia  Hartel  in    reading   'sestertia    centum 

nummum.     Gronov.  lib.  de  sest.  n.  18'  milia    nummorum,'    nor    do    Baluze's 

Hartel.    The  two  xvth  century  extant  quotations  prove  it  to  be  possible. 
Mss.  of  this   epistle     scarcely    justify 


240      EXPANSION  OF   HUMAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

lie  several  Cyprianic  sees,  such  as  Thamugadi,  Mascula,  Theveste, 
and  beyond  it  Gemellas,  Badias,  and  others ;  some  of  these  no  doubt 
were  the  other  four  sufferers.  In  another  place  I  shall  shew  how  the 
order  of  the  names  in  Councils  (a  matter  of  seniority)  corresponds 
with  other  indications. 

2.     The  Church  in  relation  to  HeatJien  Suffering. — The  Plague. 

And  now  the  formation  and  compacting  of  the  Christian 
community  have  for  some  time  engrossed  us.  Meanwhile 
changes  have  passed  over  the  aspect  which  that  community- 
presented  to  the  world.  That  community  owed  and  owned 
a  duty  to  all  unconverted  humanity — not  only  a  duty  to 
absorb  it  with  all  possible  rapidity  into  itself — but  a  duty  also 
towards  the  part  not  within  any  given  time  likely  to  be 
absorbed.  That  enquiry  into  social  morals  which  most  taxed 
the  philosophical  power  of  paganism  had  been  overtaken  by 
a  code,  or  the  principle  of  a  code,  which  exempted  no  man 
from  active  benevolence.  The  doctrine  of  Grace  operating 
upon  and  cooperating  with  the  human  will  to  reconstruct 
character,  the  embracement  of  eternal  life  and  reward,  the 
earthly  pattern  of  Christ  and  the  passion  of  reproducing  it, 
above  all  the  experienced  and  attested  union  of  the  individual 
spirit  with  Him  during  the  present  existence,  placed  the  Chris- 
tian, so  soon  as  he  began  to  realize  this  new  range  of  Ideas, 
in  an  attitude  of  fresh  and  unexpected  energy  towards  every 
person  and  every  contingency  with  which  he  came  in  contact. 

This  realization  had  been  to  the  practical  comprehension 
of  the  convert  Cyprian  an  affair  of  perhaps  a  few  weeks  \ 
This  realization  was  what  he  excelled  in  impressing  on  other 
men.  Even  the  East  appreciated  this  action  of  his  on  the 
community.  '  He  educated  the  whole  moral  tone,  dissipated 
'  undisciplined  ignorance  of  doctrine,  brought  order  to  the  lives 
'  of  men  ^'  says  Gregory  of  Nazianzus.   We  have  watched  him 

*  Pont.   Vit.  3.  devalav  iKddrjpe,  Kal  dvSpuv  /3foi/j  iK6<r- 

2  Greg.   Naz.    Or.    xxiv.   13.  ...^0os       A"7ffe. 
&Trav     iiralSevae    Kal    doyfidruv    dirai- 


VI.  I.  2.     THE  CHURCH  AND   HEATHEN   SUFFERING.  24I 

awhile  as  the  Organizer.     We  return  to  follow  him  through 
the  same  period  as  the  Master  of  Doctrine  reduced  to  Life. 

If  we  can  vividly  place  this  work  before  our  eyes  as  it 
went  on  in  one  great  city  of  the  old  world,  we  shall  stand 
close  to  the  fountain-head  of  the  movement.  It  was  in  the 
cities  that  it  burst  out,  as  it  was  in  the  busiest  Galilean  towns 
that  Christ  Himself  had  preached  most  attractively.  While 
each  of  the  great  cities  had  its  own  part,  Alexandria  the 
more  profound  and  speculative  and  Rome  the  more  political, 
Carthage,  in  some  respects  so  like  England,  with  its  blended 
races,  its  contracted  home,  world-wide  intercourse,  and  ready 
interest  in  theories  which  had  their  birth  elsewhere,  attained 
its  own  truest  historical  eminence  through  Christianity,  and 
that  eminence  the  most  instructive  of  all  for  us. 

The  field  on  which  first  opened  out  the  Christian  strength  a.d.  252. 
in  contrast  to  heathen  helplessness  was  a  terrible  one.  In 
the  year  252  A.D.  the  Great  Plague  reached  Carthage.  The 
epoch  was  one  of  those  periods  of  physical  disturbance  which, 
rightly  or  not,  have  been  noted  in  connection  with  plagues. 
Famine,  protracted  drought,  tornadoes  and  unexampled  hail- 
storms^ prevailed.  The  pestilence  had  descended  two  years 
before  from  .Ethiopia"  upon  Egypt;  a  pestilence  differing 
specifically  from  the  third  visitation  in  the  reign  of  Justinian^, 
which  was  strictly  analogous  to  the  modern  plague,  but 
travelling  the  same  route  and  exhibiting  a  somewhat  similar 
character  with  its  predecessor  of  the  fifth  century  before 
Christ.  Whether  these  were  different  disorders,  we  cannot 
distinguish.  Both  were  of  the  class  of  malignant  typhoid  fever. 
The  absence  at  Carthage  of  those  pulmonary  complications, 
which  Thucydides  describes  as  one  of  the  most  distressing 
symptoms,  may  be   attributable    to  the    dry  atmosphere   of 

^  Ad  Demetr.  2,  7,  10.  embellished  his  long   account   of  this 

2  Zonaras,  xii.  21.  Cedrenus,  p.  258A.  by  many  particulars  from  other  pesti- 

Compare  Thuc.  ii.  48  ...i^  AW  ion  Las...  lences.     I?e  Bell.  Pers.  ii.   22   (Dind. 

iireira  dk  Kal  is  AlyvirTov,  k.t.X.  vol.  I.  p.  249). 
^  Procopius  appears  to  me  to  have 

B.  16 


242      EXPANSION  OF  HUMAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

Tunisia,  but  neither  does  Cyprian  mention  the  red  and  livid 
blistering  eruption,  nor  yet  the  brain  aflfection,  which  among 
the  Athenian  sufferers  had  frequently  resulted  in  the  ex- 
tinction of  memory.  If  Eutropius  is  accurate,  it  also  differed 
from  that  pestilence  in  not  extinguishing  like  it  all  other 
disorders,  but  was  on  the  contrary  attended  by  a  multiplicity 
of  them^  Other  symptoms,  perhaps  the  most  general,  are 
identical — the  diarrhoea,  the  ulcerated  mouth  and  throat,  the 
congested  eyes,  the  internal  fever  and  incessant  sickness  ;  the 
loss  to  survivors  of  the  feet  or  other  extremities,  the  lame- 
ness, blindness,  or  total  deafness.  Both  were  preceded  by 
the  intense  nervous  depression  which  induced  the  premoni- 
tory symptom  of  threatening  spectres". 

This  plague  went  on  for  a  term  of  twenty  years  ranging  the 
civilised  world,  returning  once  and  again  to  countries  which 
it  had  desolated  and  to  cities  in  which  it  seemed  to  have 
stricken  every  housed  In  A.D.  261  its  recoil  on  Alexandria 
was  worse  than  its  first  assault,  and  in  four  years  more  it  had 
reduced  the  population  by  above  one  half*.  It  fell  on  the 
armies  of  Valerian  and  delivered  the  East  up  to  Sapor.  In 
262  five  thousand  persons  died  in  Rome,  and  the  same  number 
in  Achaia,  on  a  single  day".  In  270  the  emperor  Claudius 
died  of  it  while  it  was  serving  as  his  most  effective  auxiliary 
against  the  Gothic  hordes  in  Thrace.  It  had  run  but  half 
its  course  when  Dionysius  quotes  and  affirms  the  remark 
that  of  all  the  wars  and  miseries  which  oppressed  the  race 

^   Sola  pestilentia  et   morbis  atque  claimantsfor  corn  bet  ween  the  ages  of  14 

iegritudinibus  notus  eorum  principatus  and  80  was  after  the  reign  of  Gallienus 

fuit.     Eutr.  ix.  5.  equal  only  to  the  former  number  of  those 

2  Greg.  Nyss.  vit.  S.  Greg.   Thaum.  between   40   and    70.      Gibbon   hence 
§    12.     Procop.    I.e.   p.    ■251    (pda-fiara  deduces  the  above  fact,  ch.  x.  ad  fin. 
daifiSpuv . .  .iraleaOai  t^ovro  irpbs  rod   iv-  0  That    is    if-    I     comprehend     the 
rvx^t^Tos  ivSp6s.  odious   obscurity  of  Trebellius   Pollio 

3  Dionys.  ap.  Euseb.  vii.  22. — Conti-  {Gallieni  Duo  5).  Gibbon  takes  it 
nuatas  per  ordinem  domos...Pont.  Vit.  that  during  some  time  5000  died  in 
c.  9.     So  Orosius,  vii.  21.  Rome  daily. 

•*  At  Alexandria  the  whole  sum   of 


VI.  I.  2.    THE  CHURCH  AND   HEATHEN  SUFFERING. 


243 


of  man  the  plague  alone  had  outrun  the  darkest  anticipa- 
tions. 

This  was  the  horror  and  the  misery  which  fell  like  an 
unnatural  night  on  the  Christians'  dawning  hopes  of  peace 
and  order. 

In  our  present  year  it  carried  off  the  young  emperor 
Hostilian^,  and  the  emperor  Gallus  and  his  son  Volusian  were 
winning  golden  opinions  by  their  care  for  the  interment  of  the 
meanest  victims ^  To  confess  to  any  sanitary  motive,  such 
as  we  hope  we  may  suspect,  would  have  been  impiety. 
Avowed  measures  of  relief  were  limited  to  edicts  for  universal 
sacrifices  which  exposed  Christianity  to  fresh  persecution  from 
populaces  which  furiously  marked  its  non-compliant  attitude, 
and  also  to  an  unprecedented  issue  from  the  imperial  mints 
of  coins  dedicated  to  '  Healthful  ApolloV  These  remedies 
marked  the  limits  of  antique  self-devotion  to  populations  sick 


'  Aur.  Victor,  Epit.  c.  30.  All  Mss. 
here  read  Hostilianus  Perpetina  or  Per- 
pema,  an  Etruscan  name  originally 
which  occurs  on  no  coin  of  him.  Hints 
seem  latent  under  both  names  of  his 
brother,  made  emperor  with  him,  and 
lost  with  Decius,  viz.  Herennius  Etrus- 
cus,  son  of  Herennia  Etruscilla.  Zo- 
simus,  i.  25,  lays  this  death  to  the 
jealousy  of  Gallus. 

2  Aur.  Victor  de  Cees.  c.  30 '  tenuissimi 
cujusque  exsequias  curarent.'  Earlier  we 
have  in  Petronius  Satyric.  c.  116  'tan- 
quam  in  pestilentia  campos,  in  quibus 
nihil  aliud  est  nisi  cadavera  quae  lace- 
rantur  aut  corvi  qui  lacerant.' 

^  The  story  of  the  invocation  is  tragic. 
Caracalla  sick  in  mind  and  body  after 
Geta's  murder  struck  his  denarius 
bearing  Apollo  Salutaris  with  other 
coins  of  similar  allusion  (see  Steven- 
son, Did.  Rom.  Coins,  1889,  p.  67). 
Then  Gallus  in  this  plague  about  a.d. 
254  (so  Eckhel)  struck  large  brass  and 
other    metals    and    forms,    Apollini 


Salutari  (Stevenson,  p.  67).  In  the 
British  Museum  are  two  'Antoniani,' 
an  aureus  and  a  half-aureus  of  the  type. 
Also  (Grueber  and  Poole,  Roman 
Medallions  in  Brit.  Mtts.,  pp.  57,  60) 
a  brass  medallion  of  Gallus  and  one  of 
Volusian,  which  bear  Apollo  with 
radiate  head  standing  on  rocks  holding 
in  his  right  a  laurel  branch,  in  his  left 
a  serpent,  legend  ARN  AZi.  These 
refer  to  the  same  tutelage  and  the  need 
of  it,  even  if  Pellerin's  clever  interpre- 
tation of  Arna  and  Asisium  erecting  a 
Colossus  is  not  certain  (Stevenson, 
p.  82).  See  H.  Cohen  (not  quite  accu- 
rate), Monnaies  Jrappees  sons  C Empire 
Romain,  1885,  vol.  V.,  pp.  238,  239, 
268. 

Similar  types  are  continued  through 
the  next  reign  with  revivals  of  the  Di 
Majores  and  (it  is  said)  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  Diana  (also  a  healer)  on 
coins.  Many  are  found  in  England. 
Leicestersh.  Archil.  Soc.  Trans.  XI.  i. 
P-  193- 

16 — 2 


244      EXPANSION  OF  HUMAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

unto  death.  That  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest 
number  is  best  secured  by  the  devotion  of  the  individual  to 
his  own,  was  not  then  a  floating  theory.  It  pervaded  society 
as  a  living  principle.  When  physical  terror  became  the  domi- 
nant chord  in  life  'egoism'  perfected  its  melody.  Instant 
flights,  the  desertion,  the  exposure  of  the  dying,  the  barred 
gates  of  the  house-courts,  the  hasty  flinging  out  of  the  dead, 
street  assassinations  and  drugged  possets,  the  spoliation  of 
unprotected  fortunes,  the  last  corruption  of  the  judicature, 
marked  the  opportunity  and  the  successes  of  Self  let  loose  ^ 
upon  society.  Every  natural,  every  acquired  scruple  broke 
down*. 

But  the  entrance  of  self-sacrifice  upon  the  scene  does 
indeed  difference  the  plague  in  Carthage,  in  Neo-Caesarea, 
or  Alexandria  from  the  plague  of  Athens.  In  each  of  these 
cities  the  Bishop  of  the  Christians  was  a  leading  citizen.  The 
earliest-dated  though  but  passing  mention  of  this  plague  is 
in  connection  with  the  deaths  of  several'  Egyptian  Deacons. 
The  behaviour  of  Gregory  in  Pontus  secured  the  faith  of  that 
region.  Nor  had  the  wearing  persistence  of  the  misery  any 
power  to  abate  zeal.  In  Alexandria  ten  years  later,  when 
half  the  town  had  perished  ^  there  was  still  in  rendering 
the  last  offices  almost  an  excess  of  tenderness,  such  as 
scarcely  could  be  justified  except  by  the  moral  effect  of 
intrepidity  upon  a  population.  For  it  so  subjected  the  Church 
to  contagion,  and  swept  away  such  crowds  of  faithful  lives, 
that  the  Christians  owned  that  now  at  length  was  verified 
the  soubriquet  with  which  by  an  ungenerous  perversion  that 
Parisian-like  populace  had  long  stigmatized  them — they  were 
become  'the  Offscouring'  of  all. 

At  Carthage,  so  soon  as  the  usual  street-scenes  and  house- 
scenes  began,  Cyprian  summoned  his  community,  and  in  a 

1  Pont.  Vit.  9  ;  ad  Demetr.  lo,  ii.  seven  according  to  Cone.  Neocaes.  a.d. 

2  Prsedandi    dissimulatio   nulla,    ad      314,  can.  15. — Euseb.  vii.  11.     Cf.  22. 
Demetr.  11.  *  Page  242,  n.  4. 

'  I.e.  assuming  that  there  were  only 


VI.  I.  2.      THE  CHURCH  AND  HEATHEN  SUFFERING.  245 

speech  which  his  deacon  wished  the  whole  city  could  have 
heard  from  the  rostra,  developed  the  duty  and  divineness  of 
prayer  and  labour  on  behalf  of  persecutors.  In  this  light  he 
appealed  to  their  Christian  belief  in  their  veritable  Sonship  to 
God\  His  epigrammatic  'Respondere  Natalibus'  is  a  nobler 
version  of  Noblesse  oblige  and  no  less  defies  rendering. 
He  then,  with  the  facility  which  marked  his  arrangements, 
forthwith  proposed  and  carried  a  scheme  for  the  systematic 
care  of  the  city.  With  a  few  marked  exceptions^  the  whole 
society,  rich  and  poor  alike,  partly  from  motives  like  his  own, 
partly  under  the  spell  of  his  personal  influence',  responded  to 
the  appeal,  undertook  the  parts  he  assigned  them,  raised  an 
abundant  fund,  and  formed  an  adequate  staff  for  the  nursing 
and  burial  of  sufferers  and  victims,  without  any  discrimination 
of  religious  profession*. 

Of  this  organization  probably  little  or  nothing  transpired 
before  the  heathen.  We  see  to-day  how  the  wide  organiza- 
tions, much  more  the  self-sacrifice,  of  the  Church's  work  in 
obscure  London  can  escape  the  philanthropic  novelist  and 
even  the  religious  sects  of  more  prosperous  quarters.  The 
slow,  vast  effect  of  those  unsuspected  forces  on  Carthage  may 
cheer  the  sacrificers  and  organizers  of  to-day.  It  was  not 
likely  to  be  recognised  in  that  old  tortured  and  torturing  city 
that  the  new  enthusiasm  of  humanity  was  fired  by  Christianity. 
Or  if  this  partly  emerged,  still  nothing  could  overcome  the 
natural    disgust   with    which    citizens    regarded   such    stolid 

1    Pont.     Vit.     9    'Respondere    nos  •*  ...exuberantium  operum   largitate, 

decet  natalibus  nostris.'  quod   bonum   est    ad   omnes,   non   ad 

^  I  infer  that  there  were  exceptions  solos  domesticos  fidei.  Pontius,  Vit.  10, 

from  De  Op.   ^  El.   12   ^  quosdam  in  desires  the   forgiveness  of  the  Jewish 

ecclesia  videmus...At  quibus  mirari  non  Saint    Tobias    'once,    twice    and    fre- 

oportet  quod  contemnant  in  tractatibus  quently,'   for    rating    his    'incompara- 

servum '  which  evidently  refers  to  un-  ble    piety,'   which    collected   only   the 

answered  appeals  made  by  himself  upon  remains   of   his  own   fellow-believers, 

this  subject.  lower  than   that   of   Cyprian.      '  Ful- 

^  Sub    tanto    doctore  ...  placeret    et  ness  (he  adds)  belongs  to  the  times  of 

Deo  patri,  et  judici  Christo,  et  interim  Christ.' 
sacerdoti.     Pont.  Vit.  10. 


246      EXPANSION  OF  HUMAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY, 

enemies  of  the  emperor  and  the  empire.  How  else  account 
for  the  erect  coldness  with  which  their  sect  looked  on  at  the 
propitiations  and  tears  presented  to  Health,  to  Apollo,  and 
to  Caelestis  Queen  of  Heaven  ?  None  however  was  so  ob- 
noxious as  the  '  Overseer '  of  the  Christians — for  the  populace 
knew  well  that  title.  The  publication  of  the  sacrificial  edict 
had  been  once  more  a  signal  for  the  Circus  to  demand  that 
Cyprian  should  be  fetched  and  matched  with  one  of  their 
lions,  and  he  was  officially  proscribed  by  name  and  office  \ 

His  terrible  work  was  not  over,  and  grave  political  com- 
plications had  gathered  round  him,  when  five  years  later, 
A,D.  257,  he  was  banished.  This,  says  his  biographer,  'was 
'  his  reward  for  withdrawing  from  living  sight  a  horror  like 
'  that  of  heir  and  for  'saving  his  country  from  becoming  the 
*  empty  shell  of  an  exiled  population.'  Allow  the  utmost  for 
partiality,  that  effort  to  grapple  with  a  Plague-city  must  have 
been  as  energetic  as  it  was  novel. 

3.     TJie  Theory. —  Unconditional  Altruism. 

Cyprian's  mode  of  organizing  had  this  merit  and  this 
ruling  spell,  that  he  took  those  who  were  to  be  organized  into 
his  full  confidence.  He  filled  them  with  the  ideas  which  had 
carried  himself  to  the  point  of  action.  'II  parle,  il  parle 
beaucoup,  il  fait  tout  ce  qu'il  a  dit'  was  the  witty  description 
of  a  novel  diplomacy  which  converted  a  province  into  an 
empire.  It  was  in  the  highest  sense  of  that  description  that 
Cyprian  educated  his  followers  into  the  schemes  of  duty 
which  rose  before'him. 

We  may  look  on  his  little  treatise,  his  '  Letter,'  as  Augus- 
tine calls  it, '  OF  Work  and  Alms-Deeds,'  as  the  expansion 
of  his  noble  motto  Respondere   Natalibns,  as  a  lengthened 

^  Ep.   66.    4  'Siquis  tenet  possidet  et    adjuncto   episcopatus    sui    nomine, 

de    bonis     Csecili    Cypriani    Episcopi  totiens  ad  leonem  petitus,  in  circo,  in 

Christianorum' — quoted  from  the  docu-  amphitheatro, '  &c. 
ment  referred  to  in  Ep.  59.  6  '  adplicito 


VI.  I.  3.  THE  THEORY.      ALTRUISM.  247 

echo  perhaps  of  that  last  speech  of  his  on  the  approach  of  the 
plague.  It  is  an  unreserved  statement  of  the  Theory  which 
he  carried  through  without  reserve.  The  strokes  which  were 
falling  on  the  Christians  turned  the  affluence  of  many  into 
poverty.  Yet  such  strokes  were  partial  in  their  effect,  and 
left  many  untouched.  So  too  the  horrors  of  Pestilence  do 
not  bring  the  same  universal  impoverishment  as  Famine;  and 
even  Captivities  and  Confiscations  had  only  their  selected 
victims.  There  were  patrimonies  still;  there  were  old  hoards 
of  bullion,  which  it  was  time  to  unlock  to  the  thronging 
misery  ;  there  were  matronly  jewelleries  and  all  the  extrava- 
gances of  fashion  ;  the  barrenness,  the  dulness,  the  darkness 
of  wealthy  luxurious  life  oppressed  the  mind\  It  was  a  time 
to  build  any  freshly  gained  ideas  into  the  social  code,  and 
his  own  splendid  use  of  wealth  gave  him  a  right  to  utter 
them. 

Christ  then  had  treated  the  sacrifice  of  wealth  as  a  note  of 
enrolment  in  His  supernatural  society,  as  a  grade  in  perfection, 
as  a  reality  which  would  accompany  the  soul  into  immortality  ^ 

Christ  had  not  merely  overlooked  mundane  considerations. 
He  had  personally  pledged  Himself  to  convert  losses  so 
incurred  into  gain,  and  faithless  gains  into  loss.  He  had 
charged  Himself  with  the  anxieties  of  the  liberal ;  in  short  for 
His  followers  He  had  identified  Himself  with  Providence^ 

Socially  He  had  declared  Himself  to  be  the  new  power  in 
the  world  for  the  elevation  of  the  masses ;  He  had  minutely 
described  how  in  the  close  of  the  world's  history  He  will 
look  back  on  efforts  made  for  the  amelioration  of  their 
conditions^ 

Domestic  claims  cannot  really  compete  with  the  needs  of 
the  poor;  both  the  interests  and  the  characters  of  Christian 
families  are  best  provided  for  by  practical  demonstrations  of 

^  De  Opere  et  Eleemosynis   11 — 13  ;  *  De  0.  et  E.  9,  10. 

14.  15;  23.  *  De  O.  et  E.  16,  23. 

'  De  0.  et  E.  7,  8,  14. 


248      EXPANSION  OF  HUMAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

real  faith  in  immortal  recompense,  in  daily  providence,  in 
the  fatherhood  of  God  ^ 

Once  more  the  whole  theory  of  Christian  worship,  center- 
ing as  it  does  on  the  Eucharist,  is  nullified  for  the  rich  and 
selfish.  Without  personal  sacrifice  there  can  be  no  union  with 
the  Divine  sacrifice.  What  an  irony  to  see  a  gorgeous  lady 
before  an  altar  receiving  her  communion  out  of  the  offerings 
of  the  poor^ 

In  a  nearly  contemporaneous  letter'  Cyprian  represented 
Christian  endurance  by  metaphors  almost  overbold,  as  a 
gladiatorial  combat  fought  for  crowns  before  Emperor  and 
Caesar.  He  now  carries  his  figure  farther.  The  wealthy  who 
will  bestow  his  means  in  supporting  such  combatants  is  like 
the  Munerarius* — the  man  of  rank  or  ambition  who  lavishes 
a  fortune  to  provide  a  worthy  spectacle.  With  a  Goethesque 
audacity  Satan  himself  is  introduced  to  confront  the  throned 
Christ.  He  points  out  the  glorious  shows  which  his  servants 
ruin  themselves  to  exhibit  with  unfruitful  unselfish  splendour 
in  his  honour.  'Where,  O  Christ,'  he  sneers,  'are  your 
'  Munerarii .''  Where  your  capitalists,  who  will  do  even  self- 
'  remunerating  works  on  such  a  scale  upon  your  principles, — 
'  either  through  gratitude  for  your  loving  Passion,  or  in  hope 
'  of  your  bright  reward?' 

But  our  account  of  the  motives  for  generosity  which  Cyprian 
expands  before  the  Church,  would  not  be  complete  without 
his  peculiar  and  less  satisfactory  development  of  the  relation 
of  Almsgiving  to  Sin.  Not  only  do  prayer  and  fasting  lack 
substance  and  reality  apart  from  such  alms  and  work^  but 
when  past  sinfulness  has  been  obliterated  by  the  blood  of 
Christ  in  Baptism,  the  effectiveness  of  that  Baptism  is  pro- 
longed and  subsequent  frailties  continually  abolished,  through 

'  De  0.  et  E.  r6,  20.  Augustus,  Quintil.  viii.  3,  and  note  the 

-  De  O.  et  E.  15.  near  resemblances  of  language  between 

'  Ep.  58  '  plebi  Thibari  consistenti.'  De  0.  et  E.  21  and  Ep.  58.  8. 

*  Note  the  popular  word  invented  by  '  Dc  0.  et  E.  5. 


VI.  II.  RESENTMENT.  249- 

the  maintenance  in  all  its  freshness  of  the  state  of  mind  in 
which  we  leave  the  font  by  a  constant  flow  of  working  and 
almsgiving\  There  can  be  no  better  illustration  than  this 
teaching  (in  which  a  distinct  propitiatory  value  is  assigned  to 
our  own  action)  of  the  combined  results,  in  the  development 
of  doctrine,  of  resorting  to  the  Jewish  Apocrypha,  relying  on 
a  Version,  and  constructing  a  theory  from  a  word^  When 
this  thread  of  erroneous,  or  at  least  ambiguous,  theory 
was  presently  after  woven  in  with  Tertullian's  new  forensic 
language  on  satisfaction  being  made  to  God  by  penance', 
a  commencement  of  much  mediaeval  trouble  was  made. 

On  the  other  hand  for  this  very  treatise  the  first  Council 
of  Ephesus  was  grateful,  when  they  could  quote,  with 
other  'chapters'  from  the  Fathers,  against  the  confusions 
of  Nestorius*  its  clear-toned  opening  '  The  Sent  Son  willed 
to  be  the  Son  of  Man.' 

And  Augustine  with  quite  a  burst  of  love  brings  up  its 
eloquent  truths  as  against  the  Pelagian  thought  that  some  men 
in  this  life  are  sinless.  '  So  didst  thou  teach,  so  didst  thou 
admonish,  incomparable  teacher  and  glorious  witness  V 

II. 

Resentment. 

Such  was  the  preparation  which  the  Christians  of  Carthage 
were  receiving  for  their  conflict  with  the  misery  of  a  heathen 

^  De  0.  et  E.  1.  *  Labbe,  vol.  iv.,  p.  67  (202),  a.d. 

*  Such  are  most  distinctly  the  sources  431.     It  was  read  again  at  the  second 

of  the  idea — Sicut  at/ua  (i.e.  Baptism)  Council  A.D.  449,  and  again  at  Chalce- 

extinguet  ignem  (i.e.  gehenna)  sic  elee-  don  a.d.  451.    /did.  p.  1134.    Vincent, 

mosyna  extiiiguet  peccatum  (Sirach  iii.  Lirin.  Common,  n.  30. 

30),    and   again    Prov.   xvi.   6    '  Mise-  »  Qut  of  this  short  treatise  Augustine 

ricordia  et  veritate  redimitur  iniquitas '  quotes  part  of  its  third  chapter  twice,  viz. 

(xv.  27  'per  misericordiam  et  fidem  pur-  in  Contra  dttas  epp.  Pelagg.  B.  iv.  c.  x. 

gantur  peccata'),  which  in  the  African  27,  and  Contra  Julian.  Pelag.  B.  11.  c. 

version  was  '  Eleemosynis  et  fide  delicta  viii. ;  part  of  ch.  i.  in  Contra  duas  epp. 

purgantur.' — De  0.  et  E.  2.  Pelagg.    B.    iv.    c.  viii. ;   and   part  of 

3  De  Panitentia  6.  chap.  xxii.  in  the  same  passage. 


250      EXPANSION  OF  HUMAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

city.  Meantime  the  rancour  of  its  population  which  had  laid 
wars  and  drought  and  pestilence  at  the  door  of  the  tolerated 
Christians  found  a  more  emphatic  voice  than  usual  in  the 
utterances  of  an  aged  magistrate,  Demetrian.  After  having 
been  freely  admitted  in  the  character  of  an  enquirer  to  Cy- 
prian's house,  he  was  now,  with  one  foot  in  the  grave,  acting 
on  the  tribunal  the  part  not  merely  of  a  harsh  enforcer  of 
the  penal  statutes,  but  of  an  ingenious  inventor  of  tortures. 
He  was  open  to  the  further  suspicion  of  having  himself  put 
the  most  exciting  imputations  against  the  accused  into  cir- 
culation \ 

'  The  indignation  raised  by  cruelty  and  injustice  and  the 
'  desire  of  having  it  punished,  which  persons  unconcerned — 
'  and  in  a  higher  degree  those  who  were  concerned — would  feel, 
'  is  by  no  means  malice.  It  is  one  of  the  common  bonds  by 
'which  society  is  held  together... a  weapon  put  into  our  hands 
'by  nature...  which  may  be  innocently  employed. ...one  of  the 
'  instalments  of  death  which  the  author  of  our  nature  hath 
'provided.... not  only  an  innocent  but  a  generous  movement 
'of  the  mind.. ..a  settled  and  deliberate  passion  implanted  in 
'  man  for  the  prevention  and  remedy  of  wrong^' 

It  is  thus  that  Butler  characterizes  Resentment.  It  is  thus 
that  Cyprian  exemplifies  it,  as  precisely  as  if  his  words  had 
been  weighed  to  comply  with  the  philosopher's  subtle  and 
original  distinction. 

'We  may  hate  no  man.'  '  Odisse  non  licet  nobis^!  He 
could  know  no  greater  joy  than  that  Demetrian  should  be 
partaker  of  his  own  blessing,  but  '  he  makes  a  way  for  his 

^  Sub   ipso   exitu,   ad  Demetr.    ii ;  His     power    and    his    intimacy    with 

cum  frequenter  ad  me  venires,  i ;  novas  Cyprian  may  suggest  that  he  was  one 

pcenas,  12;  quos  tu  forsitan  concitasti,  of  the  Five  nzixvQ  primores  associated 

1. — Confiscation,     chains,     execution,  with   Roman  officers  for  Christian   in- 

the  circus  and  fire  (cf.  Tert.  ad  Scap.  vestigations. 

4 'cremamur')  were  all  in  vogue  against  ^  Bishop   Butler,    Sermon  viii.    On 

Christians   at  this  time.     Ad  Demetr.  Resentment. 

12.     Pearson  exposes  the  older  state-  '^  Ad  Demetrian.  25. 
ment  that   Demetrian   was  proconsul. 


VI.  II.  RESENTMENT.  25 1 

indignation.'  So  long  as  Demetrian  had  '  bayed  and  raved  at 
God'  it  would  have  been  'an  easier,  lighter  effort  to  beat 
'rising  waves  back  with  shouts  than  to  curb  such  fury  by 
'accost,'  but  it  is  time  to  speak  when  a  double  and  triple 
injustice  is  perpetrated  with  every  accompaniment  of  cruelty. 
Tertullian  had  in  his  day  confronted  a  persecutor  \  Strange 
to  say,  in  this  one  instance  'The  Master's'  spirit  is  more 
gentle  than  the  gentle  prelate's.  There  are  points  of  contact 
shewing  the  appeal  to  Scapula  to  have  been  studied  by  the 
author  of  the  appeal  '  TO  Demetrian.'  In  both  we  have  the 
remonstrance  against  the  suppression  of  the  One  Natural 
Worship  ;  both  point  to  the  quietude  of  the  prevailing  Sect^; 
to  the  power  of  their  prayers  in  exorcisms  and  of  their 
suffering  example  in  conversions.  But  here  the  resemblance 
ends.  Tertullian's  exordium  is  almost  affectionate ;  he  has  no 
denunciations;  no  word  of  the  Eternal  Doom  of  persecutors 
nor  of  the  new  philosophy  of  Divine  Probation.  He  is  mainly 
occupied  with  relating  warnings  that  have  befallen  severe 
governors,  and  blessings  that  have  attended  lenient  judges 
and  ratified  Christian  Prayers.  The  aim  of  Cyprian  is  quite 
different  and  much  wider.  Demetrian  and  he  represented 
face  to  face  the  popular  and  the  new  or  advanced  answers  to 
the  question,  'Whence  all  this  political  and  all  this  physical 


misery 


The  Heathen  cry  was,  'The  progress  of  Christian  opinion 
'is  refusing  to  the  immortal  gods  the  institutions  which  ac- 
'  knowledge  and  represent  them, — temple,  pageant,  art,  drama, 
'circus,  arena,  private  homage,  oath,  vow,  even  incense  and 
'blood;  all  that  we  know  of  sacred  is  to  them  execrable;  the 
'same  opinion  denies  to  our  human  constitution  its  own  satis- 
' factions,  its  own  necessities.'  'Nature  is  chastising  our 
'  tolerance  of  the  unnatural.* 

The  new  reply  is  very  grave.    For  Cyprian  too  nature  and 

^  Ad  Scapulatn.  ad  Scap.  2 ;  nimius  et  copiosus  noster 

-  Pars  psene  major  cujusque  civitatis,       populus,  ad  Demetr.  17. 


252      EXPANSION  OF  HUMAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

humanity  were  at  present  dark  of  aspect.  But  his  explana- 
tion of  the  phenomena  of  suffering  was  threefold.  First,  he 
believed  that  on  general  grounds  a  decrepitude  of  universal 
life,  corresponding  to  that  of  individual  objects,  must  be 
expected  and  is  begun.  The  opinion  of  the  old  age  of  the 
world,  which  Columella  so  long  since  had  rejected  S  gained 
ground  with  the  decline  of  virtue.  Christians  in  particular 
fancied  that  it  accorded  with  their  then  scheme  of  prophecy. 
This  was  a  hypothesis  more  obvious,  in  the  silence  of 
economics,  than  to  trace  the  decay  of  enterprise,  of  pro- 
duction, of  art-skilP  to  the  universal  expulsion  of  free  labour 
by  slave  labour,  the  artificial  appreciation  of  corn,  and  the 
consolidation  of  real  property  in  hands  incredibly  few. 

The  second  answer  regarded  political  convulsions.  These 
Cyprian  concurred  with  his  antagonist  in  regarding  as  divine 
judgments — and  upon  impiety. 

But  impiety  where .''  In  illustration  he  points  to  the 
system  of  slavery — to  the  absolute  conviction  which  that 
institution  implied  of  the  accuracy  with  which  duty  ought  to 
be  rendered  by  one  set  of  mortal  lives  to  the  other^  and  of 
the  unlimited  chastisement  due  to  disobedience.  'Was  it 
'  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  universal  profligacy  of  disobe- 
'  dience  to  acknowledged  moral  laws  should  receive  no  check 
'  from  the  Master  of  Man  .-'  or  was  it  wonderful  that  civic  strifes 

^  De  re  rustica,  Praef.,  1.  ii.  i.  nascendi,  conditio  una   moriendi,    cor- 

^  Agricola  ..nauta...inartibusperitia,  porum   materia    consimilis,   animarum 

ad  Dernetr.  3.  ratio  communis,  sequali  jure  et  pari  lege 

^  Ad   Demetr.     8.     This    argument  vel  veniatur  in  istum  mundum,  vel  de 

shews  that   the  idea  that  slavery  was  mundo    postmodum    recedatur,    tamen 

unchristian   had   not    penetrated    even  nisi  tibi  pro  arbitrio  tuo  serviatur,  nisi  ad 

Cyprian's  humane  nature.    At  the  same  voluntatis   obsequium   pareatur,    impe- 

time  his  indignation  about  the  atrocities  riosus  et  nimius  servitutis  exactor,  fla- 

shews  what  was  coming,  and  he  plainly  gellas,  verberas,  fame,  siti,  nuditate,  et 

does  not  treat  slavery  as  a  natural  law.  ferro  freqjienter   et  carcere  adfligis  et 

The   passage   is    well    worth   quoting.  crucias.    Et  non  agnoscis  [miser]  Domi- 

'  Ipse  de  servo  tuo  exigis  servitutem,  et  num  Deum  tuum,  cum  sic  exerceas  ipse 

homo  hominem  parere  tibi  et  oboedire  dominatum.'     ad  Demetr.  8. 
compellis,  et  cum  sit  vobis  eadem  sors 


VI.  II.  RESENTMENT.  253 

'and  aristocratic  savagery  should  beckon  the  Goth  to  the 
'  frontier  >  That  deaths  should  avenge  an  aristocratic  and  com- 
*  mercial  rapacity  which  inflicted  worse  famines  than  nature } 
'  That  pestilence  should  linger  in  cities  where  its  warnings  had 
'only  evoked  fresh  rebellions  against  morality V-*' 

Here  he  introduces  with  force  a  fact  of  which  Demetrian 
had  already  heard  something — that  suck  scourges  had  been 
unerringly  foretold  by  Prophets  as  visitations  upon  suc/t  sins, 
and  foretold  with  this  remarkable  supplement  to  their  predic- 
tions, that  reformation  would  be  adopted  oftly  by  the  few  and 
scorned  by  the  mass.  'And  yet,'  he  finely  exclaims,  'ye 
are  indignant  at  the  indignation  of  God^' 

Thirdly.  He  retorts  the  causes  of  that  divine  indignation 
in  a  more  sounding  strain — 'You  and  your  courts  are  labour- 
'ing  for  the  eradication  of  the  only  rational  and  spiritual 
'worship  extant;  labouring  to  conserve  the  adoration  of  inept 
'figments  and  animal  monsters.  Full  of  this  zeal  you  actually 
'invert  the  usages  of  law'  against  us.  But  argue  with  us,  con- 
'vince  us  by  reason ; — or  only  come  and  listen  to  your  own 
'demon  deities  confessing,  screaming,  flying*  from  our  prayers. 
'Then  set  the  unmeaning  meanness  of  your  cringing  prostra- 
'tions  against  the  open-browed,  manly,  sensible  devotions  of  our 
'assemblies.  Do  you  think  it  conceivable  that  brute  force  should 
'move  us  from  our  position  to  yours.-'  Do  you  doubt  our 
'sincerity?  The  certainty  of  our  conviction  as  to  this  world 
'and  the  unseen  is  best  evidenced  by  our  perfect  acquiescence 
'in  your  inflictions.  Vast  as  our  numbers  are  in  the  empire, 
'we  have  never  turned  on  an  oppressor.  The  last  persecution 
'has  indeed  for  our  sake  collapsed  in  the  'crash  of  empire' 
'when  treasure,  forces  and  camp  were  lost  with  Decius°, — 
'but  without  our  act  or  wish.     Once  more  our  conviction  is 

^  Ad  Demetr.  xo.  regum  (17),   but  the  touches  leave  no 

2  Ad  Demetr.  9.  doubt  of  the  event.     The  death  of  the 

^  See  above,  11.  i,  p.  61.  Decii    immediately   suspended    perse- 

^  See  p.  ID,  n.  3.  cation. 

'  We  must  read   minis  rerum  not 


254      EXPANSION  OF  HUMAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

'evidenced  in  our  acquiescence  in  the  heavenly  chastisements 
'which  we  fully  share  with  you.  For  think  you  that  we  claim, 
'as  spiritual  worshippers,  exemption.^  Surely  no, — on  us,  with 
'our  eternal  trust,  chastisements  fall  light.  To  us  they  come 
'in  an  aspect  new-born  with  us  into  the  world's  thought,  as  a 
'■probation,  as  a  discipline  of  strength.  In  the  flesh  we  are  but 
'men  liable  to  all  things  human.  We  dwell  in  one  house  with 
'you;  we  fare  as  you  do;  we  bear  willingly  what  God  in  our 
'records  said  long  since  He  must  inflict  for  the  wicked's  sake. 
'Our  prosperous  days  are  not  here.  They  are  to  come.  For 
'you  we  grieve  and  with  you,  and  we  intercede  unfalteringly 
'for  your  worldly  happiness.  But  the  present  interruptions  of 
'that  happiness  are  not  only  fulfilments.  They  are  forewarn- 
'ings  also.  There  is  in  the  distance  a  divine  day;  when  we 
'who  in  this  world  are  Re-born,  and  signed  with  a  certain 
'sign  in  a  certain  blood,  shall  part  from  you,  and  never  rejoin 
'you.  The  pleased  tormentor  of  to-day  must  then  become 
'the  spectacle  of  the  tormented*.  By  that  fear,  by  the  abun- 
'dant  time  and  occasion  offered  for  your  change,  by  all  the 
'dear  hopes  which,  as  we  know,  centre  on  that  change,  the 
'persecuted  appeal  to  the  persecutor  in  his  own  behalf 

Such  is  in  brief  what  I  have  called  the  'Resentment'  of 
Cyprian.  Throughout  there  is  a  transparent  consciousness 
that  the  struggle  between  Christian  and  Roman  will  ere  long 
be  contested  on  more  equal  terms  ^     Already  the  former  are 

^  Ad  Dem.   24.     Gentle  as  the  up-  turn  fuit  martyri,  quam  magnum,  quam 

shot    of    the    peroration    is,   and    infi-  grande  solacium,  in  cruciatibus  suis  non 

nitely  differenced  from  the  wild  threat  tormenta  propria  cogitare,  sed  tortoris 

of  TertuUian  {De  Spectac),  the  bitter-  suisuppliciapr3edicare,'aa'/"<7r^««a/.  11. 

ness  of  the  sights  which  Cyprian  knew  Eternal  punishment  and  the  eternal  pre- 

of,    'Qui  hie  nos  spectavit...CrviAt\\\xxa  servation  necessary  to  make  it  possible 

oculorum   brevis  fructus^   rankles   too  are  stated  in  awful  terms  '  Servabuntur, 

much  here.     So  also  candour   cannot  cum    corporibus   suis    animae    infinitis 

pass  over   Cyprian's  comment  on   the  cruciatibus  ad  dolorem.'     ad  Demetr. 

threat  which  the  fifth  Maccabee  hurls  24.     Romans  under  persecution  might 

at  Antiochus — a  comment  which  in  this  be     reckoned     on    to     discover     this 

century  would  not  be  possible  in  the  doctrine, 

catholic  Church  'Quale  illud  levamen-  ^   Wg  may  compare   this   with   the 


VI.  II.  RESENTMENT.  255 

proud  of  their  numbers*;  already  there  is  hope  in  speaking 
out:  already  there  is  a  conviction  that  the  masses  are  ready 
to  hear  reason':  a  perception  that  persecution  is  the  grandest 
opportunity  for  the  missioner'. 

Jerome*  has  echoed  a  criticism  of  Lactantius  that  Cyprian 
might  have  met  the  heathen  magistrate  more  convincingly 
upon  general  grounds  than  by  Scripture  texts®.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  differ  from  the  prince  of  critics  because  (i)  the  texts, 
where  used  as  arguments,  are  alleged,  after  description  of  the 
tokens  of  Divine  anger,  only  to  shew  that  the  visitations  had 
been  predicted^  The  argument  is  this.  They  who  could 
predict  them  might  be  presumed  to  have  a  key  to  the  right 
explanation  of  them.  They  did  predict  them  as  punishments 
upon  idolatry  and  oppression.  This  kind  of  exhibition  of 
prophecies  is  surely  a  legitimate  allegation  to  produce  before 
an  unbeliever.  (2)  It  is  visibly  the  sequel  of  arguments  which 
had  been  touched  upon  and  but  half  developed  in  conver- 
sations. Cyprian  shews  himself^  aware  that  Scripture  texts 
are  not  producible  for  every  purpose.  (3)  Having  to  meet 
just  such  unfamiliar  knowledge  as  would  have  adhered  to 
a  Demetrian,  Cyprian,  I  observe,  does  not  once  quote  to 
him  any  author  of  Scripture  by  name, — always  'a  prophet,' 
'another  prophet  saith,'  'God  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.' 

The  man's  acquaintance  with  the  elements  of  Christian 
argument  justifies  Cyprian  precisely  in  the  ground  he  takes, 

more  passionate  conviction  of  Tertullian  '  Rettberg,  p.  266  f.,  taking  occasion 

in  the  De  Corona.  by  Jerome   and  conceiving  further  an 

^  Nimius  et  copiosus  noster  populus  impolicy  in  addressing  a  magistrate  in 

xiXci%c\\MX  (ad  Demetr.  17).  language  so  strong,    concludes  Deme- 

*  Quos  tamen  sermonis  nostri  ad-  trian  to  be  a  fictitious  personage.  But 
mittere  credo  rationern  (ad  Denietr.  i).  the  trait  of  his  visiting  Cyprian  profess- 
Disceptatione  vince,  vince  ra/w«^  (13).  edly  to  enquire,    actually  to  declaim, 

3  ...dum  me  christianum  celebri  loco  his  advanced   age,    the  peculiar   mode 

et  populo  circumstante  pronuntio  et  vos  of  citation  and  other  slight  fitnesses  are 

et  deos  vestros  clara  et  publica  prcedica-  against  this. 

tione  confundo...  ad  Dernetr.  13.  ^  Hoc  scias  esse  prcedicttim  [adD.  5) : 

*  Ep.  83  (70)  ad  Magn. ;    Lactant.  Ipsum  audi  loquentem  (ad  D.  6). 
Divin.  Institutt.  v.  4.  ^  Ad  Dernetr .  3. 


2S6     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

while   it   further  verifies   to   us   the   reality  of  the  circum- 
stances. 

0/  the  Style  of  the  '  Demetn'an.' 

The  style  of  this  brochure  is  elevated,  pure  and  strong.  Some  of 
the  expressions  finely  terse  and  epigrammatic.  '  Veneunt  judicaturi.' 
*Deus  nee  quaeritur  nee  timetur.'  'Quasi,  etsi  hostis  desit,  esse  pax 
inter  ipsas  togas  possit.'  Somewhat  of  a  relapse  into  the  early  floridity 
is  perceptible  in  the  third  and  seventh  chapters.  Twice  Cyprian 
moulds  a  line  of  Virgil  into  his  prose  {Georg.  i.  107)  'herbis 
siccitate  morientibus  aestuans  campus'  (20),  and  (Georg.  i.  154) 
'in  agro  inter  cultas  et  fertiles  segetes  lolium  et  avena  dominetur' 

(23)- 


III. 

The  Interpretatio7i  of  Sorrows. 

Exercitia  sunt  nobis  ista  non  funera.     De  Mortalitate  16. 

Diflficulties  which  arose  from  within  the  community  were 
scarcely  less  perplexing.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Pestilence  might 
work  a  new  lapse  of  its  own.  Numbers  were  dismayed  that  the 
scourge  of  Christ's  persecutors  should  light  no  less  heavily  on 
His  friends \  Others  shewed  the  first  symptoms  of  the  fanatic 
spirit,  so  fatal  afterward  to  Africa,  and  chafed  when  death 
threatened  to  forestall  their  martyr-crown ''.  Others  still  liable 
to  be  summoned  to  the  tribunal  shrank  from  the  cross.  To 
preserve  their  faith  by  deluding  the  tyrant  was  not  an  extinct 
temptation.  What  was  the  church  of  Carthage.?  It  was  an 
unpopular  yet  important  section  of  a  great  city  population, 
overmastered  by  powerful  ideas,  unfamiliar  as  yet  with  their 
manifold  applications;  dragged  daily  into  contact  with  bitter 
social  hardships,  then  suddenly  made  sharers  in  the  world- 
wide terror  of  the  Plague,  then  accounted  responsible  for  its 
mysterious  origin ;  flung  back  thus  on  the  old  enigmas  of 

1  De  Mortalitate  8.  ^  jy^  Mart.  17. 


VI.  III.  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  SORROWS.  257 

existence  and  not  exempted  from  new  enigmas  in  their  faith, 
— such  a  body  needed  indeed  that  some  broad  and  Christian 
view  of  this  physical  calamity  should  be  opened  before  them. 

The  work  of  mercy  had  been  organized,  but  to  control 
these  cross  currents  of  feeling  required  yet  greater  skill  and 
delicacy.  To  beard  a  slanderous  tormentor  was  perhaps  a 
duty,  but  a  harder  one  was  to  maintain  in  a  people  so  tried 
the  gentleness  and  tranquillity  of  spirit,  the  intelligence  of 
devotion,  the  sense  of  unity  with  God  which  marked  the  line 
between  the  Church  and  polytheism.  In  quick  succession  came 
out  three  more  of  Cyprian's  finest  Essays.  The  topics  of  the 
pungent  pamphlet  *on  Demetrian'  are  reviewed  from  the  posi- 
tive side  in  the  encouraging  address  'on  the  Mortality.'  Then 
we  have  the  noble  joyous  treatise  'on  the  Lord's  Prayer.' 
The  later  'Exhortation  to  Confession,'  a  Scripture  manual  for 
Martyrs,  must  be  treated  with  these  as  his  last  teaching  in 
this  region. 

It  was  in  answer  to  actual  calls  that  the  pen  of  Cyprian 
was  thus  busy  amid  such  distractions.  Few  of  the  bishops 
could  make  adequate  answers  to  the  questionings  of  the  times. 
The  laity  of  the  distant  ^  town  of  Thibaris  entreated  his  pre- 
sence among  them.  Edicts  of  Gallus  for  sacrifice  had  reached 
them.     Torture    had    recommenced.     There   and    elsewhere 

^  Longe,  Ep.  58.  i.     Unnamed  by  places  it  in  the  Byzacene  because  its 

geographers,   and  not  identified   until  bishop  votes  among  these  provincials  in 

1885  when  an  inscription  Genio  Thi-  the  Council  of  Carthage  {Sentt.  Epp. 

BARIS  AuGUSTO  Sacrum  R  P  Thib  37).     I   may  mention  that  there  is  no 

D^  {RespJiblica  Thibaritanorum  Decrelo  geographical  order  of  voting  there.    He 

[decurionum])  was  found  near  where  a  adds  that  their  bishop  Victorian  appears 

small  tributary  of  the  Medjerda  leaves  twice  in  the  Collation  of  Carthage  A.  D. 

the  hills  on  the  south  ofthe  plain  of  Bulla  411;  C(7f«zV.  i.  133  and  187.     (Labbe, 

and  of  the  road  to  Cirta,   at  Hemhir  vol.  ill.,  pp.  202  and  222.)   The  name  in 

Ham&met.     The   ruins   of   its    basilica  Cyprianic  codices  is  also  read  Thebari- 

standout.  (Tissot,  pi.  18;  vol.  II.  p.  367.)  tanos  zxiA  Dhibari.     At  Mohammedia, 

It  is  just  in  Zeugitana  where  Fell,  p.  120,  '  once  Tabaria'  (?),  9  miles  from  Tunis, 

by  some  accident  places  it ;  p.  237,  he  i.e.  in   Zeugitana,   the  name  Thibbure 

identifies  it  with  Tabora  in  Mauretania  has  been  read  on  a  slab  {Rev.  Afric.  v. 

Csesariensis.     Morcelli  says  Hardouin  I.  p.  378). 

B.  17 


March  ? 


258     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

congregations  ceased  to  assemble,  and  the  bishops  to  preach  ^ 
Their  own  bishop  Vincent  four  years  later  was  the  most 
fanatical  of  all  the  speakers  in  the  Council  of  that  date, 
holding  heretics  to  be  so  much  worse  than  heathens  as  to  need 
not  only  Baptism,  but  a  previous  Exorcism,  if  they  joined  the 
Church.  At  present  the  bishop  is  only  alluded  to  as  silenced. 
The  Lapsed  were  still  unrestored,  and  no  restoration  but  that 
of  martyrdom  was  yet  recognised  I  Harassed  and  unsup- 
ported many  Christians  buried  themselves  in  the  solitudes 
of  the  adjacent  Tell,  many  escaped  by  sea.  And  then  many 
were  haunted  by  the  apprehension  that  a  lonely  death  in 
exile  was  no  true  confessorship  of  Christ. 

The  'urgency  of  affairs'  in  Carthage  rendered  a  visit  from 
A.D.  252,  Cyprian  hopeless.  But  he  wrote  to  Thibaris  an  affectionate 
and  reassuring  LETTER*,  which  contains  in  germ  the  scheme  of 
the  essays  which  he  next  undertook,  and  some  few  thoughts 
which  he  does  not  repeat.  Had  his  'Mortality'  and  his 
'Lord's  Prayer'  been  already  composed  he  would  have  sent 
them  these  as  he  sent  the  'Unity'  and  the  'Lapsed'  to  the 
Roman  Confessors.  The  multiplication  of  practical  needs  for 
his  counsel  was  ever  the  motive  of  Cyprian's  literary  work. 
In  words  almost  identical  with  those  of  his  Second  Synodical 
Letter,  which  followed  immediately,  having  told  the  Thibari- 
tans  of  the  warnings  which  made  him  feel  that  they  were  but 
at  the  beginning  of  sorrows,  he  reminded  them  that  stages 
of  history  which  have  been  predicted  in  Scripture  ought  when 
reached  to  create  no  difficulty  to  Christians.  He  sketched  out 
for  perhaps  the  first  time  the  full  doctrine  of  probation,  and 
the  preparation  for  a  final  judgment  which  it  afforded.  And 
then  while,  as  to  Demetrian,  he  insists  that  endurance  without 
an  attempt  at  retaliation  is  characteristic  of  the  Christian  life 

^  Ep.  58.  4.  *  Ep.  58.  8.  ever  recommenced  (-£/>.  58. 4),  and  as  yet 

3  Appropinqu ante  jam,  imoimminen-  the  lapsed  had  not  been  relieved  by  the 

te  Galli  persecutione,  is  Pearson's  date  second  council  (£/.  58.8).  I  should  date 

for  the  epistle  {Annal.  Cypr.  A.D.  252,  the  letter  March  A.D.  252.   By  April  the 

ix.).     The  tortures  and  flight  had  how-  council  would  have  been  planned. 


VI.  III.  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  SORROWS.  259 

on  earth*,  still  the  hope  of  eternal  triumph  is  with  real  incon- 
sistency heightened  by  the  meditation  of  eternal  vengeance. 

We  have  no  right  to  slur  this  trait  of  the  thought  of  the  time, 
but  if  we  think  a  truer  lesson  might  have  been  early  learnt,  yet 
the  succession  of  ages  which  have  not  learnt  it  should  impress 
on  us  what  is  the  hardest  lesson  which  Christ  set  to  man. 

The  Lapsed  are  invited  to  rearm,  and  regain  their  loss. 
The  loneliest  Death  for  Christ  is  witnessed  by  Him,  and  is  as 
glorious  as  any  public  martyrdom.  We  have  spoken  before 
of  the  fine  image  which  in  this  letter  he  borrows  from  the 
gladiators  fighting  and  dying  before  the  Emperor  and  the 
Caesar.  'A  combat  high  and  great !  guerdoned  gloriously 
'  with  a  heavenly  crown !  That  God  should  be  our  spectator ! 
'should  open  His  eyes  on  men  whom  He  has  deigned  to 
'  make  His  sons,  and  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  our  contending ! 

*  We  give  battle ;  we  fight  in  wager  of  the  faith ;  God  our 
'spectator,  His  Angels  spectators,  Christ  a  spectator  tooV 

Nothing  however  is  more  eloquent  than  this  practical 
closing  application  of  the  Christian  armoury  from  S.  Paul. 
'  Take  we  also  as  a  covering  for  our  head  the  Helmet  of 
'  salvation,  to  fence  our  ears  against  the  deadly  Edicts,  our  eyes 
'  from  the  sight  of  the  abhorred  Images  ;  to  fence  our  brow  that 
'  the  Seal  of  God  may  be  safely  kept  on  it,  our  lips  that  the 

*  victorious  tongue  may  acknowledge  its  Lord  Christ.  Arm  we 
'  our  right  hand  too  with  the  spiritual  Sword — sternly  to  repel 
'  the  deathly  sacrifices,  that,  unforgetful  of  the  Eucharist,  it  may, 
'  as  it  has  received  the  Lord's  Body,  so  also  clasp  Himself  ^' 

From  such  needs  then  grew  the  address*  'ON  THE 
Mortality.'    Cyprian  says  it  is  intended  to  fortify  the  more 

^  Quibus  occidere   non   licet,    occidi  Contra  Julian.  11.  viii.  25,  Op.  imp/,  c. 

necesse  est.     Ep.  58,  4.  lulian.  vi.  xiv.,  Ep.  217.  22,  and  in  de 

^  Ep.  58.  8.     Did  Cyprian  know  the  Pmdestinatione  Sanct.  xiv.  26  as  librum 

Carmina  Sibyllina?   See  C.  Alexandre,  ...multis  ac  paene  omnibus  qui  ecclesias- 

Oracula  Sibyllina  (1869,  pp.  52 — 54).  ticas  literas  amant  laudabiliter  notum. 

3  Ep.  58.  9.  See  Pearson  (Annal.  Cypr.  A.D.  252, 

*  The   'Epistle'   as   Augustine  calls  xvii.)  on  the  references  to  it  in  Chron. 

it  [Contra  ii.  Epp.  Pelagg.  iv.  viii.  22  Euseb.  and  in  Possidius. 
and  X.  27).     He  cites  it  in  six  places, 

17 — 2 


26o     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

timid  minority  of  his  flock ;  and  he  makes  tender  excuse  for 
their  misconceptions.  But  it  served  a  far  wider  purpose. 
It  taught  the  teachers. 

The  new  leading  thoughts  in  the  Demetrian  were  (i)  the 
evidence  which  Prediction  might  afford  to  heathens  that  the 
Christian  interpretation  was  true,  and  (2)  the  idea  of  Probation 
by  trouble,  as  characteristic  of  Christianity.  To  his  own  people 
he  presents  the  converse  of  these  thoughts.  Predictions  of 
chastisement  fulfilled  are  a  pledge  that  promises  of  joy  will 
be  accomplished.  The  idea  of  Probation,  unrevealed  to  Plato, 
unpreached  by  Cicero,  is  brought  home  now  as  the  philosophy 
of  suffering,  the  interpretation  of  sorrow.  Job,  Tobias,  Abra- 
ham* are  the  new  masters  of  the  ruined,  the  oppressed,  the 
bereaved.  One  stroke  of  Providence  effects  both  the  Discipline 
of  Love  and  the  Censure  of  Sin.  In  the  present  calamity,  the 
noisome  repulsiveness  of  the  plague  deepens  the  trial,  and 
yet  what  pure  woman,  what  innocent  boy  would  not  shrink 
from  this  less  than  from  the  torturer's  polluting  fingers'*.? 
(3)  Cruelty  and  hardness  have  been  denounced  already  as  the 
main  provocations  of  paganism.  And  now  'the  service  of  the 
'  sick,  the  kindness  of  kinsfolk,  pitif illness  to  sick  slaves,  the 
*  self-devotedness  of  physicians,'  these,  says  he,  are  among  the 
first  subjects  'which  the  dread  and  deadly-seeming  pestilence 
comes  to  look  into.' 

The  ecclesiastical  belief  in  a  speedy  dissolution  of  the 
world,  the  illustrations  which  it  drew  from  prevailing  famines 
or  pestilences,  and  the  class  of  motives  to  virtue  which  it 
suggested  are  sometimes  treated  as  retrogressions  in  philo- 
sophy, hindrances  to  the  political  efficiency  of  citizens,  and 
interferences  with  the  Hellenic  sense  of  '  Beauty.'  But  in 
fact  this  belief  was  (as  we  have  seen)  carried  into  the  Church 
from  the  thought  of  the  day.  What  the  Church  really  con- 
tributed was  a  new  way  of  regarding  that  belief  The  inter- 
pretation which  Cyprian  and  others  proposed  for  universal 
physical  disasters  excluded  probably  all  the  conceptions  with 

^  De  Mort.  10,  11.  '  De  Mart.  15. 


VI.  III.  THE  INTERPRETATION   OF  SORROWS.  261 

which  contemporary  intellects,  whether  popular  or  cultivated, 
invested  these  terrific  crises,  and  to  us  that  interpretation 
ofifers  crucial  tests  of  whether  the  Church  was  advancing 
thought  and  sentiment,  and  elevating  courage,  or  was  parting 
with  a  glorious  view  of  nature. 

Such  frightful  ills  were  traced  to  one  or  other  of  about  five 
general  causes;  to  a  dualism  of  conflicting  deities,  good  and 
malevolent;  to  a  dualism  of  the  beneficent  spirit  and  of  matter 
instinct  with  mechanic  laws;  to  a  necessity  controlling  deity 
and  matter  alike;  to  fortuitous  conditions  and  fixed  sequences 
in  matter  itself;  to  the  personal  displeasure  of  deity  which 
willed  its  own  recognition  by  traditional  rites  and  under 
popular  titles,  although  such  names  might  not  be  strictly 
identified  with  divine  personalities.  This  last  was  the  more 
refined  version  of  the  popular  creed  which  felt  the  action  of 
beings  vindicating  a  right  to  material  offerings  and  to  the 
extermination  of  atheists. 

The  despair  and  apathy  which  these  beliefs  engendered  in 
the  presence  of  universal  suffering  are  commonplaces  with  the 
Greek  historian  and  Roman  poet.  But  the  first  Christian 
who  touches  the  subject  is  led  by  the  Mortality  into  a  region 
of  sublimity  and  tenderness. 

On  him  it  enforces  (i)  absolute  confidence  in  a  Paternal 
care,  which  through  visible  correction  \  through  acknowledged 
probation ^  through  resignation  to  yet  uncomprehended 
purposes  ^  elevates  and  purifies  and  calms. 

(2)  It  enjoins  on  him  utmost  activity,  organization,  self- 
devotion  in  the  alleviation  of  suff"ering  and  of  bereavement*. 
These  effects  on  Christian  thought  and  practice  are  deduced 
from  distinctly  Christian  grounds. 

These  same  grounds  create  in  him  (3)  the  conviction  that 
moral  causes  in  society*  have  an  effect  on    the  conditions 

1  De  Mort.  15.  *  De  Mort.  16. 

2  De  Mort.  i,  9,  15.  <*  De  Mort.  15. 

3  De  Mort.  11,  18. 


262    EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

accorded  to  humanity,  not  only  immediately  by  the  recom- 
pense earned  by  the  individual's  vice  or  virtue,  but  mediately 
by  affecting  general  laws,  exterior  and  physical,  through 
exercise  of  the  moral  judgment  of  God.  Not  only  is  a  world 
in  order  a  field  for  human  excellence  to  expand  on  and  an 
external  instrument  for  it  to  utilise,  but  a  world  in  physical 
disorder  is  an  instrument  of  correction,  converting  selfish  and 
abject  thoughts  to  interior  and  to  wider  considerations^  vivi- 
fying the  hypothesis  of  an  existence  independent  of  physical 
decrepitudes'^,  and  exciting  in  those  who  believe  the  divine 
Fatherhood  an  almost  emulous  beneficence^  There  are  germs 
of  further  social  advance  in  Cyprian's  teaching.  Could  it 
have  been  demonstrated  to  him  that  pestilence  is  (irrespec- 
tively of  interposition)  a  direct  result  of  the  uncivilised  squalor 
which  dogs  the  feet  of  luxury,  he  must  have  emphatically 
replied  by  an  application  (not  perhaps  yet  visible  to  him)  of 
the  doctrine  which  underlies  all  his  teaching.  He  would 
have  said  that  luxury  and  squalor  are  both  expressions  of 
hideous  moral  errors.  'Enterprise,  administration,  humane 
intercourse,  skill  in  arts^'  are  to  him  the  signs  of  an  ad- 
vancing, progressive,  youthful  world.  Waste  of  the  world's 
resources,  content  in  sordidness,  disregard  of  natural  ties, 
indifference  to  the  meanest,  the  crushing  of  small  industries, 
the  abolition  of  small  holdings  for  the  sake  of  grazing  farms 
and  deer  forests',  are  to  him  so  many  crimes  against  the 
world's  life.  And  it  is  a  familiar  thought  to  him  that  there  is 
so  exact  an  appropriateness  in  the  observed  consequences  of 
accumulating  evils,  that  believers  in  Providence  do  not  err  in 
calling  these  consequences  'decisions'— ;/Wza^ — ^judgments^. 

^  De  Mort.  4.  ciorum  (paraphrase  of  Isai.  Iviii.  i).    de 

*  De  Mort.  2,  11 — 26.  Dominica  Orat.  33. — Continuantes  sal- 
3  De  Mort.  26.  tibus  saltus  et  de  confinio  pauperibus 

*  Ad  Dent.  3.     Cf.  de  Mort.  4,  24.  exclusis  infinita  ac  sine  terminis  rura 
^  Egentem  et  pauperem  non  vident  latius  porrigentes.     ad  Donat.  12. 

oculi  superfiisi  nigrore.    deOp.etEl.  15.  ®  Cf.  de  Laps,  r,  ad  Dem.  i,  7,  17. 

— SufTocationes  impotentium   commer- 


VI.  III.  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  SORROWS.  263 

Not  the  respect  only  but  the  adherence  of  many  a  heathen 
was  ere  long  compelled  by  the  attitude  of  the  Christians  ^ 
and  yet  failures  of  faith  there  were  'in  the  Home  of  Faith,' 
and  their  bishop  marked  many  incredulities  against  'our 
Master  in  believing^'  Minds  fresh  from  paganism  took 
unexpected  turns.     He  meets  them  with  brightness.     'You, 

*  who  because  you  are  Christians  expected  immunity  from  this 
'  visitation,  will  you,  as  Christians,  claim  exemption  from  the 
'  scirocco,  from  ophthalmia,  from  stranding  ships'.* — '  You  who 
'  fret  to  think  that  plague  may  cut  you  off  from  martyrdom, 
'  — know  that  it  is  not  the  martyr's  blood  but  the  martyr's 
'  faith  that  God  asks*.' 

To  others  death  was  dreadful  still.  These  then  have  yet 
to  fill  their  imagination  with  realities  which  they  have  coldly 
accepted.  'Nor  are  we  now  without  special  helps. — A  col- 
'  league  of  mine,  a  fellow  bishop,  lay  at  the  point  of  death.  He 
'  prayed  for  a  respite.  At  once  a  young  man  stood  at  his  side, 
'  noble,  majestic,  of  lofty  stature  and  bright  countenance, — no 
'  eye  of  flesh  could  have  endured  to  look  on  him,  save  eyes 

*  which  were  closing  to  this  world.  There  was  indignation  in 
'his  spirit,  and  his  voice  shook,  as  he  said  "Ye  fear  to  suffer. 

*  Ye  are  unwilling  to  depart.  What  shall  I  do  unto  you.?"  It 
'  was  the  voice  of  one  who  heeds  not  our  momentary  desires 
'  but  our  lasting  interest.  Not  for  himself,  but  for  us,  the 
'  dying  man  heard  that.' 

To  this  tale  Cyprian  adds  what  we  may  well  believe,  how 
many  times  he  had  himself,  'little  and  last'  though  he  was, 
heard  the  prompting  to  preach  publicly  the  glorious  verities 
of  deaths  as  it  comes  by  the  will  of  God. 

'Let  us  realize  what  we  mean  by  the  presence  of  Christ, 
'  and  the  eternal  society,  the  increasing  hosts  of  our  friends,  the 


^  Gentiles  coguntur  ut   credant.     de  *  Nee  enim  sanguinem  Deus  nostrum 

Mart.  15.  sed  fidem  quaerit.     de  Mart.  17. 

2  De  Mort.  6.  °  De  Mart.  19,  20. 

3  De  Mort.  8. 


264  EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

'  loved,  the  revered,  the  sainted  who  are  there\'  His  voice 
swells  to  lyric  fervour,  and  preludes  the  most  majestic  of 
odes*.  For  him  the  cheering  certainties  of  exalted  life  are 
dashed  by  no  pagan  reminiscence,  no  anticipated  mediae- 
valism.  He  cannot  mourn  the  departed  though  much  he 
misses  them  like  distant  voyagers'.  He  cannot  brook  even 
the  assumption  of  black  garments  as  a  memorial  of  those 
who  wear  immortal  white. 

*  Put  the  terror  of  death  out  of  doors  :  dwell  on  the 
Undyingness  beyond  itV 

It  may  be  difficult  to  revive  the  early  freshness  with  which 
feelings  and  thoughts,  now  long  grown  usual,  began  to  mingle 
in  the  older  talk  along  street  and  quay  in  Carthage.  But  it 
is  not  hard  to  say  whether  the  city  and  the  world  gained  by 
the  change. 

The  'Exhortation  to  Martyrdom,'  or  rather  'to 
CONFESSORSHIP','  is  a  Manual  of  Scripture  passages,  con- 
nected by  brief  remarks,  and  arranged  under  thirteen  heads 
for  reflexion.  It  was  compiled  five  years  later,  after  Vale- 
rian's Edict  for  persecution,  at  the  request  of  a  layman, 
Fortunatus  by  name,  and  it  is,  says  the  author,  '  No  dis- 
course, but  material  for  discoursingV — '  Not  a  garment,  but 


1  De  Mort.  26.  Antiqq.,  s.  v.).     But  the  resemblance 

2  De  Mort.  •26.  It  is  difficult  to  resist  here  lies  in  the  triple  parallelism  of  the 
the  impression  that  the  Cyprianic  'Illic  clauses,  and  the  use  of  such  words  as 
apostolorum  gloriosus  chorus,  illic  pro-  chorus  and  numerus,  which  are  not 
phetarum   exsultantium   numerus,   illic  points  of  the  liturgy. 

martyrum    innumerabilis    populus'    is  ^  Non  amitti  sed  praemitti.-.ut  navi- 

something  more  than  a  coincidence  with  gantes   solent,    desiderari  eos  debere, 

the    Ambrosian   'Te    gloriosus    aposto-  non  plangi.     de  Mort.  20. 

lorum  chorus,  te  prophetarum  laudabilis  *  De  Mort.  24. 

numerus,  te  candidatus  martyrum  lau-  '  The  original  title  was  Ad  Fortu- 

dat  exercitus.'     These  are  among  those  natum  simply. 

clauses   of   the   Te    Deum   which   Dr  *  ...non  tam  tractatum  meum  videar 

Swainson  counts  as  'closely  connected  tibi  misisse  quam  materiam  tractanti- 

with    the    Eucharistic    hymn    of    the  bus  prsebuisse.    ad  Fortunatum,  3. 

liturgy  of  Jerusalem '  (ZJ/V/.  of  Christian 


VI.  III.  THE  INTERPRETATION   OF  SORROWS.  265 

Wool  and  Purple  of  the  Lamb  Himself  ready  for  the 
weaving*. 

Its  purpose  is  to  assist  himself  and  others  in  preparing 
persons  for  their  Second  Baptism — '  the  Baptism  stronger  in 
'  grace,  loftier  of  effect,  more  precious  in  honour — the  Baptism 
'  wherein  angels  are  the  baptizers,  at  which  God  and  His  Christ 
*  are  joyful — the  Baptism,  after  which  no  man  sins^'  The  very 
existence  of  a  practical  little  book  like  this  answers  the 
question  whether  martyrdoms  were  very  few  and  scattered. 
The  cheerfulness  of  Cyprian's  own  spirit  appears  in  his  infer- 
ence that  the  very  number  of  the  sufferers  shews  that  such 
endurance  cannot  be  over-difficult  or  too  severe'. 

The  place  which  the  book  has  in  the  progress  of  Cyprian's 
thought  may  be  recognised.  In  his  'Unity  of  the  Church'  he 
had  accumulated  every  Scriptural  illustration,  apt  or  otherwise, 
of  that  doctrine.  In  this  book  he  developes  rather  laboriously 
a  new  one.  The  Seven  Maccabees  whose  history  he  details 
(as  Origen  does  on  the  same  subject)*  are  not  only  patterns 
to  individuals,  but  also  present  an  image  of  the  Totality 
(Septenary)  of  all  the  Churches,  their  Mother  being  '  the  First 
and  the  One,'  '  the  Beginning  and  the  Root,'  that  is  to  say 
the  Catholic  Unity,  which  was  founded  by  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  and  gave  all  Churches  birth^ 

Again,  experience  has  now  carried  him  beyond  that 
flattery  of  Confessors  which  marked  former  years.  Among 
other  applications  to  the  circumstances  of  the  time  are  these : 
he  observes  (i)  that  when  a  question  arose  whether  the 
youngest  Maccabean  brother  should  save  his  life  by  an  act 
of  conformity,  no  suggestion  was  made  that  the  merits  of  the 
Six  Martyrs  could  plead  for  him.  Again  (2)  in  warning  his 
people  against   a    resort  to   Libelli,  he   shews  that  Eleazar 

^  Ad  Fortunat.   3.     This   metaphor  ^  Ad  Fortunat.  4. 

makes  certain,  I  think,  the  conjecture  ^  Ad  Fortunat.  1 1  fin. 

of    Scaliger    on    Tert.   de   Monog.    7,  *  Grig.  Exh.  ad  Mart.  23. 

'Summus  sacerdos  patris  et  agnus  de  '  Ad  Fortuitat.  11. 
suo  vestiens.'     Codd.  magnus. 


266    EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

declined  to  do  what  all  the  Libellatics  had  done :  (3)  he  says 
the  true  martyrdom  is  in  the  spirit  ready  for  martyrdom, 
whether  it  be  consummated  or  no ;  and  the  tract  closes  with 
the  observation  that  the  crown  which  under  persecution  is 
assigned  to  Martyr- warfare  is  in  '  time  of  Peace '  bestowed  on 
Conscientiousness. 

But  not  even  on  this  sensible  moderation  rests  either 
the  merit  of  this  pamphlet  or  the  indication  it  gives  of  what 
the  everyday  Cyprian  really  was  like;  still  less  on  its  own 
assumed  grounds — the  nearness  of  the  End,  the  Advent  of 
Antichrist,  the  accomplished  skill  of  the  Arch-enemy  accu- 
mulated (as  it  is  grotesquely  put)  in  his  six-thousand-years 
conflict  with  man\  More  broad  and  strong  are  the  well 
conceived  theses  ;  and  marvellous,  considering  the  blankness 
of  all  secondary  aids,  is  the  command  of  Scripture. 

That  some  degree  of  conformity  to  the  worship  of  the 
vulgar  may  be  allowed  to  mingle  with  the  higher  light  is  a 
notion  admitted  only  in  churches  in  which  a  genuine  struggle 
with  the  essence  of  polytheism  is  not  maintained.  Cyprian 
makes  the  very  substance  of  the  martyr-spirit  to  be  a  perfect 
sense  of  the  heinousness  of  Idolatry  under  every  species, 
of  the  aggravated  'difficulty'  which  it  raises  in  the  way  of 
its  own  forgiveness  as  sin,  and  of  the  necessity  for  absolute 
genuineness  in  all  relations  with  Deity. 

1  The  quaint  idea  is  caught  from  Ter-  century  Anianus  also  computed  5500, 
tullian.fl'^  F^/.  F?r§-^.  I, 'diabolo...adjici-  and  Panodorus  S493.  Sulpicius  Seve- 
ente  cottidie  ad  iniquitatis  ingenia.'  The  rus,  who  brings  his  history  down  to  A.D. 
totaling  of  dates  in  Hebrew  Scriptures  400,  also  has  'Mundus  a  Domino  con- 
gives,  according  to  Clinton,  4138  B.C.  stitutus  est  abhinc  siivnos  jam  pcsne  sex 
as  a  date  for  Adam.  But  the  LXX.  millia.^  Chron.  i.  2.  The  significance 
makes  it,  according  to  Cunninghame,  of  the  'six  thousand  years'  lay  in  the 
5478  B.C.  lulius  Africanus  shortly  Rabbinic  belief,  which,  until  the  time 
before  Cyprian's  time  had  brought  this  had  long  gone  by,  coloured  and  usually 
to  5500,  which  would  make  the  date  distressed  the  Christian  mind,  as  to  the 
of  the  edict  of  Valerian  to  be  the  week  of  millennia  and  the  consummation 
5757th  year  of  the  world;  '  Sex  millia  of  all  things.  See  Lactantius  Z^zz/. /«j^ 
annorumjam  psenecomplentur,' a^/br-  vii.  14  and  the  citations  in  notes  there. 
tunat.  2.     In  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  And  see  Clinton  F.  R.  v.  11.  p.  220, 


VI.  IV.  '  ON   THE  lord's   PRAYER.'  267 

The  next  most  important  themes  of  this  text-book  are 
that  probationary  aspect  of  suffering,  which  his  mind  had 
long  realized ;  the  certainty  of  a  supporting  Providence,  and 
faith  as  the  measure  of  the  support  it  yields. 


IV. 

Intelligent  Devotion. 

*On  the  Lord's  Prayer.'  It  was  not  enough  to  arm 
the  confessor,  to  nerve  the  timid,  to  silence  the  calumniator. — 
Common  life  needed  building  up.  Cyprian  saw  no  nearer  or 
better  road  to  edification  than  to  fill  with  intelligence  the 
universal  Devotion.  The  recitation  of  the  Prayer  of  Christ 
might  become  mechanical  even  when  times  of  trial  call  it 
not  unfrequently  to  the  tongue.  They  who  have  seen  abroad 
great  naves  empty  for  noble  vespers  and  crowded  for  the 
rosary  may  thence  draw  the  nearest  notion  of  what  antient 
'Battology'  was  with  its  lullaby  of  spiritual  contentment\ 
The  Essay  ON  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  written  with  precision 
and  with  a  visible  delight.  The  freshness  of  his  thoughts, 
the  sweetness  of  his  words,  the  fulness  and  fitness  of  his  use 
of  Scripture  are  a  delicate  fruit  indeed  to  have  been  pro- 
duced under  the  flaming  heat  of  controversy,  amid  the  whirl 
of  organization,  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  plague-stricken  city^ 
There  are  points  where  the  commentary  very  closely  touches 
both  the  historic  facts  and  the  spirit  of  which  the  facts  were 
a  product.     We  see  too  how  the  little  treatise  both  enshrined 

and    Dr    Salmon's    articles   Africanus  de  preference  a  I'esprit ' ;  although  some 

and  Panodorus,  in  Diet.  Christ.  Biogr.  of  the  Master's  most  famous  and  stir- 

^  Matt.  vi.  7.  ring  words  are  found  in  that  treatise, 

2  Mgr.  Freppel  (p.  341)  says  well  in  and  few  passages  of  spiritual  poetry  can 

comparing  this  with  TertuUian's  treatise  exceed  his  last  two  sections. 
On  the    Prayer,... 'une   onction   douce  But  it  is  curious  to  note  how  he  not 

et  penetrante,  une  nature  plus  ouverte  only  omits   the   word   'noster'   but,  I 

aux  impressions  de  la  piete  donnaient  think,    forbears  to  dwell  anywhere  on 

au  disciple  un  avantage  sur  le  maitre,  the  plural  character  of  the  prayer  which 

dans  un  sujet  ou  la  cceur  doit  parler  means  so  much  to  Cyprian. 


268   EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

and  foreshadowed  some  of  the  most  beautiful  phrases  of 
familiar  liturgy. 

The  special  development  from  the  words  *  Our  Father'  of 
the  essential  character  of  Unity  and  of  the  inexpiableness  by 
martyrdom  of  the  stain  of  schism  incline  me  to  place  this 
Essay  in  date  close  to  that  'On  Unity/  which  in  almost  the 
same  words  states  conclusions  which  only  four  years  later 
Cyprian  expresses  in  quite  other  language\ 

In  applying  the  petition  for  Bread  to  the  Daily  Eucharist 
the  author  dwells  on  the  danger  of  those  from  whom  it  is 
withheld **;  'martyrdom'  or  confessorship  is  a  familiar  thing;  it 
is  also  a  temptation  to  arrogant  assumption^  These  thoughts 
mark  the  very  crisis  of  the  time. 

The  recommendation  to  'every  single  man  to  prepare 
himself  to  surrender  worldly  wealth '  comes  with  a  special 
force  from  one  who  was  parting  with  his  all*. 

It  is  the  time  too  when  the  idea  seems  ever  present  to  his 
spirit  by  which  he  nerved  himself  and  the  rest  to  meet '  the 
Mortality' — the  inborn  power  of  Christian  sons  to  resemble 
the  Divine  Father — a  sonship  and  a  resemblance  wrought 
through  Baptism.  'We  ought  to  know  that  when  we  call 
'  God  "  Father"  we  ought  to  live  as  if  Sons  of  God' — '  We  that 
'  ought  to  be  like  our  Father' — '  What  He  made  us  by  Second 
'  Birth  such  He  would  have  us,  as  reborn,  to  continue — born 
'  of  water  and  Spirits'  These  belong  to  the  period  of 
Respondere  Natalibiis. 

1   Compare    de    Unitate    14    'Tales  The  same  doctrine  is  stated  in  jE/).  73. 

etiamjz  occisi   in    confessione    nominis  11 — but  in  very  different  phraseology. 

fuerint,  vo.zxmX'X  \%\.1l  Titc  sanguine ablui-  ...ut   quis  coram   hominibus  Christum 

tur ;    inexpiabilis  et  gravis   culpa  dis-  confiteatur,  ut  sanguine  suo  baptizetur  ? 

cordia  nee  passione  purgatur,'  with  de  Et  tamen  nee   hoc  baptisma  haeretico 

Dominica  Oratione  24  '  nee  si  pro  no-  prodest,    quamvis    Christum    confessus 

mine  occisus  fuerit  crimen  dissensionis  extra  ecclesiam  fuerit  occisus,  &c. 

fraterncBpoierit  Q\2idtrQ,Si.c Quale  de-  ^  De  Domin.  Oral.  18. 

lictum  est  quod  nee  baptismo  sanguinis  ^  De  Domin.  Oral.  26. 

potest  ablui!  quale   crimen  est  quod  *  De  Domin.  Oral.  20. 

martyrio  non  potest  expiariT  '  De  Domin.  Oral.  11,  12,  17,  23. 


VI.  IV.  'ON  THE  lord's   PRAYER.'  269 

The  Essay  of  TertuUian  on  Prayer  has  been  the  model 
after  which  Cyprian  worked,  although  in  the  freest  manner. 
Saint  Hilary,  while  he  omits  to  comment  on  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  the  course  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  S.  Matthew, 
preferring  to  send  his  readers  to  Cyprian's  Essay,  does  justice 
Tertullian's  'most  apt  volume,'  regretting  that  the  unhappy 
position  of  its  author — '  the  later  aberration  of  the  man ' — 
should  have  prejudiced  its  acceptance\ 

Its  method  and  interpretations  have  been  followed  by 
Cyprian  into  a  mysticism  unusual  to  him.  And  indeed, 
where  TertuUian  had  only  taught  that  we  should,  besides  the 
Morning  and  Evening  Prayers,  pray  thrice  daily  as  debtors 
to  The  Three,  Cyprian  has  a  mystical  expansion  upon  the 
perfect  trinity  of  the  Three  *  Hours'  with  their  three-hour 
intervals — 'a  sacrament  of  the  Trinity  which  was  to  be  re- 
vealed in  the  last  days,'  and  this  is  the  earliest  passage  in 
which  the  Latin  word  '  Trinity '  occurs  in  this  sensed 

What  effect  Tertullian's  book  had  taken  in  the  interval 
between  is  traceable  in  the  difference  of  the  correctives 
employed.  It  is  still  indeed  necessary  to  check  the  '  tumul- 
tuous loquacity '  of  persons  praying  aloud  *  when  we  assemble 
with  the  brethren  and  celebrate  the  Divine  Sacrifices  with  the 
Priest  of  God,'  but  several  superstitions  have  disappeared, 
which  Cyprian  could  not  have  failed  to  rebuke  had  they  still 
prevailed.  Such  was  the  practice  of  washing  the  hands  before 
prayer'  in  strange  commemoration  of  Pilate's  surrender  of  the 
Lord  ;  the  putting  off  of  the  woollen  cloak*  at  the  same  time; 

^  Hilar,  in  Matt.  v.  i.  is  where  Theophilus   of  Antioch  A.D. 

^  By  Tertull.  adv.  Prax.  2,  3,  it  is  not  180  {aJ  Autolych.  ii.  c.  23)  calls  the  first 

applied  as  a  name  of  Deity  though  the  three  days  of  creation  before  the  emer- 

sense  approaches  it.    In  the  7th  council  gence  of  the  sun  and  moon  an  emblem 

(a.d.   •256)   Eucratius  of   Thense   uses  of  the  Trinity, 
it    in   the   distinctest    manner    in    his  *  See  Tert.  ^^  Ora/.  11. 

phrase  ^blasphemia  Trinitatis^ ;   Sentt.  *  The  paenula,  0aiv6Xjjs  or  ^e\6v7;s. 

Epp.  29.  The  earliest  Greek  use  of  T^m£i 


2/0  EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

the  sitting  down  after  prayer  in  imitation  of  Hermas^ ;  the 
disuse  of  the  Kiss  of  Peace  when  fasting,  and  the  abstaining 
from  the  Liturgy  on  Fast  days.  The  disuse  of  veils  by 
maidens  had  continued,  as  we  have  seen.  It  was  also  pro- 
bably still  a  question  whether  it  was  correct  to  kneel  on  the 
Sabbath,  although  Cyprian  does  not  notice  it.  If  we  consider 
these  ritualistic  questions  of  the  Early  Church,  we  need 
scarcely  despair  of  our  own  working  their  own  solution. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  tempers  of  the  two  authors  that 
Tertullian  hailed  the  Confusion  of  the  Nations  as  a  phase 
of  the  Kingdom  to  come.  Cyprian  omits  this,  and,  while 
his  note  on  the  second  word  of  the  Prayer  is  his  well-known 
beautiful  phrase  '  To  us,  prayer  is  of  the  people,  and  is 
common  to  all,'  Tertullian  who  comments  on  S.  Matthew's 
form  of  the  prayer,  here,  with  S.  Luke,  drops  the  word  'Our' 
and  does  not  even  allude  to  it. 

Although  in  reading  Cyprian's  treatise  after  his  'Master's' 
a  softened  echo  of  strong  words  is  audible,  and  the  writing 
out  of  his  riddling  epigrams  in  limpid  sense  is  frequent  and 
deliberate,  there  is  little  transcription,  as  in  earlier  days,  of 
sentence  or  phrase.  The  Scriptural  illustrations  alone  shew 
markedly  the  originality  of  Cyprian's  work  in  a  point  in 
which  it  must  have  been  actually  difficult  to  avoid  repetition. 
Tertullian  quotes  about  sixty  places,  and  Cyprian  seventy, 
and  of  these  latter  only  about  seven  seem  to  be  suggested 
by  TertuUian's  use  of  them^  Even  these  are  differently 
rendered  into  the  vernacular*. 

^  Tertull.  dc  Oral.  \6.     Herm.  '\vo-  '  They  are  these ;  Isai.i.  i,  ap.  Tert. 

K6.\v\f/lS€'—'^.poffev^a^JiAvovfJiov...KalKa^i•  de  Oral.  2,  filiosgenui  et  illi  me  non  ag- 

(ravTos.  noverunt;  ap.  de  Dca.  Orat.   10,   filios 

^  I.e.  judging  by  the  marginal  refer-  generavi  et  exaltavi,  ipsi  autem  me  spre- 

ences  and  doing  the  best  one  may  with  verunt.      Mi.  23.  9,  ap.  Tert.  de  Orat.  2 

Ohler's   indices,  which   for  inaccuracy  ne  quem  in  terris  patrem  -vocemus  nisi 

almost    rival    Dr   Routh's.      However  quem  haberaus  in  caelis;   ap.  de  Dca. 

Das   Neue    Testament   Tertullian  s   of  Orat.   9,  ne  \ocemus  nobis  patrem  in 

Roensch  appears  to  bear  out  the  state-  terra,  quod  scilicet  nobis  unus  pater  qui 

ment.  est  in  caelis.       Mt.  26.  41  (Ltu.  22.  46), 


VI.  IV.  *  ON  THE  lord's   PRAYER.'  2/ 1 

Both  give  and  comment  upon  the  third  petition  as  '  Thy 
will  be  done  in  heaven  (the  heavens)  and  in  earth,'  which 
form  also,  Augustine  says,  was  more  in  use,  and  to  be  found 
in  a  majority  of  manuscripts \  Accordingly  neither  annotator 
finds  in  this  clause  any  reference  to  either  angelical  or  physi- 
cal order.  They  are  obliged  to  understand  heaven  and  earth 
as  symbols  for  spirit  and  flesh  within  us,  or  again  for 
heavenly  and  earthly-minded  men. 

Cyprian  expands  and  somewhat  dilutes  Tertullian's 
splendid  phrase,  '  We  are  heaven  and  earth.'  He  closes 
thus,  '  At  Christ's  bidding  we  pray ;    and  we  ask   that  we 

*  may  make  our  prayer  be  to  the  salvation  of  all,  that  as 
'  God's  will  was  done  in  heaven — that  is  in  us  through  our 
'  faith,  that  we  might  belong  to  heaven ;  so  God's  will  may 
'  be  done  also  in  earth — that  is  in  them,  on  their  believing^ ; 

*  that  so  they  who  are  by  their  first  birth  earthy  may  begin 

*  to  be  heavenly  by  being  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit' 

ap.  Tert.  de  Orat.  8,  orate  ne  tempte-  de  Dca.  Oral.  14,  non  descendi  de  cselo 

mini;  de  Dca.  Orat.  26,  ne  veniatis  in  ut  faciam  voluntatem  meam  sed  volun- 

temptationem.       ^/.  18.  32,  ap.  Tert.  tatem  ejus  qui  misit  me. 
fl'i?  C>ra^.  7,  dominus  debitumremisit;  ap.  To  illustrate  panis  cottidianus  Tert. 

dc Dca.  Orat.  23,  dimissum  sibi...omne  de  Orat.  6  quotes  yo.  6.  33,  35,  and  de 

debitum.    Mt.6.^^,a.p.TeTt..  deOrat.6,  Dca.  Orat.  iS  ;  yo.6.  11.     Abraham  is 

nolite  de  crastino  cogitare;  ap.  de  Dca.  Tertullian's  example  of  '  probation,'  de 

Orat.  19,  nolite  in  crastinum  cogitare.  Orat.  8;  Job  is  Cyprian's,  de  Dca.  Orat. 

For Zc.  22.42,  ap.Tert.  ^^6)ra^4,Pater,  16. 

transfer  {irapeviyKai,  om.  el  ^oiXei.)  po-  ^  Aug.  dedono  ^ersev.  Hi.  6.    P.  Saba- 

culumistud  (^iw.  dTT*  ^/xou),  nisi  quod  mea  tier,    Bidl.    Sacr.    Lat.    Vers.    Antiq. 

non  sed  tua  fiat  voluntas,   de  Dca.  Orat.  Reims,   1743 — 49,   v.  in.,  p.  33,  says 

I4puts  together  yl//.  26.  39  Pater,  si  fieri  that  Cyprian  has  'sicut'  like  all  other 

potest,  transeat  a  me  calix  iste,  with  Mc.  authorities  except  Tertullian.     But  this 

14.  36  (ref.  om.  by  Hartel)  verum  tamen  is  a  mistake  due  to  the  text  of  all  the 

non  quod  ego  volo  sed  quod  tu  vis  ('AX\'  printed  Cyprians  in  his  time.     All  the 

oi5  rf,  il//.  ttXV  oi;x  ws)-        Jo.  \■^l^s.^•  great    MSS.   have   'fiat  voluntas  tua  in 

Tert.  de  Orat.  28,  veniet  hora  cum  veri  caelo  et  in  terra.'     dt  Dca.  Orat.  14. 
adoratores  adorabunt  patrem  in  spiritu  2  See  de  Dca.  Orat.  c.  17  'In  terra, 

et  veritate;    ap.  de  Dca.  Orat.  2  (ref.  hoc  est  in   illis  credentibus.'     Hartel, 

om.  by  Hartel),  horam  venire  quando  under  a  misconception  explained  more 

veri  adoratores  adorarent,  &c.  Jo.  fully    below    {Note   on  Characteristics, 

6.  38,  ap.  Tert.  de  Orat.  4,  non  suam  ^c.),   changes  the   unvarying   reading 

sed   patris   facere   se  voluntatem;   ap.  into 'credere  nolentibus.' 


2/2   EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIAN    FEELING  AND   ENERGY. 

The  clause  'Lead  us  not  into  temptation*  is  explained  by 
Tertullian  as  'Suffer  us  not  to  be  ledV  and  without  a  hint 
of  the  genuine  form  Cyprian  uses  the  Master's  gloss  as  his 
own  text  of  the  prayer*.  Apparently  he  was  the  first,  though 
not  the  last  to  do  so  ;  and  it  illustrates  his  excessive  love  of 
lucidity.  Augustine  notices  his  reading,  and  observes  'and 
thus  do  some  pray' — among  them  probably  his  revered  S. 
Ambrose;  and  he  adds  that  he  'had  nowhere  found  this  in  a 
Greek  Gospel,'  but  that  it  was  in  many  Latin  manuscripts  of 
Africa  ^ 

From  his  words  on  'Deliver  us  from  Evil*''  it  is  not  clear 
whether  he  gives  Evil  a  personal  sense — The  Evil  One.  '  A 
'  Malo — we  comprise  all  adversities  which  the  Enemy  devises 
'against  us  in  this  world';  'We  ask  God's  protection  against 
'Evil;  that  gained,  we  stand  quiet  and  guarded  against  all 
'  works  of  Devil  and  World.'  It  looks  rather  the  other  way. 
But  scarcely  so  if  we  take  into  account  his  previous  words  on 
the  clause  about  Temptation.  '  Here  is  shewn  that  the  Foe 
*  hath  no  power  against  us,  except  first  God  give  him  leave, 
'  that  so  all  our  fear,  devotion  and  observance  may  turn 
'  toward  God,  seeing  that  the  Evil  Otie  {Malo)  hath  no  licence 

^  Id  est  ne  nos  patiaris  induci  ab  eo  Irish),  centt.  viii.,  ix.,  J.  Wordsworth 

utique  qui  temptat.     Tert.  de  Oral.  c.  and  H.  J.  White,  Nov.   T.  I.  xi.,  xili. 

8.    Elsewhere  only  Ne  nos  inducas.    de  60.]     Sabatier    cites    this   latter   form 

Fug.  in  Per  sec.  2.  also   from    Arnobius,    de    Deo    Trino, 

^  De  Dca.  Oral.  25.    See  Roensch,  233  d,  S.  Ambrose,  de  Sacram.,  11.  v. 

N.    Test.  Tertullian's,  p.  600.     His  re-  vi.  col.  377  a,  385  c,  and   S.  Augus- 

ferences  are  taken  from  Sabatier.  tine,   1.  ii.  de  Serm.  Dom.  in  m.  col. 

3  A\xg.  de  dona  per sev.s'v.  12.  Sabatier  206  a,  212  a,  who  treats  it  as  an  em- 

(op.  cit.)  gives  it  thus  as  his  text  of  the  bodied  explanation  (videlicet  exponen- 

Versio  Antiqua  of  S.  Matt.  vi.  13  from  tes)   and  who  himself  constantly  uses 

the  Colbert  MS.  (r, cent. xii., Paris,  Fonds  inferos.   J.  Wordsworth,  Old Lat.  Bibl. 

Za/.254)in  the  form 'ne  passus  nos  fueris  Texts,  I.  p.  xxx.,  xxxi.,  describes^.  2  as 

induci,'  and  from  the  second  S.  Ger-  not  really  an  Old  Latin  MS.  but  a  vul- 

main  (cent.  ix.  or  \.,  g.  2,  Fonds  Lat.  gate  text  interpolated  or  mixed,  and  c 

13169)  and  the  S.   Gatien  MS.   (cent.  as  more  distinctly  an  Old   Latin   MS. 

ix.,  Paris)  as  '  ne  patiaris  nos  induci.'  [They  here  represent  both  Ambrose  and 

['Ne  patiaris  nos  induci,'  Book  of  Ar-  the  older  Africans?] 
magh  and  the  Rush  worth  Gospels  (also  *  De  Dca.  Orat.  27.     Cf.  25. 


VI.  IV.  'ON  THE   lord's   PRAYER.'  2/3 

'in  the  matter  of  temptations,  except  power  be  given  him 
'from  God. ..and  power  is  given  to  the  Evil  One  (Malo) 
'against  us  according  to  our  sins  (Is.  xlii.  25),  and  again 
'"the  Lord  stirred  up  Satan"  (i  K  xi.  23,)  "an  adversary, 
'"Rezon,"  against  Solomon  himself'.' 

The  fulness  and  the  value  of  this  Essay  to  Church  thought 
are  well  illustrated  not  only  by  Hilary's  estimate  of  it,  but 
by  the  practical  account  to  which  it  was  soon  turned. 

A  century  and  three-quarters  later'^  the  monks  of  Adru- 
metum  were  affected  with  Pelagian  leanings.  Three  of  them 
visited  Saint  Augustine  and  spent  Easter  with  him.  As 
evidence  of  what  catholic  doctrine  really  was,  he  read  them 
this  book,  and  recommended  the  study  of  it  to  the  Monastery, 
which  possessed  a  copy  of  it  By  it,  he  says,  'as  by  some 
'  invincible  dart  were  transpierced  heretics  who  were  yet  for  to 
*  come.' 

Of  the  three  points  which  catholic  truth  held  fast  against 
Pelagius  he  found  two  distinctly  laid  down  in  it,  (i)  That 
all  holiness  is  a  free  gift  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  (2)  That 
actual  sin  is  committed  by  the  holiest  of  men.  For  Cyprian's 
exposition,  Augustine  shews,  sets  forth  how  gifts  of  grace 
are  to  be  sought  for  them  that  have  none,  and  power  to 
persevere  for  those  who  have  received  them. 

The  third  point  (3) — That  all  men  are  originally  sinful — 
he  shews  to  have  been  catholic  from  Cyprian's  Epistle  to 
Fidus. 

The  freedom  of  that  Epistle  and  of  this  Treatise  from 
technical  language  (even  the  expression  original  sin  not  oc- 
curring in  them)  vouches  for  their  early  date.  No  fabricator 
could  have  extricated  himself  from  terms  in  which  all  around 
him  clothed  their  thoughts.  Augustine,  with  all  his  fluency 
and  ease,  could  never  have  so  expressed  himself,  and  as  his 
conceptions  hardened  and  narrowed  in  his  years  of  contro- 

^  De  Dca.  Orat.  25.  2  p^-^.  427.     Aug.  Ep.  ccxv. 

B.  18 


274    EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIAN   FEELING   AND   ENERGY. 

versy*  his  own  language  and  that  of  his  contemporaries  be- 
came too  rigid  to  allow  their  ideas  to  be  expressed  as  once 
they  had  been.  Yet  whilst  the  phraseology  familiar  since 
that  controversy  is  wholly  wanting,  nothing  can  exceed  the 
strength  and  depth  and  definiteness  with  which  (as  brought 
out  by  Augustine's  analysis)  one  truth  breathes  from  every 
line — that  truth  tacitly  so  forgotten  in  ever  new  forms  of 
error — *  That  all  things  which  relate  to  character,  by  which 
'  we  live  rightly,  are  to  be  asked  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  and 
'  that  to  presume  on  (the  strength  of  our)  free-will  is  to  fall 
'  from  grace.'  This  is  but  a  solitary  instance  however  of  the 
importance  of  literal  and  accurate  exposition.  No  less  than 
thirteen  times'*  in  his  treatises  against  Pelagians  is  Augus- 
tine able  to  cite  this  one  small  work  of  him  whom,  in  his 
high  spirits,  he  calls  '  victoriosissimus  Cyprianus.' 

Lastly.  The  simplicity  of  its  thought  as  well  as  of  its 
diction  seems  fraught  with  hints  for  the  preacher  as  to  the 
true  method  of  doctrinal  teaching.  As  to  its  substance  may 
we  not  hope  that  we  are  ourselves  somewhat  nearer  to  Cyprian 
than  to  Augustine.^  At  least  we  recognise  how  much  of  spiri- 
tual conflict  and  misery  might  have  been  spared  if  only  the 
early  recognition  had  lasted  on  that  all  good  is  of  God  '  the 
Father  of  lights,'  that  'all  holy  desires,'  even  in  their  first  stir, 
'proceed  from  Him,'  that  all  works  'pleasant'  to  Him  are 
wrought  by  the  grace  of  Christ  and  the  infusion  of  His  Spirit, 
that  His  presence  and  action  are  essential  to  every  existence 
even  which  we  can  believe  to  be  real  and  substantive ;  that 
only  that  subsists  which  subsists  by  Him. 

^  See  Dr  W.  Bright's  Introduction  '  In  the  Benedictine  Index  (Venet. 

to  Select  Anti-Pelagian  Treatises  of  1735)  add  these  references:  486  d,  815, 
St  Augustine.  826. 


TABLE 

SHOWING    THE    VERBAL    DEBTS 
TO 

TERTULLIAN 

IN 

CYPRIAN'S    TREATISE 
DE    DOMINICA    ORATIONE. 


18—2 


276  TABLE  SHEWING  THE  VERBAL  DEBTS  TO  TERTULLIAN 


TABLE  shewing  the  verbal  debts  to    Tertullian 

Tertullianus  de  Oratione. 

XVII.     Deus  autem  non  vocis  sed  cordis  auditor  est. 

The  rest  of  the  chapter  of  Cyprian  strongly,  but  hardly  verb- 
ally, resembles  Tertullian. 
,,  ne   ipsis  quidem  manibus  sublimius  elatis  sed  temperate  ac  probe  elatis 

\sed  qu.  levatis],  ne  vultu  quidem  in  audaciam  erecto. 
justificatior  pharisseo  procacissimo  discessit. 

II.  'Dominus' .  .prsecepit  ne  quern  in  terris  patrem  vocemus  nisi  quern  habemus 

in  caelis. 
hoc  est  quod  Israeli  exprobratur . .  (Es.  i.  2) . .  et  oblitos  patris  denotamus. 

III.  non  quod  deceat ..  quasi  si  sit  et  alius  de  quo.,  nisi  optemus . .  Ceterum 

quando  non  sanctum  et  sanctificatum  est  per  semet  ipsum  nomen  dei  cum 
ceteros  sanctificet  ex  semet  ipso?...  Id  petimus  ut  sanctificetur  in  nobis 
qui  in  illo  sumus . . 
V.         Veniat  quoque  Regnum  TUUM...in  nobis  scilicet.    Nam  deus  quando  non 
regnat ? . . .  regni   dominici  repr3esentatio...optamus  ..non   diutius  servire. 

IV.  non   quod   aliquis   obsistat   quominus   voluntas   dei   fiat . .  sed    in    omnibus 

petimus  fieri  voluntatem  ejus.  . . .  Quae  ut  implere  possimus,  opus  est  Dei 
voluntate. 

,,  Dominus  quoque  cum  substantia  passionis  infirmitatem  carnis  demonstrare 

jam  in  sua  came  voluisset,  Pater,  inquit,  transfer  poculum  istud  ;  et  recor- 
datus.  Nisi  quod  mea  non  sed  tua  fiat  voluntas  (Lc.  xxii.  42). 

,,  est  et  ilia  Dei  voluntas  quam  Dominus  administravit  praedicando,  operando, 

sustinendo. 
ex  interpretatione  figurata  carnis  et  spiritus  nos  sumus  caelum  et  terra . .  . 
sensus  petitionis  ut  in  nobis  fiat  voluntas  Dei  in  terris  ut  possit  scilicet  fieri 
et  in  cselis.     Quid  autem  Deus  vult  quam  incedere  nos  &c. 


VI.  Panem  . .  spiritaliter  potius  intellegamus.  Christus  enim  panis  noster  est, 
quia  vita  Christus  et  vita  panis.  Ego  sum,  inquit,  panis  vitse .  .  .Turn 
quod  et  corpus  ejus  in  pane  censetur ;  Hoc  est  corpus  meum.  Itaque 
petendo  panem  quotidianum  perpetuitatem  postulamus  in  Christo  et 
individuitatem  a  corpore  ejus. 


IN  CYPRIAN'S  TREATISE   DE  DOMINICA  ORATIONE.  2^^ 


in   CyptHan's    Treatise  De  Dominica   Oratione. 

Cyprianus  de  Dominica  Oratione. 
4.      quia  Deus  non  vocis  sed  cordis  auditor  est. 


6.     non  adlevatis  in  caelum  inpudenter  oculis  nee  manibus  insolenter  erectis. 

,,     cum  sibi  pharisaeus  placeret  sanctificari  hie  magis  meruit. 

9.     Dominus  . .  prsecepit  ne  vocemus  nobis  patrem  in  terra  quod  scilicet  nobis  unus 

pater  qui  est  in  caelis. 
10.      quae  vox  Judaeos  etiam  perstringit  et  percutit . .  (Jo.  viii.  44;  Esai.  i.  2)..  in 

quorum  exprobrationem  . .  quia  eum  dereliquerunt. 
l^.     non  quod  optemus  Deo  ut  sanctificetur  orationibus  nostris,  sed  quod  petamus 
a  Deo  ut  nomen  ejus  sanctificetur  in  nobis.     Ceterum  a  quo  Deus  sanctifi- 
eatur  qui  ipse  sanctificat  ?  ...  Id  petimus  et  rogamus  ut  qui  in  baptismo 
sanctificati  sumus  in  eo  quod  esse  coepimus  perseveremus. 

13.  regnum    etiam   dei   repnesentari    nobis   petimus ..' nam   Deus   quando   non 

regnat ' .  .  ut  qui  in  saeculo  ante  servivimus  postmodum  . .  regnemus. 

14.  nam  Deo  quis  obsistit  quominus  quod  velit  faciat?  sed  quia  nobis  a  diabolo 

obsistitur  quominus  per  omnia  &c. 
,,       quae  ut  fiat  in  nobis  *opus  est  Dei  voluntate,'  id  est  ope  ejus  et  protectione, 

quia  nemo  suis  viribus  fortis  est,  sed  &c. 
,,       Dominus  infirmitatem  hominis  quem   portabat  ostendens   ait,   Pater,  si  fieri 

potest  transeat  a  me  calix  iste,  et . . .  addidit  dicens  :  Veruntamen  &c.  (Mt. 

xxvi.  39  with  Mc.  xiv.  36). 

15.  voluntas  autem  Dei  est  quam  Christus  et  fecit  et  docuit, — then   follows    an 

extremely  beautiful  passage,  Cyprian's  own. 

16.  cum  corpus  e  terra  et  spiritum  possideamus   e   caelo   ipsi   'terra   et   caelum 

sumus'  et  in  utroque,  id  est  et  corpore  et  spiritu,  'ut  Dei  voluntas  fiat' 
oramus  .  . .  hoc  precamur  et  in  cselo  et  in  terra  voluntatem  circa  nos  Dei 
fieri  :  quia  haec  est  voluntas  Dei  ut . .  . 

17.  petimus ...  ut  quomodo  in  caelo,  id  est  in  nobis,  per  fidem  nostram  voluntas 

Dei  facta  est  ut  essemus  e  caelo,  ita  et  in  terra,  hoc  est  in  illis  eredentibus, 
fiat  voluntas  Dei. 

18.  quod  potest  et  spiritaliter  et  simplieiter  intellegi,  nam  panis  vitae  Christus  est, 

et  panis  hie  omnium  non  est  sed  noster  est. ..quia  Christus  eorum  qui  corpus 
ejus  contingimus  panis  est.  Hunc  autem  panem  dari  nobis  cottidie  postu- 
lamus  ne  qui  in  Christo  sumus  et  eucharistiam  ejus  cottidie  ad  cibum 
salutis  accipimus ....  abstenti  et  non  communicantes ...  a  Christ!  corpore 
separemur. 


2/8      TABLE  SHEWING  THE  VERBAL  DEBTS  TO  TERTULLIAN 

VL        illius  hominis,  qui  provenientibus  fiructibus  ampliationem  horreorum  et  longae 
securitatis  spatia  cogitavit,  is  ipsa  nocte  moritur. 

VII.  consequens  erat,  ut  observata  dei  liberalitate  etiam  clementiam  ejus   pre- 

caremur.     Quid  enim  alimenta  proderunt,  si  illis  reputamur  revera  quasi 
taurus  ad  victimam  ? 
nisi  donetur  exactio ;  sicut  illi  servo  dominus  debitum  remisit . .  Idem  servus 
. . .  tortori  delegatur. 

VIII.  adjecit  ad  plenitudinem  tam   expeditas  orationis . . .  Ergo   respondet   clau- 

sula . . . 
IX.       compendiis  pauculorum  verborum  quot  attinguntur . . .  Quid  minim?    Deus 
solus  docere  potuit  quomodo  se  vellet  orari.    Ab  ipso  igitur  ordinata  religio 
orationis  &c. 
I.         . .  Dei  sermo  . .  Jesus  Christus  dominus  noster  nobis  discipulis  Novi  Testa- 
ment! novam   orationis  formam  determinavit.    [Cyprian  drops  the  am- 
biguous phraseology  about  Christ  being  Dei  Spiritus.] 
XXV.     observatio  etiam  horarum  quarumdam  . . .  quae  diei  interspatia  signant  tertia 
sexta  nona  quas  sollemniores  in  scripturis  invenire  est.     Primus  spiritus 
sanctus  congregatis  discipulis  hora   tertia   infusus  est.     Petrus  qua  die 
visionem   communitatis   omnis  in   illo   vasculo   expertus  est,   sexta  hora 
orandi  gratia  ascenderat  in  superiora.  .ut  quod  Danieli  quoque  legimus 
observatum . . 
exceptis   utique  legitimis  orationibus  quae  sine  ulla  admonitione  debentur 
ingressu  lucis  ac  noctis. 


IN   CYPRIAN'S   TREATISE   DE   DOMINICA  ORATIONE.      279 

20.     saeculares  copias  cogitantem  et  se  exuberantium  fructuum  largitate  jactantem . . . 

nocte  moriturus. 
22.     post  subsidium  cibi  petitur  et  venia  delicti  ut  qui  a  Deo  pascitur  in  Deo  vivat . . 


,,       si  peccata  donentur  quae  debita  Dominus  appellat. 
23.     qui  servus ...  in  carcerem  religatur  [sic  H.  sed  qu.  relegatur?]. 

27.  post  ista  omnia  in  consummatione  orationis  venit  clausula  universas  petitiones 

et  preces  nostras  collecta  brevitate  concludens  . . 

28.  quid  mirum . .  .si  oratio  talis  est  quam  Deus  docuit  qui  magisterio  suo  omnem 

precem  nostram  salutari  sermone  breviavit  ? . . .  Nam  cum  Dei  sermo  Dominus 
noster  Jesus  Christus  omnibus  venerit  et  colligens  doctos  pariter  et  indoctos 
omni  sexu  atque  aetati  prrecepta  salutis  ediderit,  prseceptorum  suorum  fecit 
grande  compendium  ut  in  disciplina  cselesti  discentium  &c. 

34.  in  orationibus  vero  celebrandis   invenimus  observasse  cum  Daniele .  .  horam 

tertiam  sextam  nonam  . . .  quae  horarum  spatia  jam  pridem  spiritaliter  deter- 
minantes  adoratores  Dei  statutis  et  legitimis  ad  precem  temporibus  ser- 
viebant . .  hora  tertia  descendit  Spiritus  sanctus  . .  item  Petrus  hora  sexta  in 
tectum  superius  ascendens  signo  pariter  et  voce  Dei  monentis  instructus  est, 
ut  omnes  ad  gratiam  salutis  admitteret . . . 

35.  . .  recedente  item  sole  ac  die  cessante  necessario  rursus  orandum  est. 


280  NOTE  ON   THE  CHARACTERISTICS  AND 


On  the  Characteristics  and  Genuineness  of  tlie  De 
Dominica  Oratione. 

It  has  been  contended  that  the  treatise  'Of  the  Lord's  Prayer'  is  later 
than  Cyprian,  on  grounds  which  I  hope  to  extricate  fairly  from  the  dis- 
cursive handling  the  question  has  received.  The  reply  might  be  scarcely 
worth  making  but  for  the  interesting  characteristics  which  come  out  by 
the  way. 

It  has  been  alleged 

I.  That  the  treatise  betrays  an  acquaintance  with  the  commentary  of 
Chromatius  of  Aquileia  who  died  about  406  A.D. 

II.  That  its  language  on  'Daily  Bread'  is  more  'Sacramental'  (i)  than 
that  of  Chromatius,  (ii)  than  that  of  Gregory  Nyssene  or  Chrysostom,  who 
probably  represent  the  prevailing  view  of  the  fourth  century,  (iii)  and 
than  is  consistent  with  Augustine's  doubt  as  to  the  sacramental  force  of 
the  petition^. 

III.  That  Venantius  Fortunatus,  Bishop  of  Poitiers  in  the  sixth 
century,  who  uses  TertuUian's  treatise  on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  does  not 
use  that  of  Cyprian,  which  his  predecessor  Hilary  had  commended  2. 

1.  On  the  first  head,  I  will  accept  for  comparison  the  passages,  printed 
after  this  note,  from  Tertullian  {de  Orat.  c.  4),  Chromatius  [Tractat. 
xiv.  4  in  S.  Matt.  Ev.),  and  Cyprian  {de  Dca.  Orat.  14 — 17),  on  the 
words  'Fiat  Voluntas  Tua,'  &c.  The  selection  (however  undesignedly) 
is  an  unfavourable  test-passage.  Resemblances  are  likely  to  be  fewer  on 
this  petition  than  elsewhere,  since  Chromatius  is  expounding  the  common 
reading  'As  in  heaven  so  in  earth'  while  the  Africans  explain  their  own 
form  'Thy  will  be  done  in  heaven  and  in  earth.'  The  comparison  how- 
ever yields  abundant  evidence  that  Chromatius  had  studied  Cyprian,  not 
Cyprian  Chromatius.  A  question  is  put  which,  if  accurately  worked  out, 
would  lead  us  right.  '  How  could  Chromatius,  if  he  were  making  use  of 
'  Cyprian,  have  escaped  introducing  ideas  that  Cyprian  had  taken  from 

^  E.  J.  Shepherd's  Fourth  Letter  to  tione  et  Gratia;  De  dono perseverantice ; 

Dr  Maitland,  1853.  Ep.  215,  which  accompanied  his  book 

He  further  observes  that  if  his  'argu-  De  Gratia  et  Libero  Arbitrio;  De  Pne- 

raents  are  cogent  and  conclusive,'  Cy-  destinatione  Sanctorum,  and  Ep.  217, 

prian  becomes  'an  important  witness  in  which  books  at  least  14  passages  of 

against  many  Augustinian  writings.'  our  treatise  are  quoted,  woven  in,  and 

That  is  true.     For  example  the  fol-  commented  on  in  a  way  often  essential 

lowing  works  of  Augustine  would  be  to  the  structure. 

forgeries  in  whole  or  in  part — Contra  ^  Hilar.  Comment,  in  Matth.  c.  v.  i ; 

duos  Epistolas  Pelagianorum ;   Contra  Venant.  Fortunat.  Miscell.,  lib.  X.  c.  i, 

jfulianum   Pelagianum ;    De    Correp-  Exposit.  Orationis  Domini. 


GENUINENESS  OF  THE  DE  DOMINICA  ORATIONE.      28 1 

'Tertullian?  How  account  for  the  elimination  of  so  much  that  is  Ter- 
'tullianistic?'  The  answer  is  that,  condensed  and  prosaic  as  Chromatins 
is,  he  does  not  'escape.'  Of  the  rich  profusion  of  Tertullian's  ideas 
Chromatius  reproduces  few.  But  some  few  he  has ;  and  each  one  of  these 
has  adhering  to  it  something  which  Cyprian  had  added.  Again  not  one 
'Tertullianistic  idea'  is  reproduced  in  Chromatius  which  is  not  in  Cyprian, 
or  without  Cyprian's  stamp  on  it.  It  follows  that  Chromatius  has  been 
acquainted  with  Tertullian's  treatise  through  Cyprian's — at  least,  through 
some  treatise  which  has  handled  Tertullian  on  the  same  subject  in  the 
same  manner  exactly  as  our  De  Dominica  Oratione  does. 

To  confine  ourselves  for  proof  to  this  one  short  and  unfavourable 
passage : 

1.  Tertullian  is  shewing  how  it  is  we  can  sensibly  pray  for  God's 
irresistible  will  to  be  done:  'Fiat  Voluntas  Tua...non  quod  aliquis  obsistat 
quominus  Voluntas  Dei  fiat...sed  in  omnibus  petimus  fieri  Voluntatem 
Ejus.'  Cyprian  generally  tries  to  make  Tertullian  more  elegant  and  more 
clear.  There  was  an  inartificial  imperfectness  in  merely  repeating^ 
instead  of  incidentally  explaining,  the  words  Voluntas  Dei  fiat,  while 
the  rough  in  omnibus  left  the  difficulty  where  it  was.  For  the  diffi- 
culty lies  exactly  in  apprehending  how  the  Divine  Will  can  fail  to  be 
operative  in  all.  Cyprian  therefore  has  'Nam  Deo  quis  obsistit  quominus 
quod  velit  faciat?...sed  quia  nobis  a  diabolo  obsistitur  quominus  per  omnia 
noster  animus  adque  actus  Deo  obsequatur,  oramus  et  petimus  ut  fiat  in 
nobis  Voluntas  Dei.' 

Now  Chromatius  comes  in ;  takes  Cyprian's  quod  velit  faciatj  and 
whereas  Cyprian,  with  in  omnibus  before  him,  had  written  per  omnia  in 
nobis,  Chromatius  finds  the  per  omnia  unnecessary,  drops  it;  retains 
(Tertullian's  and)  Cyprian's  obsistere  and  Cyprian's  oramus,  but  gives 
of  all  Tertullian's  context  not  a  syllable  which  is  not  in  Cyprian.  Says 
Chromatius  '  Non  enitn  quisquam  est  qui  obsistere  et  contradicere  Deo 
possit,  ne  quod  velit  facial... %t^  ut  in  nobis  voluntas  Ejus  fiat  oramus.^ 
Anyone  of  the  slightest  skill  in  composition  sees  that  Cyprian  is  the 
middle  term  between  Tertullian  and  Chromatius. 

2.  Tertullian  says  God's  Will  is  'that  we  should  walk  after  His 
discipline.'  He  says  nothing  about  Faith  or  Believing.  Cyprian  intro- 
duces it  among  many  other  points, — 'stabilitas  in  fide,'  'per  fidem,' 
'  credentibus,' — of  which  last  more  presently.  Chromatius  makes  it  the 
first  point  in  his  definition  '  Voluntas  Dei  est,  ut  toto  corde  ei  credentes 
haec  quae  fieri  praecipit  impleamus,'  and  more.  Any  master  of  style  would, 
I  think,  pronounce  that  a  writer  working /r«3;«  Chromatius  must  have 
made  more  distinct  use  of  his  credere  and  credulitas  than  the  book  we 
ascribe  to  Cyprian  has  done.  It  is  absent  in  Tertullian,  oblique  in 
Cyprian,  express  in  Chromatius.  And  it  is  so  important  that  once  stated 
it  must  have  been  re-stated. 

3.  Tertullian  has  here  the  truly  TertuUianesque  expression  '  ex  inter- 


282  NOTE  ON   THE  CHARACTERISTICS  AND 

pretatione  figurata  carnis  et  spiritus  nos  sumus  caelum  et  terra.'  There 
he  leaves  it,  downflung  for  readers  to  think  about.  What  did  he  mean  by 
nosf  Each  individual,  compounded  of  flesh  and  spirit?  or  the  world  of 
carnally  minded  and  spiritually  minded  men  ?  Cyprian  explains  the 
petition  on  the  first  hypothesis,  to  mean  'That  God's  will  may  be  done  in 
our  body  and  in  our  spirit.'  He  then  gives  the  other  alternative  (potest 
et  sic  intelligi),  viz.  that  'quomodo  in  caelo,  id  est  in  nobis,  per  fidem 
nostram  Voluntas  Dei  facta  est,...ita  et  in  terra,  hoc  est  in  illis  creden- 
tibus,  fiat  Voluntas  Dei,'  gliding  thus  into  an  explanation  of  the  other 
meaning.  'That  they  whom  just  before  he  describes  as  qui  adhuc  terra 
sunt  et  necdum  ccelestes,  &c.  may  begin  esse  calestes  ex  aqua  et  spiritu  nati.' 

Now  both  these  mystical  interpretations  have  arisen  from  the  Africans' 
form.  To  pray  that  God's  Will  '  might  be  done  in  heaven '  implied  to 
them  that  Heaven  was  a  region  where  it  was  not  yet  done  to  perfection. 
Hence  it  could  not  to  them  (as  we  saw)  mean  the  Heavenly  Hosts,  but 
rather  the  highest  part  of  man,  his  regenerate  spirit,  or  else  the  converted 
part  of  the  world.  This  interpretation  could  not  have  arisen  where  the 
reading  '  sicut  in  caelo '  prevailed — '  caelum '  being  then  the  region  where 
it  is  done  exemplarily  in  contrast  to  earth. 

How  does  Chromatius  proceed  ?  He  has  the  true  reading  and  he  has 
Cyprian's  comment.  To  him  Cyprian's  first  alternative  is  out  of  the  question. 
No  man  could  apply  it  to  the  true  reading.  No  man  could  pray  'that  God's 
will  may  be  done  in  his  flesh  as  it  is  in  his  spirit.'  He  is  obliged  to  omit 
this.  But  the  second  alternative  of  Cyprian  will  fit  well  enough.  There- 
fore to  his  own  sensible  explanation  as  to  the  Angels  he  adds  'Vel  certe... 
'ut  sicut  in  caelo,  id  est  in  Sanctis  et  ccelestibus  hominibus,  Dei  Voluntas 
'impletur  ;  ita  quoque  in  terra^  id  est  in  his  qui  necdum  credideru7it,'  Sec. 

Here  again  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  Cyprian  is  the  middle  term, 
and  that  it  is  owing  to  no  one  but  him  that  Chromatius  has  dropped  the 
first  and  true  idea  of  what  Tertullian  meant  by  making  ^heaven  and 
earth '  a  figurative  equivalent  for  'us,'  and  taken  a  less  harsh  suggestion  of 
what  it  could  mean. 

Tertullian  gives  his  mystic  rendering  of  'caelum  et  terra'  second  of 
his  five  points  on  this  petition.  Cyprian  moves  it  to  last.  There  Chro- 
matius has  it  also,  and  expunges  the  poetry  which  Cyprian  had  left  in. 

4.  The  reader  has  no  doubt  noticed  a  singular  variant  in  the  last 
clause.  Where  Cyprian  has  in  illis  credentibus  (undoubtedly  the  true 
reading — our  three  manuscripts  of  this  treatise  which  are  of  the  first  order 
have  no  negative),  Chromatius  has  in  his  qui  necdum  crediderunt.  It  is 
something  singular  that  just  this  passage  should  have  been  lighted  on, 
for  did  a  shadow  of  doubt  linger  as  to  which  was  the  original  writer,  the 
evidence  that  Chromatius  has  here  marked  an  obscurity  in  what  was 
before  him  and  avoided  it  by  a  turn  of  expression,  would  suffice  to  dispel 
it.  Clearly  the  two  passages  are  not  independent.  Whichever  is  original, 
the  other  is  a  copy. 


GENUINENESS  OF  THE  DE   DOMINICA  ORATIONE.     283 

Now,  no  one  could  have  misapprehended  the  Chromatian  prayer 
that  'God's  will  may  be  done  in  his  qui  necdum  crediderunt^  No  one 
would  have  reproduced  it  in  the  Cyprianic  form  '/«  illis  credentibus.' 
But  the  Cyprianic  form  might  cause  hesitation — *Ut  quomodo  in  caelo, 
'  id  est  in  nobis  per  fidem  nostram,  Voluntas  Dei  facta  est,  ut  essemus  e 
'  caelo,  ita  et  in  terra,  hoc  est  in  illis  credentibus,  fiat  Voluntas  Dei.'  It  was 
natural  to  see  how  Cyprian's  participle  might  be  misunderstood ;  how  it 
might  not  be  perceived  that  by  in  illis  credentibus  Cyprian  meant  '  in 
'  them  (as  opposed  to  in  nobis),  upon  their  believing,  being  converted  or 
'  beginning  to  believe,'  and  since  at  present  they  are  not  believers,  simply 
to  express  that  one  point  first.  Chromatius  accordingly  puts  it  into 
unmistakeable  form  *  qui  necdum  crediderunt.'  Augustine  similarly  has 
explained  by  paraphrase  the  expression  of  Cyprian,  which  would  have 
been  needless  if  a  negative  had  been  there.  Of  course  be/ore  believing, 
when  men  *  become  heavenly,'  they  are  non-believers ;  accordingly  he  has 
^ita  et  in  eis  qui  non  credunt  et  ob  hoc  adhuc  terra  sunt.  Quid  ergo 
'oramus  pro  nolentibus  credere  nisi  ut  Deus  in  illis  operetur  et  veiled' 
H.  Grave  was  actually  misled  as  to  the  participial  use  and  inserted  nondutn, 
f.  Morel  non,  as  if  'in  illis  credentibus'  did  or  could  mean  'in  those 
believing,'  and  Hartel  has  given  us  the  startling  conjecture  '  in  illis 
cred^ri?  w^'/entibus' — which  comes  indeed  from  Augustine,  but  not  from 
the  sentence  which  paraphrases  Cyprian. 

Cyprian  uses  participles  familiarly  in  this  appositional  condensed 
way,  and  in  the  same  phrase  has  'cajlestes  ex  aqua  et  spiritu  nati.' 
There  is  no  indication  that  Augustine  or  Chromatius  missed  the  Latin, 
like  the  editors  ;  but  since  no  one  would  have  altered  the  clear  Chromatian 
into  the  difficult  Cyprianic,  it  is  certain  that  Chromatius  either  applied  to 
the  Cyprianic  the  same  remedy  which  other  creditable  men  hit  upon,  or 
(if  anyone  thinks  necdum  or  «£i/entibus  genuine)  that  he  had  before  him 
an  older  text  than  we  have  a  trace  of,  in  which  case  Augustine,  his  con- 
temporary, had  it  too.  In  either  case  our  De  Dominica  Oratione  is  older 
than  Chromatius  and  was  before  his  eyes  as  he  wrote  I 

II.  We  now  come  to  the  second  objection  to  the  genuineness  of 
Cyprian  on  the  Lord's  Prayer — The  strength  of  the  Eucharistic  lan- 
guage. 

(i)    This   is   admitted  to   be   quite  in   consonance  with  the   'other 

^  De  Pradest.  Sand.  viii.  15.  has  transferred  from  their  context  to 

^  I  must  not  drag  my  readers  through  new  heads  {de  Oral.  3  and  5,  which  are 

a  refutation  of  Mr  Shepherd's  secondary  to  be  found  in  de  Dca.  Oral.  17  and  19). 

difficulties.     Can  he  be  himself  serious  There  are  scores  of  Tertullian's  ideas  in 

when  he  asks  us  to  account  for  Chro-  Cyprian   for   which   Chromatius   finds 

matius  not  having  reproduced  two  par-  no  room.     The   point   is,  Chromatius 

ticular  passages  of  TertuUian  ?  knows  no  Tertullian  except  what  has 

However  they  are  two  which  Cyprian  been  restamped  by  Cyprian. 


284  NOTE  ON   THE  CHARACTERISTICS  AND 

writings'  attributed  to  Cyprian  and  with  'that  of  the  suspicious  Firmilian.' 
If  Chromatius  were  less  strong  (which  is  not  so  evident)  this  would  not 
at  that  stage  of  thought  be  conclusive  as  to  mere  earliness  of  date. 

'Christ  is  our  Bread  of  Life.'  'Our  daily  Communion  is  a  daily 
Reception  of  Him,'  '  We  pray  that  we  may  not  through  the  coming  in 
{intercedente)  of  any  grievous  sin  be  separated  from  the  Body  of  Christ'  — 
a  corpora  Chrtsti  separemur.  Such  is  the  Cyprianic  gloss  on  Tertullian's 
forceful  word  '  in  asking  daily  bread  we  claim  continuance  in  Christ  and 
undividedness  from  His  Body' — indivtduitatem  a  corpore  ejus.  Now 
Chromatius  repeats  Cyprian  almost  word  for  word,  substituting  inter- 
veniente  for  intercedente,  a  word  of  double  meaning,  and  peccato,  as  more 
general,  for  graviore  delicto.  Augustine  surely  echoes  the  same  gloss 
when  he  has  ''Sic  vivamus  ne  ab  illo  altari  separemur.'  Here  as  before 
Cyprian's  place  in  the  chain  is  distinct^ 

(ii)  To  pass  to  the  'conjecture  from  the  commentaries  of  Gregory  of 
Nyssa  and  Chrysostom,  that  in  the  Oriental  church  the  petition  was 
considered  as  originally  intended  by  our  Lord  to  express  only  what  it 
primarily  means,  and  that  such  was  the  prevailing  interpretation  in  the 
fourth  century,'  which  probably  '  was  the  case  in  the  West  also.' 

The  truth  is  that  the  fathers  of  the  Antioch  school  had  nothing  but  the 
realistic  explanation  to  ofifer,  because  they  accepted  Origen's  erroneous 
derivation  of  fniovaios  as  meaning  'Bread  for  our  Substance,'  but  rejected, 
as  their  wont  was,  his  spiritualised  mystic  view  of  '  Substance '  as  the 
Essence  of  Our  Being.  The  Bread  prayed  for  necessarily  was  to  them 
only  the  Nurture  of  our  Material  Substance^. 

The  Western  current  of  interpretation  steadily  kept  to  the  rightly 
derived  rendering  '  Daily.'  It  also  never  from  Tertullian  (our  earliest 
witness)  onward  failed  to  see  an  Eucharistic  reference  here.  Jerome's 
rendering  'supersubstantial'  was  long  before  it  partially  displaced  'daily,' 
but  it  was  Eucharistic  still. 

Thus  then  while  the  Eastern  view  was  realistic  in  the  fourth  century' 
only  under  a  reaction  from  a  mysticism  far  exceeding  that  of  the  West, 
the  view  in  this  treatise  occupies  the  very  position  which  Cyprian  should 
occupy  in  the  universally  Eucharistic  interpretation  of  the  West. 

(iii)  Augustine's  view  would  be  stated  accurately  thus.  In  his  treatise 
'  Of  the  Sermon  on  the  IVIount '  he  will  not  limit  the  petition  to  either 
earthly  subsistence  or  to  the  Eucharistic  gift ;  his  reasons  for  not  con- 
fining it  to  the  latter  being  that  Orientals  do  not  receive  It  'daily,'  and 
that  Occidentals  use  the  prayer  many  times  a  day  after  reception. 
Nevertheless  he  allows  this  as  one  of  the  three  senses  which  we  may 
combine;   that  which  he  prefers  being  God's   Spiritual  Word.     Yet  in 

^  Chromatius'  words  are :  ne  aliquo  ^  Dr  Lightfoot  on  iiriovaios,  App.  to 

interveniente  peccato  a  corpore  Domini  FresA  Revision  of  New  Testatnent, 
separemur.     Tract,  xiv.  5.  p.  209  &c.  (2nd  Ed.  1872). 


GENUINENESS  OF  THE  DE  DOMINICA  ORATIONE.     285 

three  different  sermons*  he  gives  the  prominence  to  the  Eucharistic 
sense.  'The  Faithful  know  what  it  is  that  they  receive  in  the  Eucharist' 
— *so  then  the  Eucharist  is  our  Daily  Bread.'  The  handling  of  Augus- 
tine, more  analytical  and  yet  more  mystical,  is  distinctly  in  a  later  mood 
than  the  simply  moral  tone  of  Cyprian. 

On  this  head  it  is  added*  that  *  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the 

*  Sacramental   Interpretation   [of  Daily  Bread],  when   first   introduced, 

•  would  follow,  not  precede,  the  Primary  Meaning ;  and  when  it  is  found  to 
precede  it,  that  the  stream  of  time  had  rolled  further  down — '  i.e.  as  the 

'Primary  Meaning'  precedes  the  'Sacramental  Interpretation'  in  Chro- 
matius  and  follows  after  it  in  the  Cyprianic  treatise,  therefore  the  latter  is 
a  later  work.  This  assumption  would  make  Chromatius  early  indeed,  for 
TertuUian's  authorship  of  his  De  Oratiotte  is  not  disputed,  and  Tertullian 
gives  first  the  Spiritual  and  the  Sacramental  sense  and  then  what  he 
calls  the  'Carnal'  sense  which  is  Mr  Shepherd's  'Primar>-  Meaning.' 

III.  Why  so  late  an  author  as  Venantius  Fortunatus  (whose  references 
would  prove  nothing  as  to  date)  does  not,  in  his  unfinished  treatise  on  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  refer  to  Cyprian's  expressly,  I  cannot  say,  nor  need  we 
enquire.  He  was  not  bound  to  use  the  same  materials  as  his  predecessor. 
And  if  Hilary's  reference  to  the  treatise  is  no  argument  for  its  genuine- 
ness, surely  the  silence  of  Venantius  is  no  argument  against  it.  But  I 
think  Venantius  is  not  untinged  with  Cyprian.  On  such  a  subject  co- 
incidences are  natural,  but  some  resemblances  here  seem  to  be  more  than 
coincidences.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Venantius'  object  is  different. 
He  writes  very  compressedly,  but  more  theologically.  For  instance,  he 
says  in  speaking  of  the  word  Father,  'we  be  not  sons  in  the  mode  of  the 
'  Person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  because  He  was  born  of  His  Own 
'  Substance,... yet  through  grace  of  the  Only  Begotten  we  have  attained  to 
'  be  made  Adoptive.'  So  again  when  Cyprian  says  the  Jews  are  not  Sons^, 
Venantius  says  'the  Arian,  the  Jew,  the  Photinian,  the  Manichee,  the 
Sabellian,  and  other  plagues';  and  when  speaking  of  the  Will  of  God, 
goes  at  length  into  the  question  of  the  erroneousness  of  the  '  Human 
Will.'  Compare  however  what  both  say  as  to  the  petition  'Hallowed  be 
Thy  name '  being  a  prayer  for  Perseverance.  Or  compare  the  words  of 
de  Dca.  Orat.  13  on  'Thy  Kingdom  come,'  Potest... ipse  Chrtstiis  esse 
regnu7n  Dei  quern  venire  cottidie  cupimus,  cujus  advenius  SiC.  quia  in  illo 
regnaturi  su7mis,  with  Ven.  Fortunatus  (col.  317  A,  Migne,  Patr.  Lat.  v,  88) 
Adveniat  regnum  iiaan,  hoc  est  Christus  Domimis  nobis  adveniat  quern 
quotidie  sanctorum  chorus  veneranter  expectat,  in  cujus  promissione  se 
confidunt  justi  regnare.  Or  on  'fiat  Voluntas  Tua,'^^  Dca.  Orat.  14  Nam 
Deo  quis  obsistit  quotninus  quod  velit  faciatf  sed  quia  nobis  a  diabolo 
obsistitur.. ■O'pus  est  Dei  voluntate,  id  est  ope  ejus  et  protectione,  quia 

*  Aug.  Serm.  56,  57,  58.  "  Shepherd's  Fourth  Letter,  p.  37. 

3  De  Dca.  Orat.  13. 


286  NOTE  ON  DE  DOMINICA  ORATION E. 

nemo  suis  viribus  fortis  est  sed  Dei  indulgentia  et  misericordia  tutus  est, 
with  Fortun.  (col.  317  A  and  col.  318)  Non  id  fit  quia  aliquis  potuit  resistere 
ejus  voluntati  ut  nonfaceret  aliquando  quod  voluit  omnipotens...sed  ut  in 
nobis  impleatur  ejus  voluntas  ut  operetur,  qtioniam,  adversaria  resistenie, 
nos  voluntatem  ejus  implere  non  possumus  nisi  patrocinio  ejus  muniamur. 

Or  again,  observe  how  in  commenting  on  ccelum  et  terra  we  have,  be- 
sides the  usual  interpretation,  the  further  one  that  the  flesh  may  do  the 
works  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  expression  '  nos  videmur  facti  esse  ccelestes 
per  baptismum' — purely  Cyprianic  and  introduced  with  a  softening 
phrase.  In  these  passages  the  order  of  the  thoughts  is  Cyprian's,  the 
peculiarities  are  Cyprian's,  and  the  TertuUianesque  handling  of  the  third 
petition  is  recast  after  Cyprian.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Fortunatus 
was  in  some  shape  acquainted  with  Cyprian,  though  his  aim  and  his  touch 
are  different 

I  may  observe  further  that  Ambrose^  in  his  commentary  on  S.  Luke 
passes  in  silence  the  first  four  verses  of  chapter  xi.,  omitting  the  Lord's 
Prayer  altogether.  This  would  seem  to  be  inexplicable  except  for  the 
existence  of  some  standard  treatise.  Whether  there  was  such  a  treatise 
appears  from  Hilary's  Commentary  on  Matt.  v.  i,  'De  orationis  sacra- 
'  mento  necessitate  nos  commentandi  Cyprianus  vir  sanctae  memoriae 
*  liberarit.' 

It  is  easy  with  a  careless  sponge  to  stain  a  Numidian  Marble.  It  may 
take  a  month's  work  to  extract  that  stain.  And  when  it  is  done  a  fanciful 
retina  may  see  the  blur  still.  In  the  history  of  scholarship  I  know  nothing 
(more  honest  and  nothing)  more  wanton,  than  the  sharp  guesses  and 
insinuations  which,  without  real  devotedness  in  research,  without  delicacy 
of  perception,  only  with  an  imitative  ring  of  criticism,  have  been  syringed 
over  some  of  the  noblest  essays  of  a  great  author. 

^  Ambros.  Exposit.  Evang.  sec.  Luc,  lib.  vii.  87. 


COMPARISON   ELUCIDATING  THE   DATES. 


287 


Comparison  elucidating  the  dates. 

[  The  asterisks,  obeli,  &'c.  call  attention  to  the  more  detached  similarities  0/ fihrase.1 


Tertullianus,  de  Oratione, 
c.  4. 

I.]  Secundum  hanc  for- 
mam  subjungimus:  Fiat  vo- 
luntas tua  in  cselis  et  in 
terra,  non  quod  aliquis  obsis- 
tat,  quominus  voluntas  Dei 
fiat,  et  ei  successura  voluntatis 
suae  oremus,  sed  in  omnibus 
petimus  fieri  voluntatem  ejus; 


2  =  C.  5.]  Ex  interpreta- 
tione  enim  figurata  cam  is  et 
spiritus  nos§  sumus  caelum  et 
terra,  quanquam,  etsi  simplici- 
ter  intellegendum  est,  idem 
tamen  est  sensus  petitionis,  ut 
in  nobis  fiat  voluntas  Dei  in 
terris,  ut  possit  scilicet  fieri  et  in 
caelis.  quid  autem  Deus  vult 
quam  incedere  nos  secundum 
suam  disciplinam**?  petimus 
ergo  substantiam  et  facultatem 
voluntatis  suae  subministret 
nobis,  uttt  salvi  simus  et  in 
caelis  et  in  terris,  quia  summa 
est  voluntatis  ejus  salus  eorum 
quos  adoptavit. 

3.]  Est  et  ilia  Dei  volun- 
tas quam  Dominus  adminis- 
travit  praedicando,  operando, 
sustinendo.  Si  enim  ipse 
pronuntiavitj  non  suam,  sed 
patris  facere  se  voluntatem, 
sine  dubio,  quae   faciebat,  ea 


Cyprianus,  de  Dominica 
Oratione,  cc.  14 — 17. 

I.]  Addimus  quoque  et 
dicimus :  Ftat  voluntas  tua  in 
caelo  et  in  terra,  non  ut  Deus 
facial  quod  vult,  sed  ut  nos 
facere  possimus  quod  Deus 
vult.  nam  Deo  quis  obsistit 
quominus  quod  velit  faciat? 
sed  quia  nobis  a  diabolo  ob- 
sistitur  quominus  per  omnia 
noster  animus  adque  actus  Deo 
obsequatur,  oramus  et  petimus 
ut  fiat  in  nobis  voluntas  Dei : 
quae  ut  fiat  in  nobis*  'opus  est 
Dei  voluntate,'  id  est  ope  ejus 
et  protectione,  quia  nemo  suis 
viribus  fortis  est  sed  Dei  indul- 
gentia  et  misericordia  tutus  est. 

2  =  T.  5.]  Denique  et  Do- 
minust  infirmitatem  hominis 
quem  portabat  ostendens  ait : 
pater,  si  fieri  potest,  transeat 
a  me  calix  iste,  et  exemplum 
discipulis  suis  distribuens,  ut 
non  voluntatem  suam  sed  Dei 
faciant,  addidit  dicens :  verum- 
tamen  non  quod  ego  volo  sed 
quod  tu  vis.  et  alio  loco  dicit  J: 
non  descend!  de  caelo  ut  faciam 
voluntatem  meam  sed  volunta- 
tem ejus  qui  misit  me... 


3.]  Voluntas  autem  Dei 
est  quam  Christus  et  fecit  et 
docuit.  humilitas  in  conversa- 
tione,  stabilitas  in  fide,  in 
factis  justitia,  in  operibus  mi- 
sericordia, in  moribus  discipli- 
na  **,  injuriam  facere  non  nosse 
et  factam  posse  tolerare... 


Chromatius,  Tractal., 
xiv.  4. 

I.]  Dehinc  ait:  Fiat  vo- 
luntas tua  sicut  in  caelo  et  in 
terra,  par  quoque  et  hie  in- 
telligentiae  ratio  est.  non 
enim  quisquam  est  qui  obsis- 
tere  et  contradicere  Deo  possit, 
ne  quod  velit  faciat ;  cum  vo- 
luntate ejus  et  in  caelo  et  in 
terra  cuncta  consistant ;  sed,  ut 
in  nobis  voluntas  ejus  fiat, 
oramus. 


Cyp.  2  =  Tert.  5.     Not  in 
Chrom.] 


3.]  Voluntas  autem  Dei 
est,  ut  toto  corde  ei  credentes 
haec  quae  fieri  prcecipit  im- 
pleamus.  de  qua  voluntate 
Dei  Apostolus  testatur  dicens: 
Voluntas  Dei  est  sanctificatio 
vestra    ut    abstineatis   vos   a 


288 


COMPARISON   ELUCIDATING  THE  DATES. 


Tertullianus,  de  Oral., 
c.  4. 

■erat  voluntas  patris,  ad  quae 
nunc  nos  velut  ad  exem- 
plaria  provocamur,  ut  et  prse- 
dicemus  et  operemur  et  sus- 


Cyprianus,  lU  Dca.  Oral., 
cc.  14 — 17. 


Chromatius,  Tractat., 
xiv.  4. 


camalibus    concupiscentiis   ( i 

Th.  iv.  3).     de  quo  et  Domi- 

nus   in  Evangelio  locutus  est 

exhibere  ...  in      quasstione  dxctns:  Hac est  volitntas patris 

tineamus   ad   mortem  usque,    fiduciam  qua  congredimur,  in  mei qui  misit  me  ut  omnis  qui 

quae  ut  implere  possimus*  opus   morte  patientiam  qua  corona-  videt  Filium  et  credit  in  eo 

est  Dei  voluntate.                        mur:  ...hocestpraeceptumDei  habeat  vitam  ceternam  Qo.  vi. 

facere,    hoc    est    voluntatem  40). 

patris  implere. 

4.]     Item  dicentes,  fiat  vo-         4.]     Fieri  autem  petimus  4.]     Cum    ergo   dicimus : 

luntas  tua,  vel  eo  nobis  bene   voluntatem  Dei  in  caelo  et  in  Fiat  voluntas  tua  sicut  in  caelo 

optamus,  quod  nihil  mali  sit   terra... nam  cum  corpus  e  terra  et  in  terra:  hoc  oramus,  id  est 

in  Dei  voluntate,  etiam  si  quid    et     spiritum    possideamus    e  ut  sicuti  Dei  voluntas  ab  an- 

pro  meritis  cuj  usque  secus  in-    caelo  §    ipsi    'terra   et    caelum  gelis  fideliter  custoditur  in  cae- 

rogatur.     jam   hoc    dicto  ad   sumus,'  et  in  utroque,  id  est  et  lis  ita  quoque  a  nobis  religiosa 

sufferentiam  nosmetipsos  prae-   corpore  et  spiritu,  ut  Dei  vo-  ac  fideli   devotione    ^  semper 

monemus.                                     luntas  fiat  oramus.     est  enim  servetur  in  terra,     quae  volun- 

inter  camem  et  spiritum  con-  tas  ut  in  nobis  rite  possit  im- 

luctatio...et  idcirco  cottidianis  pleri,  sine  intermissione'  divi- 

immo  continuis  orationibus  hoc  nae  dignationis  auxilium  pos- 

.    precamur...  tulandum  est. 

5  =  T.  -2.]      Potest    et    sic  5.]    Vel  certe  Fiat  voluntas 

intellegi...ut  quoniam  mandat  tua  sicut  in  caelo  et  in  terra; 

sionis  infirmitatem  carnis  de-    et  monet  Dominus  etiam  ini-  ut  sicut  in  caelo,  id  est  in  sanc- 

monstrare  jam    in   sua  carne    raicos  diligere  et  pro  his  quo-  tis    et   caelestibus   hominibus, 

voluisset :  Pater,  inquit,  trans-    que  qui  nos  persecuntur  orare.  Dei    voluntas    impletur;     ita 

fer  poculum  istud,  et  recorda-    (cf.  Tert.  3.)    petamus  et  pro  quoque  in  terra,  id  est  in  his 

tus,  nisi  quod  mea  non,  sed  tua    illis  qui  adhuc  terra  sunt  et  nee-  qui  necdum   crediderunt,  per 

fiat  voluntas,    ipse  erat  volun-    dum   caelestes   esse   cceperunt  credulitatem  fidei  et  veritatis 

tas  et  potestas  patris,  et  tamen    ut  et  circa  illos  voluntas  Dei  cognitionem,  ut  Dei  fiat  volun- 

ad  demonstrationem  sufferen-    fiat... ut  precem  pro  omnium tt  tas  oramus. 
tiae  debitas  voluntati  se  patris   salute  faciamus  ut  quomodo  in 
tradidit. 


5  =  C.  2.]    Dominus t  quo- 
que cum  sub  instantiam  pas- 


{Reiffersckeid.) 


caelo,  id  est  in  nobis,  per  fidem 
nostram  voluntas  Dei  facta  est 
ut  essemus  e  caelo,  ita  et  in 
terra,  hoc  est  in  illis  credenti- 
bus,  fiat  voluntas  Dei,  ut  qui 
adhuc  sunt  prima  nativitate 
terreni  incipiant  esse  cselestes 
ex  aqua  et  spiritu  nati. 

(Hartel-.) 


1-1  Three  lines  omitted  absque  sensu, 
apparently  by  a  printer's  slip  at  first  in 
Grynaeus,  Monum.  P.  Ortkodoxographa,  v. 
II.  p.  1 2 14,  1569;  La  Eigne,  Max.  Bibl.  Vet. 
Pair.  V.  V.  p.  987,  Lugd.  1677;  and  Galland. 
B.  V.P.  vol.  VIII.  p.  348,Venet.  1772;  but 


given  in  first  Basle  Edition  1528,  in  Braida, 
Utini,  1816,  q.v.  and  Migne. 

^  Hartel's  text,  except  in  his  infelicitous 
conjecture  credere  nolentibus  for  credentibus, 
see  p.  271,  n.  2. 


VI.  V. 


RITUAL. — THE   MIXED   CUP. 


289 


V.     Ritual 


I.     The  Mixed  Cup. 

The  last  question  ^  which  comes  within  the  present  cycle 
of  Cyprian's  activity  was  that  of  Ritual. 

He  has  worked  out  the  application  of  the  new  Christian 
principles  to  the  treatment  of  Suffering ;  to  the  purification 
of  the  passions  of  Resentment  and  Sorrow ;  and  to  intelligent 
Communion  with  the  Father.  Time  brought  also  round  some 
necessities  for  clearness  in  the  Ritual  in  which  the  new 
principles  had  tacitly  embodied  themselves.  A  little  later, 
and  it  assumed  such  proportions  as  to  dwarf  for  a  time 
the  rest,  and  to  leave  the  one  blot  on  Cyprian's  glory. 

A  material  change  had  been  introduced  some  time  before 

^  Probably  not  'last'  chronologi- 
cally, though  Rettberg  (p.  145,  n.  i) 
wishes  to  transfer  Ep.  6}^  to  a  date  as 
late  as  the  last  persecution,  since  the 
expression  'cum  mediocritatem  nostram 
semper  humili  et  verecunda  moderatione 
teneamus'  Ep.  63.  i  postulates  time  for 
the  exhibition  of  such  qualities.  Ritschl, 
pp.241,  242,  thinks  the  claim  to  modesty 
and  humility  more  characteristic  of  the 
beginnings  of  an  episcopate.  There 
is  nothing  in  this.  And  in  an  ad- 
mittedly late  letter,  Ep.  66.  3,  Cyprian 
makes  the  same  claim,  'humilitatem 
meam  et  fratres  omnes  et  gentiles  quo- 
que  norunt  et  diligunt';  which  also 
the  confessors  in  almost  the  last  letter 
of  all  declare  to  be  true;  'omnibus 
hominibus...inobsequiohumilior...'£'/. 
77.  I.  Ritschl's  theories  drive  him  to 
put  Ep.  63  early,  because  of  its  supposed 
definition  of  '  ecclesiam,'  as  '  plebem 
in  ecclesia  constitutam,'  c.  13 — but  we 
have  seen  that  this  is  no  definition. — 
Cyprian  is  merely  interpreting  the 
water  in  the  mixed  chalice  to  signify 
the    'ecclesia'    'plebs'    or    'populus,' 

B. 


(here  including  of  course  the  Ministry,) 
in  contradistinction  to  the  wine,  as 
representing  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord. 
The  truth  is  that  the  letter  bears  no 
note  of  date  except  that  the  semper... 
teneamus  implies  some  time,  (as  Rett- 
berg,) and  that  ch.  17  'ad  collegas 
nostros  litteras  dirigamus  ut  ubique  lex 
evangelica...servetur  et  ab  eo  quod 
Christus  et  docuit  et  fecit  non  receda- 
tur'  implies  a  well-established  position. 
Persecution  seems  to  be  in  a  simmer- 
ing state.  The  doctrine  of  the  sacra- 
ments and  of  the  priesthood  has  been 
very  fully  thought  out.  Si  Christus 
Jesus  Dominus  et  Deus  noster  ipse  est 
summus  sacerdos  Dei  patris&c....utique 
ille  sacerdos  vice  Christi  vere  fungitur 
qui  id  quod  Christus  fecit  imitatur  &c., 
(14)  si  sacerdotes  Dei  et  Christi  sumus 
non  invenio  quem  magis  sequi  quam 
Deum  et  Christum  debeamus  (18).  He 
speaks  in  obedience  to  distinct  vision 
and  command.  On  the  whole  Pear- 
son's opinion  of  the  place  of  the  Epistle 
is  not  ill-founded. 

19 


290  EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND   ENERGY. 

by  a  number  of  bishops,  and  among  them  perhaps  a  bishop 
of  Carthage  \  into  the  Eucharistic  offering — the  adoption  of 
water  instead  of  wine.  There  is  in  this  no  trace '  of  religious 
antipathy  to  wine,  such  as  had  been  taught  ninety  years 
before  by  Tatian.  Not  to  say  that  there  is  no  other  indi- 
cation of  such  teaching  hitherto  in  Africa,  the  present  was, 
we  clearly  learn,  the  mere  social  timidity  of  a  simple  people  ^ 
Christian  wives  of  heathen  husbands,  many  dependents,  and 
others  incurred  unworthy  suspicions  from  having  the  scent 
of  wine  about  them  at  an  early  hour^  A  compassionate 
evasion  had  suffered  them  to  communicate  in  water. 

When  scarcity  of  wine  was  found  to  have  occasioned  the 
same  irregularity  at  Regensburg,  Saint  Wolfgang  wept  so 
profusely  that  his  recovery  was  despaired  of^  The  state- 
ment that  the  Norwegians  in  the  fifteenth  century  received 
permission  from  Innocent  the  Eighth  to  celebrate  in  water, 


^  Ep.6^.  i'...quidam...nonhocfaciunt. 
14  inpr3eteritum...antenos...'  17  'siquis 
de  antecessoribus  nostris . . .  non  hoc  obser- 
vavitettenuit.'  This  word  (qttidarn)mn%i 
be  the  ground  of  Pearson's  statement  that 
the  custom  originated  with '  some  bishop 
of  Carthage,'  Ann.  Cypr.  A.D.  253,  iii. 
But  if  we  consider  the  very  official  form 
of  the  letter,  and  its  address  to  the  senior 
bishop  of  the  province,  the  inference 
is  not,  I  think,  so  certain.  The  mood 
indicates  some  particular  person. 

2  As  supposed  by  F.Miinter,  Primord. 
Eccles.  Africans,  p.  127;  compare  M. 
Leydecker  de  Statu  Eccles.  v.  de  cultu. 
MUnter  quotes,  as  if  it  illustrated  the 
point,  the  'appendix'  c.  52  of  Tertul- 
lian's  Prascriptio  Hcereticoruni — which 
appendix  is  a  separate  work,  not  Afri- 
can. The  Hydro-parastatse,  Aquarii,  or 
'  Water-offerers '  were  in  the  4th  century 
a  branch  of  Tatianists,  or  Encratites ;  an 
Apocrypha-collecting,  ascetic,  Judaic, 
Docetic   School ;   see   H.   L.  Mansel, 


Gnostic  Heresies,  pp.  136,  7.  Tille- 
mont,  V.  II.  p.  410.  Not  one  of  those 
unmistakeable  marks  occurs  in  Cyp- 
rian's account. 

^  Ep.  63.  17,  18  simplicitati,  simpli- 
citer. 

•*  Suspicions  not  unjustified,  if  there 
were  many  of  those  who  (as  Novatian 
says)  held  it  un-Christian  to  drink  after 
eating,  '  Videas  ergo  tales  novo  genere 
adhuc  jejunos  et  jam  ebrios,'  and  pos- 
sibly at  the  Eucharist,  as  he  speaks 
of  their  'osculum.'  This  curious  pas- 
sage leaves  it  uncertain  whether  (i)  they 
drank  overmuch  wine  at  fasting  com- 
munions, or  took  stimulants  before  them, 
or  (2)  whether  Novatian  himself  in- 
clined to  the  use  of  water  in  commu- 
nion, or  (3)  whether  this  was  simply  a 
foolish  defence  of  actual  vice.  Nova- 
tian, de  Cibis  jfitd.  c.  vi. 

^  Acta  S.  Wolfgangi  Ratisponensis 
c.  24,  ap.  Edm.  Martene,  de  Ant. 
Eccles.  Pit.  I.  iii.  Art.  vii.  32. 


VI.  V.  RITUAL. — THE   MIXED  CUP.  29I 

on  account  of  the  liability  of  their  wine  to  sourness,  is  not 
only  denied  but  quite  improbable  \ 

Cyprian  felt  impelled  to  issue  an  official  letter  to  Caecilius 
of  Biltha,  not  as  an  offender,  but  as  senior  bishop  of  the 
Proconsular  Province.  Caecilius  was  one  of  the  most  regular 
attendants  in  Cyprian's  Councils,  He  had  formerly  been 
employed  in  the  suppression  of  grosser  irregularities ' ; 
and  his  speech,  crossed  perhaps  with  aged  virulence,  is  the 
first  of  the  unhappy  verdicts  of  the  great  Council  on  Baptism. 

In  the  letter  now  addressed  to  him  by  Cyprian  the  wild- 
ness,  it  must  be  admitted,  of  the  Biblical  interpretations  and 
the  looseness  of  the  logic,  is  equalled  only  by  the  quiet 
insinuating  beauty  of  its  style  ^  the  soundness  of  its  con- 
clusions and  its  value  in  evidence*.  The  substance  however 
is  to  this  effect : — 

That  Wine  in  the  Chalice  is  essential  to  the  evangelical 
tradition  ;  to  the  symbolic  sense  of  the  Last  Supper ;  to  the 
fulfilment  of  antient  types  ;  and  to  the  faithful  representation 
of  the  Lord's  own  act.  It  is  further  apparent  that  Cyprian 
and  his  contemporaries  would  have  regarded  the  admixture 
of  water  as  being  not  indeed  equally  essential  with  the 
presence  of  Wine,  yet  in  its  place  essential  for  the  fulfilment 
of  those  four  necessary  conditions.  'Drink  ye  the  Wine  which 
I  have  mingled  for  you'  he  quotes  from  the  Book  of  Proverbs^ 
and  then  proceeds  'Wisdom  declares  her  Wine  to  be  mingled; 

1  Baluze    (p.    477)    appears    to    ac-  expressions   indicate   a   time  of  perse- 

cept  it  on  authority  of  Raphael  Vola-  cution,  and  that  Cyprian  had  been  long 

terranus,  1.  7,  p.  159,  though  even  Bp.  in  office.  DomMaran(  F/A  C)//r.  xxxiii.) 

Jewel  states  it  hesitatingly  on  the  same.  rightly  thinks  them  not  cogent.     But 

Controv.  w.  Harding,  vol.  I.  pp.  137,  222  I  cannot  agree  with  him  that  it  is  to  be 

Park.  Soc.   See  Baronius,  Annul.  Eccles.  placed  after  the  controversy  on  Baptism 

A.D.  1490,  c.  xxii.  had  broken  out.     Cyprian's  whole  soul 

^  p.  47.  was  then  so  charged  with  that  subject 

3  Aug.  de  Doctrina  Christiana,  B.  IV.  that  he  could  not  have  gone  so  near 

c.   xxi.   quotes   it  as  a  model   of  the  without  allusion  to  it  far  plainer  than 

'submissum  dicendi  genus.'  Maran  extricates. 

*  Ep.    63.      Pearson's    reasons    for  "  Prov.  ix.  5. 
assigning  it  to  a.d.  253  are  that  some 

19 — 2 


292     EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

*  foreannounces,  that  is,  with  prophetic  voice  the  Lord's  Cup 

*  mingled  of  Water  and  Wine,  that  it  may  appear  that  in 

*  the  Lord's  Passion  that  which  had  been  foretold  was  done  *.' 
Again  'the  Lord  taught  us  by  the  pattern  of  His  instruc- 

*  tions  that  the  chalice  was  mingled  by  conjunction  of  Wine 
'and  Water*';  and  again  'we  find  that  what  He  ordered  is 
'  not  observed  by  us,  unless  we  too  do  the  same  things  which 
'  the  Lord  did,  and  similarly  mingling  the  cup,  depart  not 
'  from  His  Divine  instructions  ^' — Still  such  passages  cannot 
fairly  be  cited  as  exhibiting  a  direct  decision  of  Cyprian's 
that  Water  absolutely  must  be  used  as  well  as  Wine,  because 
the  immixture  of  Water  was  not  the  exact  question  before 
him ;  and  incidental  judgments  ought  not  to  be  alleged  in 
controversy  as  if  they  were  direct.  This  is  clear  from  another 
clause  of  the  last  cited  section.  '  In  respect  of  which '  (the 
incidents  of  S.  Matt.  xxvi.  28,  29)  we  find  it  was  a  '  mixed 
'  chalice  which  the  Lord  offered,  and  that  it  was  the  wine 
'  which  He  called  blood.  Hence  it  appears  that  Christ's  blood 
'  is  not  offered  if  there  be  no  wine  in  the  chalice.' 

It  is  true  that  he  plainly  says  'wine  alone  ccamot  be 
offered,'  and  again  '  the  cup  of  the  Lord  is  not  water  alone 
nor  wine  alone,'  but  he  gives  his  reason  for  this  assertion, 
so  that  the  assertion  will  not  be  valued  (except  as  distinct 
evidence  of  practice)  by  those  to  whom  the  reason  does  not 
commend  itself.  This  reason  is  that  the  water  signifies  the 
People  (according  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Apocalyptic 
Seer  that  the  waters  are  peoples*)  while  the  wine  signifies  the 
blood  of  Christ  Himself  with  Whom  His  People^  are  blended 
in  inseparable  union  and  conjunction. 

-  Ep.  63.  5.  A.D.  1439,  Decret.ad  Armenos  (Labbe, 

2  Ep.  9.  Mansi,  vol.  xviii.,  Venet.   1773,   <^o^- 

3  Ep.  63.  10.  H'z,  vol.  x.xxi.  1798,  col.  1056),  but  it 
*  Apoc.  xvii.  15.  is  combined  by  them  with  the  reason 
'  Ep.   63.    13.      This  account  is  a-       attributed  to  Alexander  Bp.  of  Rome 

dopted  by  the  Council  of  Tribur  a.d.  a.d.  109  {Ep.  i.  4,  spurious  of  course, 
895,   can.  xix.   and   that   of  Florence       Labbe,  Mansi,   vol.  i.   Florent.   1759, 


VI.  V. 


RITUAL. — THE   MIXED   CUP. 


293 


The  same  union  is  expressed  in  the  Bread  itself  to  which 
no  consistency  could  be  given  but  by  the  use  of  water.  The 
many  grains  represent  the  multitudinous  partakers  who  only 
receive  their  unity  in  the  one  Loaf,  the  Bread  of  Heaven  \ 


coll.  638,  9),  namely  the  miraculous  out- 
flow from  the  side  of  Christ.  The 
Council  of  Trent  adopts  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  -water  meaning  the  people, 
but  judiciously  drops  the  appeal  to 
Saint  Alexander.     (Session  22,  ch.  7.) 

'  In  most  liturgies,  when  the  water  is 
mixed  with  the  wine  some  reference  is 
made  to  the  blood  and  water  which 
flowed  from  the  Lord's  side.'... 'The 
same  reason  is  given  generally  by  the 
liturgies' :  Cheetham,  who  specifies  Ro- 
man, Mozarabic  and  Ambrosian  as  in- 
stances. This  statement  may  so  easily 
cause  important  mistakes  that  it  is  well 
to  observe  that  ten  principal  liturgies, 
among  them  the  Roman,  which  direct 
the  mixture,  have  no  allusion  to  this  text. 
The  Syriac  Liturgy  of  S.  James,  the 
antient  one  of  Lyons,  the  Carthusian 
(perhaps  as  a  survival  of  antient 
Lyons)  may  be  added  to  the  other 
two  which  have  it.  The  Liturgy  of 
Constantinople  pointedly  avoids  it,  for 
it  recites  the  text  (Jo.  xix.  34,  35) 
where  the  Priest,  in  the  little  play 
which  goes  on  at  the  Prothesis,  stabs 
the  Host  'with  the  Lance';  the  mix- 
ture of  the  chalice  follows  after  this. 
The  ^thiopic  pointedly  avoids  it;  its 
illustration  is  Cana,  and  though  'the 
Blood  shed  on  Golgotha'  is  named  the 
Water  is  not.  The  Gregorian  and  Gela- 
sian  and  the  Nestorian  (Adseus  and 
Maris)  do  not  actually  name  Water, 
though  the  mixture  was  made,  nor  do 
five  minor  ones  given  in  Renaudot's 
second  volume,  pp.  126 — 163 ;  two 
others  do,  pp.  170,  177;  but  in  none 
of  them,  I  think,  is  there  any  allusion  to 
the  ESusion. 

The  parallel  must  surely  have  pre- 


sented itself  to  Cyprian's  "■  memoriosa 
mens '  and  so  can  scarcely  have  ap- 
proved itself  to  him  as  being  true  sym- 
bolism. He  does  not  however,  among 
the  innumerable  passages  which  he 
bends  that  way,  apply  it  to  Baptism 
either,  as  our  own  Rite  does,  followring 
the  Sarum  Benedictio  Fontis  (Maskell, 
Mon.  Rit.  I.  p.  19)  which  comes  from  the 
Gelasian  Sacramentary.  Muratori,  Lit. 
Rom.  Vet.  t.  I.  cc.  569,  570.  Tertullian 
thrice  applies  it  to  the  distinct  baptisms 
of  Water  and  Blood,  de  Bapt.  9,  16,  de 
Pudic.  22. 

The  prayer  at  the  mingling  in  the 
Roman  Missal  carries  the  symbolism  to 
a  higher  region — from  the  congrega- 
tion to  humanity  itself,  but  does  this 
by  dressing  up  the  beautiful  Mattins 
and  Vespers  collect  of  the  Nativity  in  the 
Gelasian  Sacramentary.  Muratori  (pp. 
cit.)  I.  col.  497  '  Deus  qui  humanse  sub- 
stantive dignitatem  et  mirabiliter  condi- 
disti  et  mirabilius  reformasti ;  da  qusesu- 
mus  ut  ejus  ejfficiamur  in  divina  consortes 
qui  nostrae  humanitatis  fieri  dignatus  est 
particeps  Christus  Filius  tuus.'  The 
Missal  alters  the  great  words  italicised 
into  'per  hujus  aquae  et  vini  mysterium 
ejus  divinitatis  esse.' 

Whichever  symbolism  be  accepted 
the  act  itself  of  w?«^//rt^  seems  not  to  be 
suitable  to  any  time  after  the  presenta- 
tion is  begun  by  placing  the  elements 
on  the  irpoOeffLS  or  credence,  or  at  any 
rate  after  their  removal  from  it  for  the 
oblation. 

^  Ep.  63 . 1 3 ' . . .  ut  quemadmodum  grana 
multa  in  unum  collecta  et  conmolita  et 
conmixta  panem  unum  faciunt,  sic  in 
Christo  qui  est  panis  cjelestis  unum 
sciamus  esse  corpus  cui  conjunctus  sit 


294     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

Nevertheless,  though  Cyprian  has  not  given  even  in  these 
words  a  declaration  on  the  subject,  yet  since  he  lays  down*  that 
'the  Lord's  sacrifice  is  not  celebrated  with  legitimate  conse- 
'  cration  except  pur  oblation  and  sacrifice  correspond  with  His 
'  Passion,'  and  as  '  legitimate  consecration'  is  assumed  to  consist 
in  doing  what  ourLorddid.preserving  the  tradition, representing 
the  Passion,  or  following  its  points  in  symbol,  we  are  compelled 
to  conclude  that,  although  he  allowed  that  the  blood  of  Christ 
was  received  through  communion  in  the  wine,  yet  he  would 
not  have  held  that  the  consecration  of  wine  without  water  was 
'legitimate,'  but  would  have  included  that  practice,  however 
long-standing  in  any  church,  under  the  category  of  Human 
Tradition  followed  in  place  of  Divine  Example  I 

Other  corollaries  of  a  not  unimportant  character  are 
immediately  inferrible  from  this  Letter-Treatise.  The  Com- 
munion of  the  Congregation  is  essential.  The  absence  of  the 
Congregation  prevents  the  Commemorative  Mixed  Chalice 
which  may  be  offered  in  the  Family  after  the  Evening  Meal 
from  being  anything  of  a  true  Dominicum. 

Again,  the  Morning  Hour  is  the  only  hour  at  which  the 
Resurrection'  (which  is  the  power  of  the  Eucharist)  can 
duly   be    celebrated ;    Christ    Himself    had    offered    in   the 

noster  numerus  et  adunatus.'  This  use  of  S.  Martin's  at  Tours.  'If  by 
image,  which  was  as  his  lovers  know  so  mistake  the  priest  has  consecrated  un- 
favourite and  constant  an  image  with  mixed  wine,  or  water  without  wine. 
Dean  Stanley,  is  the  most  antient  sym-  the  wine  is  held  to  be  sacrament,  but 
holism  we  have.  See  the  beautiful  not  the  water.'  It  seems  natural  that 
Eucharistic  prayer  in  the  Teaching  of  the  Monophysite  church  of  Armenia 
the  xii.  Apostles^  c.  9,  'ilffnep  rjv  tovto  (Martene)  should  consecrate  wine  only, 
[?  t6]  K\d(T/jLa  diecTKopiria-fiii'oi'  eirdvu  tQv  but  their  antiently  alleged  reason  was  a 
6pi<t>v  Kal  avvax^iv  iy^vero  ^v,  ovtw  aw-  passage  of  Chrysostom  Horn.  82  {83)  in 
ax9rir(j}  ffov  i}  eKKXijaia  dvb  rCiv  ireparuv  Mt.  26,  c.  2.  For  this  usage  they  were 
TTJs  yiji  elt  T7]v  C7]v  ^acriXelav.  Cf.  reproved  {with  a  proper  explanation  of 
Constt.  Apost.  vii.  c.  26  which  omits  their  Chrysostom)  in  the  32nd  canon  of 
€7ra»'w  Twi*  dp^wi/ and  has  efy  aproj  for  ^J*.  the  Quini  -  Sextine   Council  A.D.  692, 

^  Ep.  63.  10.  but  keep  it  still. 

2  Ep.  63.  14.     Baluze,  p.  477,  cites  ^  Ep.  63.  16. 
an  instructive  rubric  from  an   antient 


VI.  V.  RITUAL. — THE  AGE  OF   BAPTISM.  295 

Evening  solely  in  order  to  mark  the  close  of  the  old  order 
and  to  merge  the  Passover  Ritual  into  ours. 

Thus  in  the  Celebration  of  the  Eucharist  no  less  than 
in  the  Theory  of  Orders  points  arise  in  which  no  modern 
community  can  be  strictly  said  to  be  at  one  with  the 
Cyprianic  Church. 


2.     The  Age  of  Baptism. 

The  Ritual  of  another  Sacrament  was  also  now  coming  a.d.  253. 

into  the  field,  though  not  yet  in  all  its  import.    In  September  joog.* 

A.D.  253  or  late  in  the  summer  of  that  year^  it  was  considered  ^^^-  ^^P* 

safe  to  hold  the  Bishops'  meeting  omitted  at  Easter.     The  Vibius 

tumult   of  military  faction    and    perhaps    the   succession    ofoallus 

Valerian,  whose  household  is  described  as  a  '  Church  of  God  V  anusT^'^^" 

so  leavened  was  it  with    Christianity,  gave   this   breathing-  p°jl?^^^°^ 

space.     Sixty-six  bishops  met  in  Carthage.  11. 

rValeri- 
A    record    of  two  of  their  deliberations  is  preserved    in  ug?]  Maxi- 

their  letter  to  Fidus  a  Bishop.     He  had  found  it  in  his  heart  """^' 

to  petition  that  an  excommunication    prematurely  removed 

from  a  repentant  presbyter  might  be   renewed ^      He   also 

found  it  in  his  heart  to  request  that  a  canon  might  be  passed 

prohibiting  the  baptism  of  infants  under  eight  days  old.     The 

mind  of  the  Bishops,  Cyprian  replies,  was  '  far  other '  than  his  ; 

'  not  a  man  agreed  with  him';  they 'judged  that  God's  pity 

and  grace  could  be  denied  to  no  child  of  man.'     Fidus  shrank 

from  bestowing  the  Kiss  of  Peace  on  so  young  a  babe,  as  if  it 

were  yet  unclean.     Cyprian  replies  that  the  fresh  handiwork 

of  God  claims  only  deeper  reverence :   in  it  we  discern,  we 

kiss  His  own  creative  hands.     It  is  only  to  our  sight  that 

birth   begins  existence.     To  God  the  soul  has  lived  before. 

Judaic  forms  of  uncleanness  were  but  types,  and  are  for  ever 

1  The  date  of  Ep.   64  is  discussed  ^  Dion.  Al.  ap.  Eus.  vii.  10. 

p.  224.  '  Sup.  p.  231. 


296  EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND   ENERGY. 

at  an  end.  Perhaps  this  Eighth  Day  itself  had  been  assigned 
to  circumcision  in  order  to  give  to  a  carnal  rite  some  touch  of 
spiritual  association  with  the  Resurrection  Day,  the  First  of 
the  New  Week.  The  first  weeping  of  the  '  helpless  new-born 
babe '  sounded  to  the  heathen  like  a  foreboding  of  the  misery 
of  living,  to  the  Christian  ear  it  was  a  prayer  and  an  appeal. 
These  beautiful  thoughts  helped  the  straightforward 
reasoning  to  shatter  in  Christian  spirits  the  petty  pleas  of 
Fidus,  with  whatever  of  Judaizing  lay  behind  them. 

With  this  letter  in  his  hand\  at  Carthage  upon  S. 
Gaudentius'  day,  a  hundred  and  sixty  years  later,  in  the 
Basilica  where  lay  Perpetua  and  Felicitas^  Augustine  defen- 
ded against  Pelagius  the  principles  of  Infant  Baptism. 

And  we  may  remember  in  a  yet  earlier  essay  how  there 
can  be  nothing  broader  and  freer  than  Cyprian's  recognition 
that  Christian  Baptism  is  truly  a  re-assertion  of  our  human 
Childhood  and  Sonship  to  God.  "  A /I  who  by  the  hallowing 
"  force  of  baptism  come  to  the  gift  and  patritnony  of  God, 
"  there,  by  the  healthful  laver's  grace,  put  off  the  '  old  man,' 
"  are  remade  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  a  second  nativity  are 
"  cleansed  from  the  old  infectious  plague  spots'." 

^  Aug.   de   Gestis  Pelagii  xi.    §   2.5.  '  De  Habitu   Virgg.  23  '■Omnes  qui- 

See  also  contra  it.  Epistolas  Pelagg.  lib.  dem  qui  ad  divinum  munus  et  patri- 

IV.  c.  viii.  §  23.  monium    baptismi    sanctificatione    per- 

2  Basilica  Majoram  ?  Majorini  ?  Ma-  veniunt  hominem  illic  veterem  gratia 
jor.  The  MSs.  of  Victor  Vitensis  A^w/".  lavacri  salutaris  exponunt  et  innovati 
Persecut.  i.  3  have  Majorum,  except  W  Spiritu  Sancto  a  sordibus  contagionis 
(Vindobon.  sec.  xi.)  and  L  (Berolin.  sec.  antiques  iterata  nativitate  purgantur.' 
xii.),  but  Petschenig  has  thought  fit  to  ComY>3.rt  z\%o  De  Habitu  Virgg.  2 '^  scien- 
prefer  in  this  place  the  reading  of  these  tes  quod  templa  Dei  sint  membra  nostra 
two,  Majorevt.  The  titles  of  Aug.  ab  omni  fsece  contagionis  antiqucz  la- 
Sermm.  34  Ad  Major es  ax\d  165  and  294  vacri  vitalis  sanctificatione  purgata.' 
support  Majorum,  but  2 58  has  Majorem.  I  must  with  most  editions  and  seven  of 
It  is  impossible  not  to  remember  the  Baluze's  codices,  in  spite  of  S,  W,  D 
recently  explored  great  Basilica  of  Car-  and  Hartel,  maintain  patrimonium, 
thage  close  outside  the  walls,  with  its  which  Goldhorn  restores  and  Baluze 
nine  aisles,  its  large  bapti  tery  and  vast  (p.  533)  allows.  'Divinum  munus  et  pa- 
semicircular  narthex  and  tidobate  'mar-  trium'  is  not  Cyprianic  order  or  sense, 
tyrium.' 


VI.  V.  RITUAL. — THE   AGE  OF  BAPTISM.  29/ 


Objection  to  Council  III  on  account  of  its  Antipelagianism, 

It  has  been  ironically  observed  that  the  question  of  Fidus  'gives 
'  Cyprian  the  opportunity  of  making  a  thoroughly  antipelagian  dis- 
*  course' — a  wild  statement  and  misleading  to  those  incapable  of 
following  it  up.  The  letter  has  been  treated  as  spurious  on  the 
alleged  grounds,  first  that  it  resembles  the  later  Canon  cx  of  the 
African  Code,  and  secondly  that  its  language  shews  it  to  be  later  than 
the  Pelagian  controversy^. 

Now,  that  cxth  canon  is  against  those  who  object  to  Infant 
Baptism,  or  hold  it  to  be  a  sort  of  dramatic  fiction,  on  the  ground 
that  there  is  no  original  sin^. 

But  Fidus  has  not  a  word  either  for  or  against  the  doctrine  of 
Original  Sin.  He  approved  of  Infant  Baptism ;  only,  for  certain  small 
reasons,  not  till  the  infant  was  eight  days  old.  And  the  answer 
observes  that  besides  the  irrelevance  and  unkindness  of  his  ideas,  the 
innocent  child  was  at  least  as  worthy  of  acceptance  as  a  sin-laden 
man  :  a  not  very  antipelagian  doctrine. 

Then,  as  to  the  language ;  it  is  impossible  that  it  can  have  been 
penned  after  the  Pelagian  controversy.  There  is  not  one  technical 
term  in  it 3.  So  far  as  verbal  likeness  goes  the  Cyprianic  fathers 
might  have  almost  seemed  rather  against  the  Augustinian  thought. 
This  defines  original  sin  to  be  ^both  another's  and  our  own.'  They 
say  'The  sins  remitted  to  the  infant  are  the  sins  of  others,  not  his 
own.'  Thus  nothing  can  be  more  different  than  the  purview  of  the 
canon  and  the  epistle  except  the  language  itself;  and  while  no  forger 
after  the  controversy  could  have  helped  using  recognised  terms,  we 
have  in  the  language  of  Cyprian  just  the  clear  but  un technical  style 
which  marks  the  catholic  doctrine  in  an  age  prior  to  a  controversy*, 
but  which  cannot  perhaps  for  ages  afterward  be  recurred  to  as 
adequate  and  used  accordingly. 

^  Shepherd,  pp.  31,  32,  and  p.   11,  birth, 
letter  2.  ■*  Precisely  the  same  treatment  of  the 

2  irpoyoviK^    a/iaprla  — 6irep    ^\Kvaav  same  doctrines  with  the  same  freedom 

eK  TTjy  apxO'i-oyovlas.   Justel.  Cod.  Cann.  from  technicality  exists  in  the  tie  Op.  et 

Eccles.  Afric.  1 10.  Eleem.  and  de  Mortalit.  ap.  Aug.  Contra 

2  No  'Originale  Peccatum,'  'Pecca-  ii.  Epp.  Pelagg.  1.  I  v.  c.  viii.  §  21,  and 

turn  originis'  or  'Contagium  Peccati. '  seethe  list  of  ancient  authors  to  the  same 

Contagium  mortis  antiques  is  the  true  effect  quoted  by  Routh,  R.  S.  vol.  III. 

but  w«i'^£'^«jfa/ consequence  of  our  first  pp.  148,  9. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE   ROMAN   CHAIR. 


The  End  of  CORNELIUS. 

We  have  anticipated  by  three  months  at  Carthage  a  great 
change  which  had  occurred  at  Rome.  Cornelius  had  been 
suddenly^  banished  to  Centumcellae — that  Civita  Vecchia 
which  has  been  so  fateful  for  his  line.  The  first  intention  had 
been  to  isolate  him.  But  his  apprehension  was  the  signal  for 
a  crowd  of  the  Lapsed'^  to  revoke  and  expiate  their  Denial. 
They  thus  justified  Cyprian's  policy  of  penance  with  hope  of 
restitution'.  They  were  hurried  away  with  him  as  were  also 
the  Confessors  who  had  lately  escaped  to  him  from  the 
influence  of  Novatian.  Their  numbers  were  such  as  to  im- 
press at  least  themselves,  and  perhaps  the  government,  with 
the  idea  that,  if  they  had  been  so  minded,  they  might 
have  made  something  at  least  of  a  stand.  '  It  was  a  con- 
fessorship  of  the  whole  church  of  Rome^'  Such  an  exile 
then  was  a  happy  reunion  of  extreme  factions,  and  breathing 

^  Repentinapersecutio...saecularis  po-  gloria  donnicionem  accepit.'     There  is 

testas  subito  proruperit,  Ep.  6i.  3.    Cf.  no  ground  for   accepting   Lipsius'   al- 

^.  60.  2 'quasi  minus  paratoset  minus  teration   to  pulsus,    p.    123.      On   the 

cautos. '  contrary  a  banishment  on  a  large  scale 

*  Quot  illic  Lapsi  gloriosa  confessione  is  intended,  such  as  C)^rian  describes, 

sunt  restituti... nee  jam  stare  ad  criminis  ^  Ipso   dolore   psenitentiae    facti    ad 

veniam  sed  ad  passionis  coronam,  Ep.  proelium  fortiores,  Ep.  60.  2. 

60.  2.     Confessorem  populum,  ibid.  i.  *  Adversarius  ...  intellexit  ...  Christi 

CoTapare the LiderianCata^ogT^e,'... con-  milites...nec  repugnare  contra  impug- 

fessores  qui  se  separaverunt  a  Comelio  nantes,  cum  occidere  innocentibus  nee 

cum  Maximo  presbytero,  qui  cum  Moyse  nocentera   liceat,    Ep.  60.   2.    Ecclesia 

fuit,   ad  ecclesiam  sunt   reversi.     Post  omnis  Romana  confessa,  .^.  60.  i. 
hoc   Centumcellis    expulsi.      Ibi  cum 


VII.  I.  THE   END  OF  CORNELIUS.  299 

this  consolation   Cornelius   died  '  with   glory '  in   June  A.D. 

253'. 

The  Antipope  was  too  inconspicuous  to  the  Magistracy 
to  be  in  danger.  In  Cyprian's  eyes  his  immunity  otherwise 
unexplained  ought  to  have  been  to  him  evidence  of  his 
Divine  rejection.  Quid  ad  hcec  Novatianusf  The  outburst 
was  the  open  seal  of  heaven's  favour  and  hell's  hostility  to  the 
true  priest  and  people,  and  was  clearly  designed  for  this  very 
end'. 

Cornelius  has  been  ranked  as  a  martyr  by  the  church  of 
Rome  since  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  and  his  festival 
kept  with  Cyprian's  on  the  14th  of  September.  The  state- 
ment is  first  found  in  Jerome^  that  'they  suffered  on  the 
same  day  though  not  in  the  same  year.' 

In  the  contemporary  sense  of  the  word  a  Martyr  he  was, 
as  dying  in  exile*.  Cyprian  who  in  writing  to  him  speaks  of 
his  'glorious  witness,'  afterward  speaks  of  him  and  Lucius 
(who  was  not  a  martyr  either  in  our  sense  of  the  word)  as 

^  That  the  month  of  his  decease  must  Abraham,  a.d.  253 — 4  (Lipsius,  op.  cit. 

have  been  June  is  shewn  above  (chap.  p.  210).     This  is  a  strictly  independent 

II.  p.  127  note).    Pearson  (who  is  how-  testimony  in  support  of  the  most  accu- 

ever  misled  by  the  traditional  A/^^w^^r  rate   catalogues   which,    giving   to   his 

of  his    legendary  martyrdom)    argues  seat   2   years   3  months   and   10  days, 

justly  that  the  events  and  changes  which  bring  the  year  of  his  death  to  253  A.D. 

occurred  after  May  15,  252,  and  before  Jerome   makes   the   strange   statement 

his  death  could  not  have  been  crowded  '  Rexit  ecclesiam   sub   Gallo    Volusiano 

into    the  June  of  252 — viz.  the    ordi-  duobus  annis.'    De  Viris  III.  66. 
nation  of  Fortunatus,  his  voyage,  re-  Pearson    {Anna/.    Cypr.    252,    xiii.) 

jection  and  fresh  attempt,  with  all  the  accuses  the  Roman  Breviary  of  placing 

letters  which  passed  between  Cyprian  his  death  under   Decius.     At  present 

and  Cornelius,  the  latter  in  security  at  however   it   reads    Gallo   et    Volusiano 

Rome,  the  former  in  daily  expectation  consulibus     which     though     incorrect 

of  death.      Again  Dionysius   of  Alex-  is   Pearson's  own.     He  relied   on   the 

andria  mentions  in  a  letter  to  Cornelius  faulty    (Lipsius,   op.  cit.  p.   209)    con- 

the  death  of  Fabius  of  Antioch,   and  sular  list  of  the  Liberian  Catalogue, 
the  consecration  of  his  successor  Deme-  -  Ep.  60.  3.     Ep.  61.  3  'tota  cordis 

trian.    (Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  46.)    According  luce  perspicimus,  &c.' 
to  the  Chronicle  of  Eusebius  this  was  ^  j)g  yifj^  ///.  ^c.  66,  67. 

in    the    consulship    of    Valerian    and  *  Sup.  p.  91. 

Gallienus  I.,  or  in  the  year  2272  after 


300 


THE  ROMAN   CHAIR. 


'planted  together  in  glorious  martyrdom,'  and  again  styles 
him  a  Blessed  Martyr*. 

However,  these  terms  are  familiar  enough  to  us  as  used  of 
living  prisoners  or  exiles,  and  by  no  early  authority  is  he  said 
to  have  been  put  to  death.  His  name  is  not  on  the  Liberian 
martyr-roll,  nor  yet  in  the  Deposition  of  Bishops.  All 
accords  with  the  more  modest  antient  record  '  There  with 
glory  he  took  sleep^'  His  remains  were  carried  to  Rome, 
and  were  laid  near  to  the  older  bishops  but  not  among  them'. 
He  rested  amid  the  ashes — so  it  must  seem — of  his  patrician 
house*,  and  with  his  name  cut  in  Latin,  and  not  like  his 
predecessors  in  Greek®. 

Salonina,  the  wife  of  Gallienus,  whom  his  father  Valerian 
immediately  associated  with  himself,  in  this*  October  was 
both  a  Cornelia  and  a  Christian  ^     We  might  without  over- 


^  .£)>/.  60  init.;  68. 5;  61.3;  67.  6;  69. 3. 

2  Mommsen,  op.  cit.  p.  636. 

^  The  old  Salzburg  traveller  notices 
this.     Rossi,  R.  S.  i.  p.  180. 

*  See  Northcote  and  Brownlow, 
Roma  Sotterranea  I.  pp.  352 — 363. 

^  Sup.  p.  124.  Rossi,  Roma  Sotter- 
ranea, torn.  I.  p.  274  ff.,  tav.  iv.,  2. 
All    before    him    and    those    for    fifty 


years  later  down  to  Eutychian  are 
Greek  like  their  liturgy. 

8   Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.  viil.  i.  2482. 

"^  Of  the  many  coins  of  Cornelia 
Salonina  some  remarkable  types  have 
on  the  obverse  her  throned,  sceptred 
figure,  holding  in  her  right  hand  an  olive 
branch,  and  with  the  legend  avgvsta 
IN  PACE. 


This  In  Pace  is  elsewhere  absolutely 
limited  to  Christian  memorials.  Other 
coins  of  hers  bear  common  types.  But 
it  is  observable  that  though  her  husband 
Gallienus  was  much  given  to  coinage 
'  Consecrations '  of  his  predecessors 
and  of  his  family  except  of  Valerian, 
there  is  no  pagan  apotheosis  of  Salo- 
nina.   De  Witte,  who  first  commented 


on  this  type  and  assumed  it  to  be  later 
than  Salonina's  death,  doubted  this  after 
finding  it  in  two  large  hoards  of  coins 
issued  apparently  not  later  than  a.d. 
265,  Did.  Christ.  Antiq.  'Money'; 
Stevenson,  Diet.  Rom.  Coins,  p.  711. 
The  doubt  is,  I  suppose,  because  of  the 
incident  of '  the  Empress's '  danger  in  a.d. 
268  at  the  Siege  of  Milan.    C.  W.  King 


VII.  I.  THE   END  OF  CORNELIUS.  3OI 

boldness  perhaps  conjecture  that  such  a  princess  was  not 
unconcerned  in  the  locality  or  the  adornment  of  his  repose. 

This  chamber  is  said  in  a  later  story  to  have  been  first 
prepared  for  him  in  a  crypt  on  her  own  estate,  on  the  Appian 
Way,  hard  by  the  cemetery  of  Callistus,  by  the  lady  Lucina 
called  afterwards  the  Blessed,  who  was  also  incorrectly  said 
to  have  aided  Cornelius  himself  in  laying  the  body  of  S.  Peter 
in  the  Vatican  and  of  S.  Paul  on  the  Ostian  Way.  But  it  was 
delicately  done,  whoever  brought  to  his  side  in  death  the 
Presbyter  and  Confessor  Maximus  whom  Cornelius  had 
brought  back  to  the  Catholic  Church  in  life\  The  sepulchre 
of  Cornelius  '  is  with  us  to  this  day,'  still  rich  in  architectural 
appointments  and  shewing  trace  of  some  grand  sarcophagus 
to  which  his  bones  had  been  transferred  from  a  simpler  but 
not  unnotable  grave. 

We  may  add  that  in  the  fourth  century  Damasus  in  his 
last  illness  opened  the  old  chapel  more  to  the  light  and  began 
a  staircase  for   pilgrims'"'.     Injured  by  Lombard  invaders  it 

does  not  see  why  she  should  be  supposed  them  '  trientes  Saloninianos  trecentos ' 

to  have  been  then  alive  {Early  Christ-  perhaps  of  his  Empress,  perhaps  of  his 

ian  Numismatics,  p.  47)  but  I  think  he  son  (Treb.  Poll.  Claud.  17). 

cannot  have  noticed  that  incident;  for  1  Sup.  page  161.     Rossi,  Roma  Sot- 

Zonaras  vi'ould  be  worse  than  he  is  if  he  terr.  torn.  i.  p.  291,  tav.  xix.  5.    Lucina, 

did  not  mean  to  connect  it  with  that  a  rare  surname,  is  found  in  the  Cornelian 

siege.     But  on  the  other  hand  it  seems  gens.     Rossi,  R.  S.  t.  i.  p.  314. 

to  me  not  impossible  that  Pipara,  his  ^  Aspice  descensu  exstructo  tenebris- 

German princess, 'quamperditedilexit,'  que  fugatis 

and  in  honour  of  whom  he  and  his  court  Cornell  monumenta  vides  tumulumque 

wore  their  hair  yellow  (Treb.  PoUio,  Gal-  sacratum. 

lieni  duo   c.  21),  may  have  been  the  Hoc    opus    segroti    Damasi   prsestantia 

BatriXKrcra  of  this  camp-story.     At  any  fecit, 

rate,  whether  in  life  or  death,  Salonina's  Esset    ut   accessus   melior,    populisque 

is  a  Christian  legend,  without  pressing  paratum 

the   MS.    on  some  of  the  exergues    to  Auxilium  Sancti,  et  valeas  si  fundere 

mean   Memoruz   Sancta.     Other   indi-  puro 

cations  of  a  Christian  influence  on  this  Corde  preces,  Damasus  melior  consur- 

incomprehensible  emperor  occur  in  the  gere  posset 

text.  Quern  non  lucis  amor  tenuit  mage  cura 

Gallienus  once  sent  a  mass  of  valu-  laboris. 

ables    to    propitiate    Claudius,    among  This  recovery,  from  several  fragments 


302 


THE  ROMAN  CHAIR. 


lq  ^  Milt.  1,1  mi?iP%'nr^Jt}'  Mf 


J 


VII.  I.  THE  END   OF   CORNELIUS.  303 

was  restored  by  Leo  III.  in  the  ninth  century,  and  then  the 
tall  commanding  figures  of  the  brotherly  Cornelius  and 
Cyprian  were  painted  on  its  walls  \ 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  led  a  little  aside  by  what  has 
been  of  undying  interest  to  so  many  generations.  But  to 
return  to  the  facts  of  Cornelius'  death  and  burial.  The 
inferences  from  them  are  clear  enough.  Dying  quietly  at 
Civita  Vecchia  his  death-day  had  for  a  time  no  very  marked 
commemoration.  When  a  festival  was  sought  for  him  as  a 
Martyr  he  was  conjoined  with  his  friend  and  brother  Cyprian 
whose  day  had  been  long  observed  at  Rome.  For  so,  without 
any  mention  of  Cornelius,  Cyprian's  actual  death-day  appears 
in  the  Kalendar  of  A.D.  354. 

'  Fourteenth  of  September,  commemoration  of  Cyprian, 
Africa.     It  is  kept  at  Rome  in  the  cemetery  of  Calistus^' 

and   from  Damasus'    familiar   tags,    of  bratur  to  be  a  corruption  of   Corneli. 

the  original  inscription  placed  over  the  To' such  lengths  will  determined  critics 

tomb  at  Damasus'  restoration  is  one  of  even   now  proceed.     The   unfortunate 

De  Rossi's  most  ingenious  and  perfect  suggestion  is  borrowed  apparently  from 

triumphs.     R.  S.  I.  p.  289 — 291.  Muratori,  Lit.  Rom.  Vet.  I,  col.  39,  n.  c. 

^  Rossi,  R.  S.  t.  I.  tav.  vi.  (See  Appendix  on   S.  Cyprian's  Day, 

-  A.D.  354  'xviii.  Kl.  Octob.  Cy-  p.  610.) 

PRIANI   Africa  Rom^  celebratur  The  Felician  Catalogue  says  Cornelius 

IN  Calisti.'  was  beheaded  at  the  Temple  of  Mars, 

With  extraordinary  violence  Rossi  and  gives  the  story  of  Lucina,  of  which 
wishes  to  insert  Corneli  in  Calisti  be-  the  untruth  will  appear  in  the  history  of 
fore  the  name  of  Cyprian,  and  Momm-  Xystus.  This  catalogue  is  accordingly 
sen  [Abkand.  d.k.  S.Ges.d.  Wissensch.  obliged  to  omit  the  older  words  'Ibi 
II.  p.  633,  note  I,  iiber  den  Chrono-  cum  gloria  dormicionem  accepit.'  Lip- 
graph  vom  Jah.  354)  would  take  cele-  sius,  op.  cii.  pp.  125,  275. 


304  THE  ROMAN   CHAIR. 

II. 

The  Sitting  of  LUCIUS. 

The  whole  chronology  with  its  perplexities  is  unravelled 
by  this  disengagement  of  the  decease  of  Cornelius  from  its 
liturgical  connection  with  the  fourteenth  of  September,  and 
its  certain  replacement,  in  June  A.D.  253.  A  few  days  may 
perhaps  be  assumed  to  have  elapsed  before  the  twenty-fifth  of 
that  same  month,  on  or  near  to  which  his  successor  Lucius 
came  to  the  Chair  for  a  brief  eight  months  and  ten  days\ 

He  was  immediately  banished^  though  without  depriva- 
tion of  property  or  rights',  and  directly  afterwards  recalled  or 
allowed  to  return  ;  with  him  came  home  apparently  the  great 
mass  of  exiles.  Whether  this  was  some  experiment  in  the 
working  of  terror  and  leniency,  or  whether  it  was  a  result  of 
the  divided  sentiments  of  the  imperial  households  we  cannot 
tell.  Valerian  became  severely  anti-Christian,  but  we  have 
just  seen  that  Salonina,  the  wife  of  his  son  Gallienus,  who  at 
this  juncture,  succeeded  with  him  to  the  honours  of  Consul, 
Imperator,  Csesar  and  Augustus,  was  probably  a  Christian 
and  of  the  same  great  house  as  the  last  Bishop;  and  Gallienus 
in  his  rescript  of  toleration  published  when  he  began  to  reign 
alone  in  A.D.  261*,  speaks  of  having  already  long  ago  made 
concessions  to  the  Christians. 

^  Cyprian's  solitary  letter  to  Lucius  ^Nogroundforstatingthathehadbeen 

^Ep.  61)  indicating  only  one  other,  and  also  previously  banished  with  Cornelius, 

this  lately  written  and  anticipating  mar-  ^  Relegationem...relegatus    {Ep..  6i. 

tyrdom    for   him  besides,  would  mark  i),  used  unquestionably  with  precision 

the  pontificate  as  probably  short.     But  by  the  Old  Legist. 

Lipsius  has  shewn   independently  that  *  Clinton,  Fasti  Romani,  vol.  I.  pp. 

the    'iii    years'    which    the    Liberian  286,7.    Euseb.  A^.^.  vii.  13 'The  relief 

chronologist  prefixes  to  his  '  viii  months  was  to  be  universal :  they  are  not  to  be 

and  X  days'  is   a  mere   blunder,   and  kept  out  of  their  places  of  worship  (dir6 

that  Eusebius  H.  E.  vii.  2  a"?<^'  ^'  "'^5'  Tdiruy  t€iv  dprjcrKevai/Mwv) :  they  may  ex- 

oXots  ovTos  6ktu...  is  right.    Lipsius,  op.  hibitastheirwarrantthisformofrescript: 

«V.  p.  210.  The  Felician  Cat.  has  'sedit  no  one  is  to  molest  them  :  /oat  rovro  Sirep 

annos  iii  menses  iii  dies  iii.'  Kara  rd  i^bv  dCivarai.  v<p'  vfiCiv  avoiirXri- 


VII.  II.  THE  SITTING  OF  LUCIUS.  305 

Certainly  the  persecution  was  not  supposed  to  be  over 
with  Lucius'  recall.  Cyprian  had  visions  of  coming  evil  and 
tells  him  that  he  may  and  ought  to  expect  to  be  *  immolated 
before  the  eyes  of  the  brethren '  in  Rome.  The  Church  was 
itself  unaware  of  the  reason  of  the  change;  and  long  after- 
wards referred  it  simply  to  the  'will  of  GodV  just  as  Cyprian, 
at  the  moment,  referred  it  to  the  favour  of  God  investing  his 
episcopate  at  once  with  Confessorship.  He  pictures  his 
return  as  a  scene  of  such  joy  that  it  was  a  foretaste  of  Christ's 
near  return '^j  and  Lucius  the  likeness  of  His  forerunner. 

More  than  this  is  not  to  be  known  of  his  character. 
Cyprian  seems  to  write  to  him  as  to  a  manly  kind  of  person, 
but  it  would  be  pressing  his  phrases  too  far  to  be  sure 
that  they  describe  the  person  rather  than  the  protective  office. 

An  early  ritual  tradition  ascribes  to  him  the  '  precept ' 
that  the  bishop  of  Rome  should  be  accompanied  in  every 
place  by  two  presbyters  and  three  deacons^;  a  tradition  which 
perhaps  echoes  some  facts  of  his  exile. 

But  what  is  most  important  is  that,  in  his  view  as  to  the 
right  treatment  of  the  Lapsed  and  their  restoration  after 
penance  to  peace  and  communion,  he  was  at  one  with  his 
predecessor  Cornelius, — that  is  firmly  against  Novatian  and 
with  Cyprian — and  that  he  had  issued  documents  upon  that 
subject*. 

On  the  5th  of  the  following  March  he  was  laid  beside 
Fabian  in  the  cemetery  of  Callistus.     The  day  is  given  us  in  Mar.  5, 

A.D.  254. 

A.U.C. 

podffdai     r)5ri     irpo     iroWov     vir'     ifioO  est.     Catal.  Felic:   Hie   in  exilio   fuit  1007. 

avyKex.(^p-nTai.'      C.    W.   King,    Early  postea  natudi  incolomis.                              ^°"-  ^'"P- 

Chr.  Niimis.  p.  47,  interprets  /card  t6  ^  Cyprian   seems   to   be  rhetorically 

k^hv  'according  to   what  was  right' —  betrayed  into  this  unfit  image  simply 

but  I  do  not   see   the   point  of  that,  from  having  used   the   word   adventus 

and    would    suggest    that    the    clause  twice.     Ep.  61.  4. 

may    mean    'what    you    may   perform  '  Hie  precepit  ut  duo  prisbi  et  in 

in  accordance  with  this  leave,  I  have  diaconi   in   omni   loco    cum    epo   non 

conceded  practically  long  since.'  desererent.     Catal.  Felic. 

^  Catal.  Liber. :  Hie  exul  fuit  et  postea  ■*  Litteris  suis  signaverunt,  Ep.  68.  5. 
nutu  dei  incolumis  ad  eeelesiam  reversus 

B.  20 


3o6 


THE  ROMAN  CHAIR. 


Cses.  P. 

Licinius 
Valerianus 
Pius  Felix 
Aug,  II. 
Imp.  Cses. 
P.  Licinius 
Egnatius 
Gallienus 
Pius  Felix 
Aug. 


the  entombment-list  not  of  martyrs  but  of  bishops'.  His 
original  sepulchral  slab  with  Greek  characters,  and  no  mention 
of  martyrdom,  adds  simply  the  most  interesting  of  the 
examples  of  the  vulgar  termination,  common  in  Greek,  Jewish, 
or  Graecizing-Latin  Inscriptions  during  the  third  century,  but 
almost  extinct  before  the  end  of  the  fourth*. 


The  incidents  of  the  last  few  pages,  difficult,  and  almost 
fretful,  for  criticism  to  elicit  and  to  combine  with  so 
much  certainty,  will  not  seem  trivial  to  those  who  perceive 
through  them,  how  firm  and  subtle  were  'the  new  threads 
which  were  now  being  drawn  through  all  society,  securing 
the  allegiance  of  imperial  antient  houses,  drawing  to  the 
centre    of    influence    men    who    had    not    even    a    family 


1  III  NoN.  Mar.  Luci  in  Calisto. 
Mommsen,  op.  cit.  p.  631.  Ill  NON. 
Mar.  cons.  ss.  Catal.  Liber.  Lipsius, 
op.  cit.  p.  267.  The  Liberian  list  is 
not  only  wrong  in  carrying  this  date 
into  the  3rd  consulship  of  Valerian  and 
2nd  of  Gallienus  (a.d.  2 5 5)  under  whom 
it  puts  down  also  the  death  of  Stephanus 
over  four  years  later,  but  irreconcilable 
with  its  own  date  of  3  years  8  months 
10  days  which  it  counts  firom  Callus  II. 
Volusian  I.  (a.d.  251). 

2  We    have    AITOPIC   a.d.    263, 


AYPHAIC  temp.  Anton.  P.  From 
the  Jewish  cemetery  at  Rome  TA I C, 
KACTPIKIC,  ACTEPIC,  NOY- 
A\  E  N  I Z.  Ritschl  by  such  examples 
as  Cizcilis,  Clodis  shews  it  not  to  have 
been  a  wholly  modem  corruption, 
and  thinks  it  archaic.  The  latest  in- 
stances we  have  are  TAPACIC  A.D, 
461,  and  OYPANIC  vith  or  viith. 
cent.  Rossi,  R.  S.  vol.  11.  pp.  66,  8, 
From  Felician  Catalogue,  Lipsius,  p. 
275,  quotes  CORNILIS. 


VIL  III.  STEPHANUS.  307 

name,  knitting  together  classes  that  had  been  apart  since 
Roman  law  began ; — how  a  new  moral  magistracy  grappled 
with  the  sins  which  underlay  crimes  ; — how  possible  it  was  to 
fall  out  of  such  an  association,  and  then — how  men  would 
give  all  things — health,  wealth,  connection,  honours — to  be 
restored  to  it. 


III. 

Stephanus. 
The  Church  not  idetttified  with  or  represented  by  Rome. 

Cyprian's  relations  with  Rome  soon  afterwards  underwent 
a  great  change.  It  takes  effort  to  view  with  candid  and  clear 
vision,  so  as  to  see  them  in  their  first  meaning,  such  facts  and 
expressions  as  controversies  have  since  coloured  and  shaded. 
Yet  the  truth  is  that  what  was  confused  and  beclouded  while 
nothing  but  amity  existed  was  made  distinct  by  variances. 
The  dignity  of  the  Roman  See  was  in  Cyprian's  eyes  that  of 
an  inherited  precedency  and  presidency,  and  not  due  merely 
to  the  fact  that,  if  Carthage  was  the  second  city  of  the  world, 
Rome  was  its  mistress \ 

But  that  even  its  more  moderate  claims  to  spiritual 
supremacy  are  a  doctrine  unknown  to  Cyprian  is  evidenced, 
as  we  have  seen,  by  the  definite  alterations  which  Roman 
divines  have  introduced  into  his  language  and  maintain 
there^ 

Exemplifications  of  his  real  theory  are  '  writ  large '  in  his 
corrections  of  the  successor  of  Lucius.  Long  before  the  bitter- 
ness of  theological  difference  arose  between  them,  in  dealing 
with  moral  cases  of  Lapse,  we  had  to  look  onward,  and  we 
saw  how  the  church  of  Africa  received  appeals  against  two 

^  Milman  and  others  assign  rather  too  ^  See  a  very  profligate  blazon  of  that 

much  weight  to  this.     Cf.  Ep.  59.  14.       theory  as  a  historic  fact  in  Freppel,  pp. 
See  pp.  195,  196  above.  128 — 130  and  218 — 20. 

20 — 2 


308  THE   ROMAN   CHAIR. 

ecclesiastical  judgments  of  the  Roman  Bishop  and  reversed 
them*.  Presently  we  shall  find  him  admonished  of  his  duty 
toward  a  Novatianist  and  desired  to  transmit  an  account  of 
his  discharge  of  it  to  Carthage*.  The  Christian  world  con- 
temned his  arrogance,  while  it  confirmed  his  practice  in 
Baptism.  Modern  Rome  outdoes  his  pretensions  and  freely 
uses  the  Rebaptism  he  rightly  condemned. 

It  might  at  first  sight  seem  as  if  only  one  common  link 
could  hold  together  alliances  so  inconsistent  with  each  other, 
alliances  with  Lapsed,  with  Novatianists,  who  stood  equally 
aloof  from  Lapsed  and  from  Heretics,  and  with  the  Heretics 
themselves, — a  consistent  opposition  to  Cyprian.  It  might 
seem  as  if  nothing  but  uniform  contravention  of  Cyprian's 
policy  in  its  three  branches  could  evolve  such  variety.  Ste- 
phen might  wish  to  abolish  out  of  Rome  the  influence  to 
which  his  predecessor  had  yielded  ;  Cyprian's  Petrine  unity, 
he  might  say,  was  but  theoretical,  his  practical  Episcopal 
unity  threatened  the  Roman  unity.  But  if  he  could  force 
Cyprian  into  opposition  to  his  See  and  its  Traditions,  that 
Petrine  theory  of  his  would  serve  to  put  Cyprian  in  the 
wrong,  and  leave  him  on  his  own  shewing  no  better  than  a 
Novatianist'. 

But  mortal  opponency  surely  never  ran  so  wild  a  length. 
At  any  rate,  of  this  low  subtlety  there  is  no  appearance  on 
the  part  of  Stephen.  Indeed  at  Rome,  where  Cornelius  was 
so  much  more  of  a  presence  than  Cyprian,  the  effect  to 
the  eye  of  the  Church  would  be  that  of  an  onslaught  upon 
Cornelius  and  his  councils  rather  than  on  Cyprian.  Besides 
it  had  virtually  been  Cornelius  who  modified  Cyprian's  puri- 
tanism.  When  Stephen  restored  peccant  bishops  he  was 
following  Callistus ;  when  he  condemned  Rebaptism  he  was 
appealing  to  tradition  older  than  Callistus^    In  all  the  letters 

*  Pp.  233,  234  above.    Ep.  67.  *  Hippolytus,    adv.   omnes  Hcereses, 

2  Ep.  68.  ix.  12,  cf.  7. 

3  So  Ritschl. 


VII.  III.  STEPHANUS.  309 

to  and  about  him  Cyprian  never  writes  as  if  Stephen  were 
making  capital  out  of  his  own  Petrine  unity ;  he  repeats  the 
theory*.  He  shews  no  consciousness  that  his  view  of  episco- 
pal unity  is  disputed  or  is  likely  to  be  disputed  by  Stephen. 
He  strongly  states'  his  conviction  of  the  truth  and  antiquity 
of  the  African  discipline,  but  acknowledges  in  Stephen  as 
in  other  bishops  the  right  and  the  responsibility  of  differing. 
Thus  there  is  no  trace  of  that  diplomacy  with  which  Stephen 
is  ingeniously  credited  by  moderns :  nor  yet  of  the  mere 
obstinacy  of  which  he  is  accused  by  his  contemporary'. 

The  business  of  history  is  not  to  be  reviving  blots  which 
have  faded  from  the  world's  mind,  but  to  mark  and  trace  all 
life  which  was  ever  true  and  all  truth  which  ever  lives. 

Our  material  is  sufficient  to  indicate  that  from  the  first 
Stephen  had  no  leaning  towards  rules  which  his  predecessors 
and  Cyprian  had  laid  down  for  themselves.  His  temper 
(which  so  often  corresponds  to,  even  if  it  does  not  interpret, 
a  policy)  was  that  of  a  man  averse  to  strictness,  and  severe 
only  with  those  who  wished  to  see  him  so.  His  policy  may 
be  characterized  as  roughly  anti-Novatianist  or  anti-puritan, 
and  in  Cyprian  himself  there  was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  under- 
tint of  Puritanism  not  invisible  to  Stephen,  whose  ruling  that 
a  lapsed  or  a  perjured  bishop  might,  without  over  severe 
conditions,  resume  his  see,  or  even  a  Novatianist  retain  his, 
were  strong  anti-Novatianist  examples  of  tolerance.  But  in 
fact  he  may  be  rather  said  to  have  inaugurated,  or  at  least 
to  have  been  an  early  type  of  the  regular  Roman  policy  of 
comprehension  on  easy  terms  saving  as  to  the  one  article 
of  submission :  ready  in  Spain  to  restore  semi-pagans  to  the 
Episcopate  ;  ready  in  Gaul  to  uphold  the  harshest  repeller  of 
penitents ;  ready  anywhere  to  receive  Marcionites  without  Bap- 
tism to  Communion.  And  although  the  issue  of  his  long  severe 
Baptismal  controversy  with  Cyprian  has  been  determined  by 
the  Church  catholic  in  Stephen's  sense ;  although  the  practice 

^  Ep.  73.  7.  ^  Ep.  72.  I.  *  Ep.  75.  2,  6,  17. 


3IO  THE   ROMAN   CHAIR. 

he  maintained  has  been  accepted  as  true  wisdom  and  true 
charity;  although  Cyprian's  theory  has  been  rejected  as 
well-nigh  unchristian,  yet  few  moral  triumphs  have  equalled 
the  ascendency  of  the  vanquished  Carthaginian.  It  arose 
solely  upon  the  nobility  of  tone,  the  magnanimous  gentleness, 
the  postponement  of  self  to  the  Church,  in  which  he  con- 
ducted his  unhappy  cause.  The  never  broken  veneration 
entertained  for  him  is  an  answer  to  the  calumny  that  theolo- 
gians cannot  forgive  an  opponent,  or  spare  the  memory  of 
the  defeated.  It  was  the  victorious  Stephen  who  did  not 
recover  the  shock  of  that  conflict.  While  Cyprian  and 
Cornelius  are  companion  saints  in  Kalendar  and  Collect ^ 
beside  the  altar  of  the  Catacomb'  and  in  the  mosaic  heaven 
of  the  Basilica',  Stephen  rested  for  centuries  in  the  unpraised 
silence  into  which  Pontius*  dismisses  him.  Not  until  in  the 
ninth  century  a  catacomb  yielded  a  marble  chair  with  an 
inscription  over  an  unnamed  martyr  pope,  did  the  church  of 
Rome  assign  saintship  to  Stephanus'  disengaged  name.  How 
he  has  lost  both  chair  and  legend  again  will  be  narrated 
hereafter. 

Jeremy  Taylor  sets  an  uncharitable  seal  to  the  popular 
church  view  of  his  'uncharitableness.  Stephen  was  accounted 
a  zealous  and  furious  person V  Still  we  need  not  forget 
that  his  portrait  is  made  up  of  traits  etched  in  scraps  by 
the  pen  of  an  adversary,  and  that  he  was  not  solitary  (as 
Florentius  evinces)  in  his  aversion  to  the  power  which 
Cyprian   was    now  wielding*.     Dionysius   the   Great   makes 

^  Leonian   Sacramentary,  Muratori,  ^  See  Rossi  as  above,  pp.  302,  3. 

Liturg.   Rom.    Vet.   torn.   I.   col.   404  ;  ^  As  at  Ravenna  in  S.  Martinus  in 

Gelasian  Sacramentary,  c.  668;  Gelasian  Caelo  Aureo  (afterwards  S.  Apollinare 

Kalendar,    c.    49;    Gregorian    Sacra-  Nuovo); 

mentary,  t.  11.  c.  119;  Gothic  Missal,  *  Without  mentioning    Stephen    he 

t.    II.    p.    629,   an    entirely    dififerent  markedly  proceeds  '  lam  de  Xysto  bono 

office  for  Cornelius  and  Cyprian,  but  et  pacifico  sacerdote.'    Pont.  Vit.  c.  14. 

still    together.     On    the   variations   of  "  Of  Heresy  22,  Liberty  of  Prophe- 

the  day  here  and  in  other  rituals,  see  sying,  vol.  v.  p.  396  (ed.  Eden,  1853). 

Appendix,  p.  610.  *  Ep.  6()  Florentio  Puppiano. 


VII.  III.  STEPHANUS.  311 

thankful  mention  of  his  liberality  to  the  churches  of  Syria 
and  Arabia*;  and  to  Vincent  of  Lerins*  there  floated  across 
two  centuries  a  tradition  of  modesty  as  well  as  zeal,  of  faith 
as  well  as  dignity'. 

It  was  about  the  twelfth  of  May,  A.D.  254*,  when  Stephen  May  12, 
succeeded  to  the  Chair  of  Lucius.  Cyprian's  first  extant  ^^'^' 
letter  to  him  was  not  so  much  in  a  tone  of  equality  as  in  the 
spirit  of  direction,  if  not  of  dictation.  He  anticipates  no 
differences,  but  plainly  expects  to  be  on  the  same  terms  with 
him  as  had  existed  with  Cornelius.  His  language  is  rather 
peremptory,  but  with  a  peremptoriness  which  feels  it  may 
reckon  on  compliance. 

In  the  next  letter  Cyprian  has  already  given  Stephen  up. 
He  makes  a  faint  apology  for  him  on  the  ground  of  his 
'  unacquaintedness  with  the  facts  and  truth '  of  the  case, 
makes  allowance  for  his  '  inattention  V  and  proceeds  to  lay 
down  principles  and  give  directions  in  absolute  reversal  of 
Stephen's. 

Elsewhere®  we  have  given  the  outline  of  the  heathenish 
Lapse  of  two  Bishops  in  Spain  and  of  the  action  taken  about 
them.  We  reserved  till  now  a  consideration  of  the  principles 
that  reveal  themselves  in  that  intercourse  of  churches  or 
dioceses.     We  must  enter  a  little  more  into  detail. 

I.      T/ze  Spanish  Appeal. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  Stephen  on  the  personal  ap- 
plication   of  Basilides  gave  judgment  that  such  men  as  he 

^  Eus.  H.  E.  vii.  5.  bishop,  a  true  member  of  a  true  line. 

2  Vine.  Lirin.  Commonit.  I.  6.  *  Lipsius,  op.  cit.  p.  214. 

'  Tillemont,  vol.   iv.,  p.  32,  quotes  '  Ritschl's  view  that  Ep.  68  is  earlier 

Augustine  de  unico  Bapt.  c.  Petil.  14  as  than  67  is  just.     There  is  no  mistaking 

averring  that  the  Donatists   confessed  the  change   of  tone  towards   Stephen 

Stephen's 'administration' to  have  been  from   an   affectionate   confidence   to   a 

'sans  reproche';  'gessisse  episcopatum  self-restrained  coldness.     Afterwards  it 

illibatum.'    This  may  only  mean  that  was  exasperated, 

they  admitted   him   to   be  a  genuine  '  P.  233  above. 


312  THE  ROMAN  CHAIR. 

and  Martial  should  on  recantation  be  restored  to  their  sees'. 
The  church  of  Leon  with  Astorga  thereupon  appointed  its 
presbyter  Felix,  and  the  church  of  Merida  its  deacon*  ^lius, 
to  compose  an  instant  appeal  to  the  great  church  of  Carthage. 
Merida  sent  by  the  same  bearer  an  epistle  from  Felix  of 
Saragossa.  Whether  this  Felix  was  the  bishop  of  that  place, 
or  some  representative  layman,  does  not  appear,  but  the  his- 
torians of  Arragon  have  debated  the  question  with  interest'. 
Sabinus,  who  had  been  unanimously  elected  to  succeed  Basi- 
lides  and  confirmed  by  the  neighbouring  bishops,  and  Felix, 
who  had  replaced  Martial,  carried  the  three  Letters.    ■ 

The  reply  of  Carthage  to  the  churches  is  the  composition 
of  Cyprian.  It  closes  with  his  own  nominal  salutation.  It  is 
written  in  the  name  of  seven  and  thirty  prelates  who  as- 
sembled in  Carthage  in  the  autumn  of  A.D.  254*.  It  punc- 
tiliously exempts  Stephen  from  further  blame  than  that  of 
negligence  in  accepting  Basilides'  mere  assurance  of  repent- 
ance, and  ratifying  his  episcopal  tenure,  when  even  to  absolve 
him  would  have  been  a  strong  measure.  It  assumes  that  if  he 
had  investigated  he  would  have  decided  as  they — Cyprian's 
Fourth  Council — decided,  namely  that  the  two  men  had  for 

^  It  is  not  expressed  that  Martial  ap-  gouvernement  spirituel  d'une  chretiente 

proached  Stephen,  \>\xtfallacia  {Ep.^l.  eloignee  de  la  Mere-£glise.'     But  the 

5)  is  attributed  to  him,  and  these  re-  true  reading  is  1.6.-^Krov  didKovov  k.t.X.  ; 

spectable  Spaniards  are  treated  as  both  the  letter  is  here  giving  a  list  of  names ; 

on  one  platform.  and  even  in  this  age  the  phrase  in  that 

-  The  Spanish  deacons  bore  an  im-  sense  would  have  been  rbv  dTr6  Bi^vvrjs 

portant   part   in  the  administration  of  StaKovov. 

churches.     See  Concil.  Elib.   Can.   77  3  See  Baluze's  not.  in  loc. 

Si  quis  diacenus  plebem  sine  episcopo  vel  ■*  The  Council  of  254  A.D.  must  have 

presbytero,  ^c.     Neander,  op.  cit.,  vol.  been  held  towards  autumn.    Easter  day 

I.  324,  et  sup.  p.  114.     Diaconal  pre-  was  on  the  23rd  April,  Stephanus  was 

sumptions   are   restrained  A.D.   314  at  ordained   about    May    12.     Before  the 

Aries,  Cann.  15,  18.  Council  was  held  Basilides  had  already 

The  Abbe  Duchesne,  Pastes  £pisc.  been  at  Rome,  seen  Stephen,  and  been 

de  tAnc.  Gaule,  t.  I.  p.  40,  cites  from  assured  by  him  of  the  propriety  of  his 

the   Letter  of  Vienne  and  Lyons  a.d.  resuming  his  see;  the  Churches  of  Leon 

177,  Eus.  H.  E.  V.  1    '■le  (sic)  diacre  and  Astorga  had  received  the  decision 

de  Vienne,  Thv  SiaKovov  airb  'Bih'vtji'  as  and  appealed  to  Cyprian  against  it. 
an  early  sample  *d'un  diacre  charge  du 


VII.III.  I.      THE  SPANISH  APPEAL.  313 

ever  surceased  from  the  episcopate.  To  Stephen  himself  the 
Council  submits  no  representation  of  its  opinion.  They  make 
not  the  most  distant  allusion  to  any  inherent  prerogative  of 
his  office  as  Bishop  of  Rome*.  There  is  no  request  that  he 
would  reconsider  his  judgment,  or  recognise  theirs.  They 
simply  reverse  his  verdict  and  regard  their  reversal  as  final. 
Their  long  epistle,  estimating  the  many  points  at  issue,  treats 
the  decision  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as  simply  and  gravely 
mistaken,  and  therefore  to  be  set  aside.  There  are  then 
no  less  than  four  accounts  upon  which  this  Synodical  Epistle 
of  A.D.  254  on  the  affair  of  Basilides  and  Martial  is  im- 
portant as  a  witness  to  the  relations  subsisting  within  the 
congregations  and  between  the  congregations  of  the  Church. 
It  creates  none.  And  it  does  not  imply,  but  distinctly  states 
these  relations. 

I.  Its  main  purport  is  the  distinct  accepting  and  absolute 
deciding  of  an  appeal  from  the  church  of  one  nation  to 
another  in  reversal  of  an  ecclesiastical  decision  by  the  Bishop 
of  Rome'"*.  The  sole  rule  to  be  recognised  in  the  judgment 
is  that  of  Scripture.  '  There  can  be  no  acceptance  of  person, 
'  no  dispensation  can  be  granted  by  any  human  indulgence, 
'  in  matters  where  divine  prescription  interposes  a  veto  and 
'  appoints  a  law^' 

II.  It  assigns  to  the  Laity  the  right,  and  insists  on  their 
duty,  of  withdrawing  from  the  communion  of  a  'sacrilegious' 
or  'sinful'  bishop.     'The  Laity  mainly  have  the  power  in 

^  The  Donatist  Congregations   a.  D.  /V(?jfrj)>//i?  C,  Rand  the  corrector  of  L: 

313,    in  fear   of  the    factions   of   the  all  these  are  of  cent,  ix  (Q  cent,  viii — 

Italian  Church,  appeal  to  be  heard  by  ix?);  all  editions  had  prascriptio  until 

the    Bishops    of    Gaul.       They    were  Hartel,  and  his  choice  seems  perverse, 

finally  only  allowed  three,  fifteen  others  Prcescriptio  is  used  elsewhere  by  Cyp- 

being  Italians.     Optat.  i,  ■23.  rian,  and /(srjfre)>/w  beyond  its  common 

2  Ep.  67.  I  and  6.  use  for  a  fair  copy  or  for  a  cheque  re- 

^  Ep.   67.    2    intercedit... prcescriptio.  lates  rather  to  the /^rOTJ  of  a  document 

Mark  the  hand  of  the  Civilian  in  all  the  than  to  its  authority,  which  is  what  is 

terms.     We   have   to   choose  between  required  by  tribuit  legem. 
Perscriptio  Q  and  the  original  L,  and 


314  THE  ROMAN   CHAIR. 

'either  choosing  worthy  Bishops   or  in  rejecting  unworthy 

*  ones.'    *  The  Laity  must  not  flatter  themselves  with  the  idea 

*  of  being  untouched  by  the  contagion  of  his  offence  if  they 

*  communicate  with  a  Bishop  that  is  a  sinner.'     '  They  must 
'sever  themselves  from  a  sinful  prelate*.' 

III.  It  marks  (beside  other  things)  the  presence  and 
testimony  of  Laity  as  required,  or,  as  it  is  here  expressed,  as 
'  a  thing  of  divine  tradition  and  apostolic  observance,'  in  the 
appointment  of  a  Bishop, — '  that  he  may  be  chosen  in  the  pre- 

*  sence  of  the  Commons  under  the  eyes  of  all,  and  be  approved 
'as  worthy  and    meet  by  public  judgment  and  testimony.' 

*  In  the  presence  of  the  Commons  which  fully  knows  the  life 

*  of  each,  and  has  discerned  everyone's  line  of  action  through 
'  intercourse  with  himV 

IV.  It  marks  the  sense  that  there  resided  no  power 
in  a  Christian  congregation  which  could  assign  episcopal 
authority  over  itself,  or  commit  the  celebration  of  sacra- 
mental acts  to  any  nominee  lacking  the  note  of  regular 
apostolic  Orders.  The  custom  is  kept  for  '  the  nearest 
Bishops  of  the  province  to  meet  and  the  Bishop  to  be  chosen ' 
not  by,  but  '  in  the  presence  of  the  Commons.'  '  Upon  the 
'judgment  of  the  Bishops  the  Episcopate  was  conferred  on 
'him,  and  the  hand  laid  upon  him'.' 

2.     The  Gaulish  Appeal. 

The  majestic  Romanesque  portal  of  the  Cathedral  of  Aries 
ranks  the  noble  image  of  her  Founder  and  Patron  Trophimus 
the  Ephesian  with  the  protomartyr  and  the  apostles.  From 
at   least   the   ninth   century   onwards    it    was   unquestioned 

^  Ep.  67.  3.     Routh,  R.  S.  vol.  III.  nation   in   order  to   the   virtue  of  the 

pp.    151,   2,   correctly,  after   Erasmus,  ministration,    and    herein   we   see    the 

treats  the  passage  as  referring  to  sins  growth  of  Cyprian's  one  characteristic 

which  were  Ecclesiastical  disqualifica-  confusion, 

tions.     It  also  lays  down  thsX  freedom  ^  Ep.  67.  4,  5. 

from  moral  defect  is  essential  at  ordi-  '  Ep.  67.  5. 


VII.  III.  2.      THE  GAULISH  APPEAL.  315 

history  that  he  had  been  installed  there  by  S.  Paul  on  his 
way  to  Spain,  after  consecration  to  the  Bishopric  by  S.  Peter 
at  Rome^ 

In  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  fewer  particulars  had 
been  extant  The  position  of  Constantinople  made  it  con- 
venient in  the  West  to  begin  to  rank  Metropolitans  not  by 
the  political  importance  of  their  province,  but  by  the  sup- 
posed antiquity  of  its  conversion.  Still  when  Zosimus  in 
A.D.  417  declared  the  scandalous  Patroclus  to  be  the  Metro- 
politan of  the  Provinces  of  Vienne,  Narbonensis  Prima 
and  Narbonensis  Secunda,  he  only  affirmed  without  naming 
a  date  that  Rome  had  sent  out  Trophimus  as  Chief  Bishop, 
and  that  from  'his  fountain  all  Provinces  of  Gaul  received 
the  rills  of  the  faith*.' 

The  Bishops  of  this  Province  in  an  appeal  to  Leo,  A.D.  450, 
framed  on  Zosimus'  words,  still  claim  no  more  than  that  it 
was  known  at  Rome,  and  generally,  that  Trophimus  had  been 
sent  by  'the  Blessed  Peter  the  apostle';  but  that  is  the  then 
usual  phrase  for  the  See  of  Rome^  So  far,  all  that  stands 
before  us  from  the  fifth  century  is  a  local  tradition  of  a  Roman 
Missionary  Bishop  as  Founder.  But  again  there  were  old 
diptychs  of  the  church  of  Aries  in  which  Trophimus  was 
only  the  second  name  on  the  list  of  Bishops  ;  and  thus,  even 

^  Stephano  V,  Papse  tributa  Epistola  ties  of  the  3rd  century  between  Aries  and 

ad  Selvam,  &c.    Labbe,  xi.  550.  Ado,  Rome  were  decayed  in  the  4th,  and  that 

Chron.  ^t.  VI.  59.  Transalpine  Gaul  in  practical  affairs  was 

2  '  Summus  antistes  &c.'    ZoAxm  Ep.  drawn  to  Milan.     Zosimus'  act  was  in 

V.  ad  Epp.  Gallia:.    The  successors  of  counteraction  to  this.     The  'Vicariate' 

Zosimus,  it  may  be  observed,  Boniface,  of  Aries  in  cent.  vi.  was  isolated  and 

Celestine,  and  Leo  the  Great,  did  not  transient,  and  not  effective.    Duchesne, 

feel   the   necessity,   and  admitted    the  Easies  £piscopatix  de  tAncienne  Gaule, 

old  rank  of  Vienne.     Symmachus  once  1894,  I.  p.  86.] 

more  rehabilitated  Aries.     Gregor)'  the  ^  Quesnel,  note  on  Leon.  Magn.  Ep. 

Great  speaks  of  Aries  as  the  channel  LXV.  'Preces  missae,  &c.'     But  has  'ab 

of  all  Gallic  Christianity.     See  Greg.  apostolis'  the  same  sense?    See  Tille- 

Magn.  Epp.  v.  53,  note  c;  ed.  Bened.  mont,  Note  i,  sur  S.  Denys  de  Paris, 

<p.  ii.  c.  781,  Ven.  1744).  vol.  iv.  p.  707. 

[The  Abbe  Duchesne  shews  that  the 


3l6  THE  ROMAN  CHAIR. 

if  those  diptychs  were  not  accurate,  it  appears  that  there 
had  been  a  time  when  the  name  of  Trophimus  was  not  im- 
pressed on  the  mind  of  the  church  of  Aries  as  its  Founder  \ 

In  Gregory  of  Tours',  A.D.  ?  573 — 594,  we  come  on  an 
intermediate  view  of  the  story.  Seven  Presbyters  were 
ordained  Bishops  at  Rome  in  the  consulship  of  Decius  and 
Gratus,  and  sent  to  the  great  sees  of  Gaul,  to  Tours,  Nar- 
bonne,  Toulouse,  Paris,  into  Auvergne,  to  Limoges,  and 
among  them  Trophimus  to  Aries,  The  consulship  of  Decius 
and  Gratus  corresponds  to  the  year  A.D.  250,  in  which  year 
Fabian  was  martyred  on  the  20th  of  January,  and  the  see 
was  vacant  all  the  rest  of  the  year.  Gregory  might  have 
been  sure  that  Fabian  had  as  little  to  do  with  Trophimus 
and  Aries  as  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  had'. 

But  in  fact  a  letter  from  Cyprian  to  Stephen*  lets  us  know 
who  the  real  Bishop  of  Aries  was  at  that  time  and  for  some 
years  after.  It  is  earlier  than  the  Baptismal  Controversy  which 
began  in  A.D.  255,  Stephen's  second  year^  But  it  implies 
the  passage  of  earlier  letters,  a  period  of  waiting  for  answers 
and  for  action,  such  that  it  cannot  have  been  written  until 
well  on  in  his  second  year.  Again  Cyprian  remarks  in  it  that 
'  many  brethren  had  died  at  Aries  without  being  restored  to 
'communion  (by  their  puritan  bishop),  in  these  past  yeat's^.' 
Such  a  phrase  can  scarcely  mean  much  less  than  three  years. 
Novatianism  began  only  in  June  A.D.  251.     Accordingly  this 

^  Mabillon  ap.  Tillemont,  iv.  p.  703.  the  Valentinians,  and  the  martyrdom  of 

-  Hist.  Franc.  I.  28.  Xystus.     However  there  was  no  bishop 

8  Pearson  shewed  that  Sulpicius  Se-  of  Aries,  we  may  be  sure,  before  the 

verus  and  the  Passion  of  Satuminus  lend  death  of  Irenseus  about  203  A.D.,  and 

no  countenance   to    these    statements.  the  see  was  otherwise  occupied  in  a.d. 

Annal.  Cypr.  A.D.  254,  viii.,  ix,    Tille-  250.     The  Greek  name  which  Pearson 

mont  endeavours  to  save  the  credit  of  treats  as  against  his  coming  from  Rome 

Gregory  as  a  historian  of  the  reign  of  would  rather  tell  in  favour  of  it. 

Decius  by  suggesting  that  Trophimus  ^  Ep.  68. 

might  have  come  on  a  mission  to  Pro-  *  Lipsius,  op.  cit.  p.  213  ff.     Pearson, 

vence  then,  and  been  consecrated  years  Annal.  Cypr.  a.d.  254,  vi. 

after.     But   he  has  also  placed  under  *  Ep.  68.  3  '...annis  istis  superior- 

Decius  the  rise  of  Novatian,  the  rise  of  ibus. ' 


VII.  III.  2.      THE  GAULISH  APPEAL.  317 

Novatianist  bishop,  whose  name  was  Marcian,  must  have 
governed  the  church  of  Aries  from  25 1  at  latest  to  254. 

Marcian  not  only  exercised  the  harshest  puritan  discipline 
in  the  perpetual  exclusion  of  the  most  sorrowing  penitents 
even  in  their  last  hours,  but  he  openly  renounced  communion 
with  the  other  bishops  and  took  the  extremest  Novatianist 
tone  that  the  whole  Church,  by  readmitting  the  Lapsed,  un- 
churched itself\  The  general  condemnation  of  Novatian, 
his  doctrine  and  adherents  ^  did  not  affect  the  position  or  the 
conduct  of  Marcian,  until  Faustinus,  bishop  of  Lyons,  laid 
the  facts  before  Cyprian,  and  together  with  his  fellow  bishops 
represented  the  case  to  Stephen.  Stephen  took  it  in  silence. 
His  broad  anti-Novatianist  tone  would  not  allow  him  to  be 
hard  even  on  a  Novatianist,  and  Cyprian  attributed  this 
laisser  passer  policy  to  carelessness. 

Faustinus  complained  of  Stephen  in  a  second  letter  to 
Cyprian.  And  Cyprian  took  upon  himself  to  address  Stephen 
in  strong  terms  as  to  his  duty. 

So  much  has  been  and  still  is  made  to  turn  on  the  very 
phrases  of  this  letter  that  in  fairness  the  debated  sentences 
must  be  reproduced. 

We  are  to  observe  ivhat  Cyprian  recommends  to  be  done : 
who  to  be  the  doer  or  doers :  especially  to  note  what  part 
the  Roman  is  urged  to  take,  and  on  what  grounds. 

'  It  is,'  says  Cyprian,  '  our  duty  to  consider  this  affair  and 
'  to  remedy  it ;  thinking  on  God's  clemency  as  we  do,  and 
'holding  the  balance  of  the  Church's  government,  and  so 
*  exercising  severity  toward  sinners  as  not  to  refuse  the 
'  Divine  healing  to  the  Lapsed.' 

^  ...collegio  nostro  insultarc.a  com-  do  not  and  cannot  excommunicate  me, 

municatione  nostra  se  segregaverit...de  I  withdraw  from  them.'     His   master 

majestate  ac  dignitate  ecclesiae  judicare.  Novatian   on  the  other  hand  was  ex- 

Ep.  68.  2.  communicated  at  once,   prayed    to   be 

2  ...(^aoA  necdumvideatur^  nobis  ab-  admitted,  and  was  told  that  the  only 

stentus,  &c.,  Ep.  68.  a,  finding  himself  terms  were   submission.      This  is   the 

not  even  yet  excommunicated  by  us,  connection  of  Ep.  68.  2. 
Marcian  says,   '  Stephen  and   Cyprian 


3l8  THE  ROMAN  CHAIR. 

He  therefore  urges  Stephen  to  write  '  a  very  full  letter '  to 
the  Gallic  bishops.  What  he  recommends  him  to  advise  is 
'that  they^  the  bishops,  'should  no  longer  allow  Marcian  to 
trample  upon  our  (Episcopal)  College.' 

As  an  example  of  what  they  might  do,  and  in  consistency 
ought  to  do,  he  quotes  the  refusal  of  the  assembled  African 
bishops  to  hold  communion  with  Novatian  after  his  spurious 
celebration  of  Divine  worship  and  assumption,  of  office  in 
separation  from  Cornelius.  The  parallel  is  distinct :  as  the 
African  bishops  excommunicated  Novatian,  so  let  the  Gallic 
bishops  excommunicate  Marcian. 

By  his  excommunication  the  see  would  be  at  once  vacant. 
So  far  is  clear.  Cyprian  proceeds,  *  Let  letters  be  dispatched 
'  from  you  into  the  Province  and  to  the  Laity  who  stand  faith- 
'  ful  at  Aries,  whereby/,  Marcian  having  been  excommunicated, 
'  another  may  be  appointed  in  his  room,  and  the  flock  of  Christ, 
'  which  for  to-day,  broken  up  by  him  and  wounded,  is  lightly 
'  esteemed,  may  be  gathered  together.'  Does  Cyprian  mean 
that  by  virtue  of  the  letter  itself  Marcian  would  be  excom- 
municated, and  his  successor  appointed  .''  or  were  the  receivers 
of  the  letter  intended  to  perform  those  acts  ?  The  wording 
alone  might  admit  the  former  alternative  as  easily  as  the 
second  (though  not  more  easily)  in  respect  of  the  substitution 
of  the  new  bishop.  In  respect  of  the  excommunication  the 
Latinity  is  against  the  idea  that  the  letter  would  effect  it. 

But  we  observe  that  this  second  letter  is  to  be  addressed 
to  the  Laity.  The  first  letter  which  Cyprian  recommended 
Stephen  to  write  was  to  the  Bishops^,  urging  them  to  action. 
This  is  to  be  to  the  Laity ;  because  to  the  Laity'  belonged 
the  filling  of  the  see,  voided  upon  Marcian's  excommunication, 
by  their  election  of  a  successor.     Nomination  by  Laity  was, 

^  ...litterse  quibus  abstento  Marciano  the  construction  of  this  phrase  agrees, 
alius  in  loco  ^]\x% substituatur.  Ep,  68.  3.  ^  ...plenissimaslitterasadcoepiscopos 

The  abstention  would  have  been  already  nostros  in  Gallia  constitutos.    Ep.  68.  2. 
effected  by  the  bishops,  according  to  the  ^  ...ad  plebem  Arelate  consistentem 

tenor  of  the  first  letters:  and  with  this  litterae.    Ep.  68.  3. 


VII.  III. 


THE  GAULISH  APPEAL. 


319 


we  have  already  seen,  the  rule  of  the  Cyprianic  age,  and 
needful  for  a  true  appointment'^ 

Stephen  is  not  requested  •^■Cyprian  to  take  any  part 
beyond  the  writing  of  letters  in  tke  same  sense  in  which  he 
had  himself  presumably  answered  Faustinus,  namely  by 
counselling  the  Bishops  of  the  Province  and  the  Laity  of 
the  City  to  perform  their  several  duties  in  respect  of  the 
Novatianist  prelate^ 

He  proceeds,  '  It  is  for  this  end,  dearest  brother,  that  the 
'  Body  of  the  Bishops  is  great  and  large,  knit  fast  with  glue 
'  of  mutual  concord  and  bond  of  unity,  that  so,  should  any  of 
'  our  college  attempt  the  forming  of  a  heresy,  the  rending  and 
'  wasting  of  Christ's  flock,  the  rest  may  come  to  the  rescue,  and 
'  like  serviceable  compassionate  shepherds  gather  the  Lord's 


1  Supra  pp.  35  ff.,  135. 

Dr  J.  Peters,  Theological  Professor  at 
Luxemburg  {Cyprian  von  Karthago, 
R^ensburg,  1877),  writes,  p.  478,  this 
shameless  comment  on  this  same  pas- 
sage : — '  According  to  this,  each  bishop, 
as  a  successor  of  the  apostles,  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  whole :  yet  since  their 
multitude  is  bound  together  in  the  unity 
of  the  One  Chief  Head,  the  mode  of 
affording  help  in  extraordinary  cases  is 
clearly  ascribed  to  The  One.  If  the 
"cement  of  mutual  concord"  is  not 
strong  enough  for  the  maintenance  of 
that  bond  of  unity  which  is  to  encircle 
all,  then  comes  The  One,  according 
to  his  answerableness  for  the  whole 
throughout.' 

The  very  point  of  Cyprian's  remarks 
is  that  the  united  Episcopate  is  'strong 
enough.' 

But  Dr  Peters  continues,  'So  that, 
elsewhere,  as  Cyprian  told  us,  he  sets 
sail  to  the  Chair  of  Peter,  and  the 
Head-  Church  from  which  priestly  unity 
took  its  beginning,^  p.  479.  I  dare  not 
undertake  to  say  whom  or  what  manner 
of  person  Dr  Peters  intended  his  readers 


to  understand  by  him  'who  set  sail.' 
Some  good  authority,  one  would  sup- 
pose. In  point  of  fact  it  was  a  group 
of  'heretics  who  dared'  so  to  do !  And 
Cyprian  marvelling  at  their  audacity, 
asks  'what  purpose  could  they  have 
for  doing  so?'  and  after  arguing  that 
there  was  no  real  end  to  be  answered, 
adds  '  unless  perchance  that  handful  of 
desperate  ruined  things  counts  the  au- 
thority of  the  bishops  in  Africa  es- 
tablished to  be  less.'  Can  perversion 
do  more?  And  if  amazed  one  asks 
'Where  is  all  that  about  The  One  to 
be  found?'  Dr  Peters  replies  'that  it 
was  not  necessary  to  explain  to  the 
Pontiff  his  own  authority.'  Surely,  it 
was  still  less  necessary  to  tell  him  that 
the  authority  was  in  the  Bishops,  if  it 
was  in  himself. 

2  In  the  teeth  of  a  letter  which 
recognises  that  the  bishops  will  excom- 
municate and  the  laity  re-appoint, 
Pamelius,  Du  Perron  (ap.  Baluze),  and 
Baronius  collect  from  this  passage  '  that 
the  Roman  bishop  had  power  even  thus 
to  excommunicate,  nay  to  deprive  (any) 
bishops,  and  to  substitute  fresh  ones.' 


320  THE  ROMAN   CHAIR. 

'sheep  into  the  flock \'  Would  not  this  be  strange,  incompre- 
hensible language,  if  Cyprian  had  held  that  the  remedy,  and 
the  application  of  the  remedy,  throughout  the  world  lay  in  an 
over-arching  supreme  pontificate  of  Rome  ?  Unity  is  oneness 
of  a  number,  and  so  Cyprian  invariably  writes. 

Cyprian  next,  after  picturing  the  state  of  Marcian's  people 
with  two  fine  images  sketched  from  his  own  familiar  African 
scenery, — from  the  half-ruined  coasting-harbour,  and  from  the 
caravanserai  occupied  by  brigands — proceeds  thus.  '  We, 
'dearest  brother,  must  take  to  ourselves  our  own  brethren, 
^escaped  from  the  rocks  of  Marcian,  and  making  for  the 
'  Church's  harbour  of  safety.  We  must  provide  them  such  an 
'  hostelry  as  the  gospel  speaks  of,  where  the  Host  may  take 
'care  of  them.'  With  the  person  of  the  Pope  full  in  view 
before  him,  and  directly  addressing  him,  he  describes  the 
remedy  as  being  in  the  hands  of  many,  not  of  one,  in  'our' 
office,  not  '  thine.'  '  For,'  he  continues,  after  citing  Ezekiel's 
denunciation  of  the  heedless  shepherds,  '  albeit  we  are  many 
shepherds,  yet  we  have  but  •  one  flock  to  feed.'  Is  this 
the  language  of  one  who  held  that  on  earth  there  is  one 
shepherd,  as  well  as  one  flock .'' 

'We  have  to  maintain  the  honour  of  our  predecessors 
^Cornelius  and  Lucius,... whose  memory,  much  as  we  revere 
'  it,  ought  to  be  much  dearer  to  you,  their  representative  * 
'  and  successor.  Full  of  God's  spirit,  planted  in  the  glory  of 
'martyrdom,  they  decided  for  Restoration  (of  penitents)... 
'And  this  is  what  all  of  us  altogether  everywhere  decided,... 
'for  among  us  in  whom  was  one  spirit  there  could  be  no 
'  diversity  of  sentiment.  And  so,  it  is  plain  that  one  whom 
'  we  see  entertain  different  sentiments  does  not  hold  the  truth 
'  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  rest  do. 

'  Intimate  to  us  distinctly  who  is  put  into  Marcian's  place 

*  at  Aries,  that  we  may  know  to  whom  we  must  commend 

*  our  brethren,  and  to  whom  we  must  write.' 

^  Ep.  68.  3  *  ...copiosum  corpus  est  *  Vicarius,  Ep.  68.  5. 

sacerdotum. .  .ut . .  .subveniant  cseteri.' 


VII.  III.  2.      THE  GAULISH  APPEAL,  32I 

So  ends  the  letter :  a  letter  as  independent  as  it  is  deferen- 
tial. Not  such  as  an  Archbishop  of  the  Roman  obedience 
could  by  any  possibility  address  to  his  Pope.  That  there 
was  such  a  thing  as  a  patriarchal  Primacy ;  that  the  Bishop 
of  Carthage  acknowledged  the  one  chair  in  the  West  which 
apostles  had  planted ;  that  he  counted  it  a  duty  of  that  see 
to  be  to  other  sees  a  remembrancer  of  duty  and  purity ;  that 
the  Roman  see  had  naturally  close  relations  with  the  sees  of 
'The  Province,'  all  this  is  true.  It  is  not  perfectly  exact  to 
say  with  Pearson,  *  Cyprian  asks  nothing  of  Stephen  which 
he  is  not  ready  to  discharge  himself,'  without  the  addition 
that  he  held  it  Stephen's  duty  to  move  first.  Cyprian,  even 
in  his  ill-repressed  indignation  at  Stephen's  indifference,  gives 
him  a  place  and  name  before  his  brethren.  But — without 
entering  now  into  the  infinitely  graver  questions  of  uncorrupt 
truth,  pure  worship,  and  paramount  Scripture  as  essential  to 
the  validity  of  rights  and  tenure  of  any  see — such  primacy 
was  not  historically  a  dominion  either  secular  or  spiritual. 
Of  control  in  things  of  faith,  of  jurisdiction  to  be  exercised 
administratively,  executively,  or  legislatively  in  another  see, 
of  sole  or  immediate  supremacy  without  appeal,  this  letter 
presents  no  least  trace. 

And  now,  lest  it  should  be  imagined  that  Romish  claims 
are  such  as  find  any  countenance  in  the  concessions  of  im- 
partiality or  in  the  analysis  of  truth-seeking,  we  may  finally 
contemplate  Professor  Dr  Peters's  summary  of  this  Letter. 

'Cyprian  here  concedes  and  ascribes  to  the  Successor 
'of  Peter  "the  ordinary  and  immediate  Jurisdiction"  over 
'foreign  Dioceses;  and  consequently  over  the  whole  Church\' 

Mgr.  Freppel  alone  could  outdo  this ;  and  he  does. 
Cyprian...' sees  in  the  Roman  pontiff  the  guardian  and  the 
'  defender  of  the  canofis  for  the  universal  Church ;  the  bishop 
'whose  jurisdiction,  far  from  expiring  on  the  confines  of  a 

^  Dr  J.  Peters,  Cyprian  von  Karthago,  p.  479. 
B.  21 


322  THE  ROMAN   CHAIR. 

'  province  or  a  country,  extends  to  the  entire  universe.'  "  Use," 
*  he  writes  to  him,  "  the  plenitude  of  your  authority ;  address 
*to  the  bishops  of  Gaul  and  to  the  people  of  Aries  letters, 
' plenissimas  litteras,  in  virtue  of  which  Marcian  may  be 
'deposed  and  another  elected  in  his  place."  I  ask  any 
'  honest  man,'  cries  Mgr.  Freppel,  '  how  should  Cyprian  have 
'proceeded  in  order  to  affirm  more  highly  the  primacy  of 
'  the  pope.?  For  the  deposition  of  a  bishop  is  the  gravest  act 
'of  jurisdiction  one  could  point  toV 

Not  only  are  such  terms  as  'ordinary  and  immediate 
jurisdiction,'  '  defender  of  canons  for  the  universal  Church,' 
ridiculous  in  their  anachronism ;  not  only  is  the  phrase  '  use 
the  plenitude  of  your  authority'  an  invention  of  Freppel's 
own,  which  he  prints  as  a  citation,  and  comments  on  as 
original ;  but  the  whole  language  of  both  authors  is  in  the 
teeth  of  the  text.  The  text  assigns  the  function  of  excom- 
munication, involving  deposition,  to  one  authority,  the  duty 
of  substitution  to  another,  and  neither  of  these  offices  to 
Stephen,  who  is  simply  urged  to  press  their  duty,  as  became 
his  place,  upon  the  Bishops  and  Laity  of  Provence. 

1  Freppel,  p.  367.  inspectionis  vel  directionis,  non  autem 

These   writers   cannot    be   regarded  plenam  et  supremam  potestatem  juris- 

as  other  than  faithful  exponents  of  the  dictionis  in  universam  Ecclesiam,  non 

Roman    doctrine.     The    Bull     Unam  solum  in  rebus  qua  ad  fidem  et  mores 

sanctum    concludes    with    the    words  [morem  P.],  sed  etiam   in  iis  quae  ad 

•Subesse  Romano   Pontifici  omni  hu-  disciplinam   et    regimen   Ecclesias   per 

manse    creaturse    declaramus     dicimus  totum  orbem  difiusas  pertinent ;  aut  eum 

definimus  [diffinimus]  et  pronunciamus  habere  tantum  potiores  partes,  non  vero 

omnino    esse    de    necessitate    salutis.'  totam    plenitudinem    hujus     supremse 

Baronius  Annal.  Eccles.  torn.  xiv.  p.  34,  potestatis ;  aut  hanc  ejus  potestatem  non 

Bonifac.  Pap.  viii.  Ann.  8,  iv.,A.D.  1302  ;  esse  ordinariara  et  immediatam  sive  in 

Corp.  Juris  Canon.    Richter  et  Fried-  omnes   ac   singulas    ecclesias,    sive    in 

berg,   pars    2,   col.    1246    (ed.    1881).  omnes   et  singulos  pastores  et  fideles ; 

Extravag.  Comm.  1.  I.  tit.  viii.  c.  i  'de  anathema  sit.'     Constitutio  Dogmatica 

majoritate  et  obedientia.'  prima   De  Ecclesia    Christi,    cap.    III. 

The  Vatican  decree 'ZJ^wacro/ZoM^  (V.  Pelletier,  Dkrets  et  Canons,  Paris 

primatus  Romani  Pontijicis'  rvinsih.\xs:  1871,  p.   150;  Collectio  Lacensis,  1890, 

Si  quis  itaque  dixerit  Romanum  Ponti-  vol.  VII.,  p.  485). 

ficem    habere     tantummodo     officium 


INTERCALARY. 

PRESBYTERS  AS   MEMBERS   OF  THE   ADMINISTRATION. 

Some  enquiry  was  promised^  into  the  part  borne  by 
the  Clerus  of  antient  cities,  the  Ordo,  the  Consessus  or  Bench 
of  Presbyters,  in  the  administration  of  church  business.  It 
would  have  been  almost  meaningless  to  map  this  out  before 
becoming  familiar  with  the  kind  of  transactions  amongst 
which  their  office  was  to  be  used.  But  some  principles 
of  its  exercise  can  now  be  readily  drawn  out.  The  later 
correspondence  of  Cyprian  passes  into  other  lines,  so  that 
the  indications  we  seek  cease  before  the  great  controversy 
with  Stephen  begins. 

The  first  epistle  presents  a  certain  Body  at  Carthage 
'taking  notice  of  a  Christian's  will  at  Furni ;  a  will,  which, 
in  violation  of  a  forma  or  rule  passed,  with  a  prescribed 
penalty,  by  a  previous  Council  of  bishops,  appointed  a  cleric 
to  a  legal  function.  This  Body  is  not  a  Council,  and  does  not 
either  make  a  rule  or  affix  a  sanction,  but  acts  as  a  Court  in 
deciding  that  ipso  facto  the  penalty  has  been  incurred  and 
must  take  effect^ 

This  Body  then  exerts  in  another  town  of  the  province, 
which  had  a  bishop  of  its  own,  authority  over  the  clergy,  and 

^  P.  21.  '  The  ruling  is  Hdeo...non  est  quod  pro 

2   ...cum   cognovissemus,    Ep.    i.    I,       dormitione  eius  apud  vos  fiat  oblatio,' 
the   law  term  for  magisterial  enquiry.       &c.     Ep.  i.  2. 

21 — 2 


324  INTERCALARY — PRESBYTERS  AS 

SO  virtually  over  the  laity,  through  the  carrying  out  of  the 
sentence  by  the  clergy.  Its  members  are  the  Bishop  of 
Carthage,  some  bishops  who  were  in  Carthage  at  the  time 
and  attended  the  meeting,  and  'our  compresbyters  who  were 
assessors  to  us\'  There  is  an  ambiguity  as  to  whether  'our 
compresbyters'  were  the  Consessus  of  the  city,  or  included 
others  who  came  with  their  bishops. 

It  is  not  then  a  corporate  body;  it  is  not  limited  to 
certain  persons,  but  to  a  certain  class  or  classes.  The 
nucleus  and  main  part  of  it  is  the  Consessus,  the  Presbytery 
of  Carthage,  with  the  Bishop  for  its  head ;  it  includes  other 
bishops  then  in  Carthage,  and  possibly  (but  this  is  not  clear) 
other  presbyters. 

Its  authority,  which  amounts  to  jurisdiction,  is  evident. 
In  the  epistle  to  Lucius  he  says  that  persecution  has  been  the 
test  not  only  of  the  true  bishop  but  also  of  the  true  consessus. 
It  has  shewn  which  '  presbyters  were  united  with  their  bishop 
in  his  sacerdotal  office  V  Had  the  presbytery  then  this 
authority,  or  something  like  it,  inherently  and  apart  from  the 
presidency  of  the  bishop  .-*  or,  if  not,  could  it  by  delegation  of 
the  bishop  be  invested  with  such  authority .? 

The  occurrence  of  Cyprian's  long  retirement  brings  some 
significant  facts  into  unexpected  salience,  and  the  concurrent 
vacancy  of  the  Roman  see  remarkably  illustrates  the  case. 

In  three  several  letters  from  his  retreat',  addressed  to 
the  presbyters  and  deacons  of  Carthage,  Cyprian  requests 
them  to  supply  his  place  : — '  There  discharge  ye  both  your 
own  parts  and  mine ' ;  '  Your  diligence  must  supply*  my 
office ' ;  '  Discharge  my  function  about  the  conduct  of  things 
which  the  religious  administration  requires.' 

He    had    arranged    for   some   amount   of   money   to   be 

^  ...ego  et  collegse  mei  qui  prsesentes  '  -^PP-  S>  12,  14. 

aderant    et   compresbyteii    nostri    qui  *  Repnesentare,  '  make  to  be  present.' 

nobis  adsidebant,  ^/.  I.  I.  Sed   officium   meum    vestra   diligentia 

'  Ep.    6t.    3    'sacerdotali    honore.'  reprsesentet,  Ep.  12.  i. 
Both  words  technical. 


MEMBERS   OF  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  325 

realised  and  distributed  to  the  clerics  that  there  might  be 
means  in  several  hands.  He  had  left  in  the  hands  of  Roga- 
tian,  his  commissioner,  'a  little  sum  reaHsed'  apparently  by 
some  recent  sale,  and  sent  him  a  further  portion  afterwards  \ 
Out  of  these  funds  he  requests  the  presbyters  and  deacons 
to  care  for  the  poor,  the  sick  and  strangers,  for  Christians  in 
prison,  and  for  the  bodies  of  those  who  die  under  torture  or 
confinement".  He  begs  them  to  make  such  arrangements 
for  visiting  prisons  as  will  least  provoke  suspicion,  and  to 
calendar  the  dates  of  martyrdoms  and  confessors'  deaths 
and  communicate  them  to  him  for  remembrance  in  his  daily 
Eucharists. 

In  common  with  the  Plebes,  this  clerical  body  was  usually 
consulted  by  Cyprian  on  the  merits  of  persons  proposed  for 
Ordination.  They  were  thus  fixed  upon  'by  counsel  in 
common,'  but  exceptions,  at  least  during  his  absence  from 
Carthage,  were  frequent.  He  sends  to  them  the  names  of 
several  men  whom  without  such  consultation  he  had  ad- 
mitted to  Orders,  some  of  them  to  a  seat  in  the  Consessus, 
to  daily  allowances  and  the  monthly  dividend  ^ 

He  urges  them  to  promote  among  the  people  habits  of 
fasting  and  prayer  for  the  internal  reformation  of  the  Church, 
and  for  its  outward   deliverance ;   to  instruct  the  ignorant, 


^  Summula...redacta,   Ep.   5.    r.    De  byter  had   his  standing  allowance  out 

quantitate  mea  propria... aliam  portio-  of    the    church-treasury;    besides    the 

nem,  Ep.  7.     quantitas,  technically  a  same    allowance    called    sportula    [cf. 

lump   sum,   in    C.  I.  L.   viii.    i.    262  Ep.  i.  i  'sportulantium  fratrum'],  some 

capital  as  opposed  to  usitrcB.     In  Ep.  also   had   their   portion   in    that    divi- 

39  (n.  3  inf.)  it  has  no  sense  of  allow-  dend  which  was  the  remainder  of  the 

ances,  but  is  simply  even  sums.  month's  expense ;    thirdly,  out   of  the 

^  Ibid,  and  Ep.  12.  presbyters   under   him    the   bishop   as 

'  Epp.  20,   38,   39,  40.     Ep.    39.   5  then    had    a   certain   number    of    the 

'...presbyterii  honorem  designasse  nos  gravest  who  lived  and  commoned  al- 

illis  jam  sciatis,  ut  et  sportulis  idem  cum  ways  with  him,'  Hooker  Vll,  xxiii.  9. 

presbyteris    honorentur,    et    divisiones  Sessuri  nobiscum,  &c.  means  not  this 

mensumas   sequatis   quantitatibus   par-  (though  the  fact  may  be  so)  but  their 

tiantur,  sessuri   nobiscum  provectis  et  future  place  in  the  consessus,  as  'no- 

corroboratis  annis  suis....'   'Every  pres-  biscum  sedeat  in  clero,'  Ep.  40. 


326  INTERCALARY— PRESBYTERS  AS 

but  especially  those  confessors,  in  or  out  of  prison,  whose 
spiritual  self-satisfaction  made  them  not  very  amenable  \ 

So  far,  nothing  is  enjoined  on  the  Body  except  a  faithful 
performance  of  their  individual  clerical  duties.  He  regrets 
their  imperfect  performance  of  their  prison-duties,  especially 
with  regard  to  religious  instruction, — duties  always  hitherto 
recognised,  he  says,  as  their  proper  work*. 

Strenuous  admonition  on  their  part,  he  insists,  was  re- 
quired. And  in  virtue  of  the  episcopal  energy  {sacerdotii 
vigor  ^^  which  he  had  now  to  exercise  from  a  distance,  he 
endeavoured  through  them  especially  to  prevent  the  breaking 
down  of  discipline. 

Do  we  here  find  duties  of  a  more  governmental  character } 

He  declines  in  the  fourteenth  epistle  to  take  a  step  which 
had  been  suggested  by  four  of  the  presbyters,  without 
first  receiving  counsel  from  the  Body  of  the  presbyters  and 
deacons  and  being  also  informed  of  the  judgment  of  the  laity. 
This  step  was  the  restoration  of  some  of  the  Lapsed  to 
communion.  When  in  spite  of  his  message  the  four  admitted 
them,  he  considered  that  the  Body  had  failed  in  its  duty  of 
repressing  them,  and  he  appeals  to  the  laity  to  keep  the 
Lapsed  quiet  *.  Later  on',  writing  to  the  laity,  he  commends 
the  special  activity  of  three  of  the  presbyters,  and  of  the 
deacons  as  a  body,  in  encouraging  or  in  deterring  the  lapsed. 

There  is  still  no  exclusive  authority  recognised  as  inherent 
in  the  consessus.  The  disciplinary  duties  here  particularised 
are  of  the  moral  order,  and  can  scarcely  amount  to  more  than 
persuasion.  They  are  capable  of  being  discharged  by  the 
laity,  failing  trustworthy  clerics. 

The  only  authority  which,  in  Cyprian's  opinion,  could,  as 
we  have  seen,  decide  on  the  whole  wide  policy  to  be  pursued 
was  a  gathering  of  co-episcopi,  and  further  they  too  must  have 

1  Ep.  14-  1, 1,  3-  ^  ^P-  H-  4 ;  Ep-  17-  2,  3- 

8  Epp.  IS,  i6.  *  Ep.  43.  I. 

'  Ep.  20.  2. 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  327 

a  common  understanding  with  the  bishops  of  other  countries. 
The  only  authority  which  could  under  that  policy  decide  on 
the  reinstatement  of  individuals  was  an  assemblage  in  which 
both  the  clergy  and  the  laity  of  their  own  Church  should 
with  the  bishop  at  their  head  examine  and  conclude  each 
case\  In  this  function  the  weight  of  the  laity  was  such  that 
they  vetoed  some  whom  Cyprian  and  others  would  have 
restored",  while  elsewhere  he  expresses  regret  at  having  in 
some  cases  overruled  them.  Their  right  as  laymen  to  abstain 
from  communion  with  a  Lapsed  or  a  Novatianist  Bishop 
is  affirmed  again  and  again'. 

We  found  no  particular  authority  assigned  to  the  Clerus 
in  the  election  of  a  Bishop.  Their  part  was  to  bear  testimony 
to  the  life  of  the  person  proposed  for  election.  The  laity 
elected;  the  neighbouring  bishops  assented  and  ordained*. 
Cyprian's  letters  to  Cornelius,  in  which  the  principles  of 
the  coming  legislation  were  discussed,  were  '  always  read 
aloud'  by  Cornelius  to  the  clerus  and  the  laity  together 
— '  to  the  most  flourishing  clergy  which  sits  with  thee  in 
'  the  foremost  rank,  and  to  the  most  holy  and  most  honour- 
'  able  commons^' 

Whilst  therefore  its  counsel  was  of  the  greatest  weight 
and  import  in  the  deliberation  with  the  bishop  on  all  the 
greater  affairs  of  the  Church,  we  find  no  trace  of  authority 
or  jurisdiction  belonging  to  the  Consessus  as  such. 

The  level  of  moral  influence  which  belongs  to  it  stands 
markedly  apart  from  the  way  in  which,  for  instance,  excom- 
munication was  inflicted. 

In  Cyprian's  absence  excommunication  was  imposed  di- 
rectly by  a  commission  appointed  by  himself,  consisting  of 
three  bishops  and  two  presbyters®.  It  is  true  that  he  com- 
mended the  presbyters  and  deacons  of  Carthage  for  resolving 

1  Ep.  17,  Ss'c.  *  Ep.  55.  8;  Ep.  67.  5. 

2  Ep.  59-  '  ^P-  59-  19- 

'   Epp.   65,  67.  6    £p^  ^2. 


328  INTERCALARY — PRESBYTERS  AS 

not  to  communicate  with  Gaius  of  Dida,  a  presbyter,  and  his 
deacon,  after  these  had  anticipated  the  Church's  making  of 
rules  for  re-admission,  but  it  must  be  especially  observed  that 
this  resolution  was  taken  upon  the  counsel  of  colleagues  of 
mine,  who  had  frequently  warned  Gaius  against  the  step, 
who  were  now  prcBsentes  in  Carthage,  and  thus  completed  a 
body  like  that  which  Cyprian  had  presided  over  in  the  first 
Furni  case,  namely,  the  clerics  of  the  city  {clerici  urbici)  and 
bishops,  whether  of  the  Province  or  from  beyond  seas*.  He 
then  adds  his  own  episcopal  direction  that  any,  whether  home 
or  foreign  clergy,  who  in  like  manner  anticipate  the  Church's 
own  ruling  are  to  be  similarly  withdrawn  from. 

To  these  bishops  prcesentes  he  desires  that  what  he 
writes  on  the  course  to  be  followed  may  always  be  communi- 
cated at  once.  They  evidently  clothe  the  presbyters  and 
deacons,  in  the  absence  of  their  own  bishop,  with  a  sufficient 
episcopal  authority.  We  may  just  mark  (though  without  stress) 
the  distinctness  with  which  they  are  mentioned  as  contributors 
to  the  subscription  raised  for  the  Confessor  Bishops  in  the 
mines'^ ;  but  an  apt  instance  occurs  in  the  second  city  of  the 
province,  Hadrumetum.  Its  presbyters  and  deacons  had,  in 
the  absence  of  their  bishop,  placed  themselves  in  communica- 
tion with  the  new  Bishop  of  Rome^,  before  his  title  was 
cleared.  Cyprian  and  another  bishop  arrive,  and  are  prcB- 
sentes.     Upon  their  authority  communication  is  suspended. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  gain  a  clearer  view  of  the 
principles  on  which  the  presbyters  and  deacons  of  Rome 
had  acted  in  the  vacancy  of  the  see,  after  Fabian's  martyrdom. 

Even  in  the  eighth  letter,  in  which  they  describe  them- 
selves as  'we  who  seem  to  be  set  over  them,  to  lead  the 

1  Ep.    34.    I.     Dida,  otherwise   un-  at  Carthage, 'sad etcollegarumquoqueet 

known.  Morcelli's  conjecture  'Idensis'  sacerdotum  nostrorum,  qui  et  ipsi,  cum 

not  likely.    It  was  too  far  off  in  Maure-  prsesentes    essent,    ex   suo   plebis    suae 

tania.  nomine,   quaedam    pro    viribus    contu- 

^  Ep.  62.  5.     Cyprian  with  his  own  lerunt,  nomina  addidi.' 

<yi<i2«/iV<7  J  sends  them  a  list  of  subscribers  '  Ep.  48.  i,  2. 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  329 

flock  in  place  of  shepherds,'  the  extent  of  what  they  claim 
to  have  done  is  only  to  have  been  active  in  keeping  people 
from  lapsing,  and  in  recovering  the  Lapsed  to  repentance — their 
due  spiritual  ministration  in  time  of  danger.  Their  statement 
in  the  thirtieth  letter  that  all  they  had  done  was  done  with  the 
help  of  the  Confessors  shews  that  they  had  no  idea  of  a 
constitutional  power  devolving  to  themselves  in  the  vacancy. 
But  when  they  have  officially  to  resolve  that  the  adoption  of 
a  permanent  system  must  wait  for  the  determination  of  a  new 
bishop  in  consultation  with  themselves,  with  the  Confessors, 
and  with  the  laity,  this  constitutional  conclusion  is  formed  in 
a  meeting  at  which  are  present  neighbouring  bishops,  bishops 
then  visiting  the  city  and  bishops  exiled  from  their  dioceses. 

Again,  afterwards,  when  the  Novatianist  Confessors  wished 
to  return  to  the  unity  of  the  Church,  the  course  taken  was 
this.  Delegates  of  theirs  seek  an  interview  with  the  Pres- 
bytery. The  presbytery  desire  the  attendance  of  the  whole 
number,  examine  them,  and  report  to  Cornelius  full  par- 
ticulars\  Cornelius  next  summons  the  presbytery,  and  with 
them  five  bishops,  then  prcBsejites^.  They  determine  on  their 
course,  each  opinion  being  recorded.  Then  the  Confessors 
are  introduced,  and  make  their  petition  orally.  The  '  people ' 
are  admitted  in  large  numbers,  to  hear  the  confession,  and 
resolve  upon  it.     The  scene  has  been  described  above. 

The  result  is  this.  When  the  see  was  vacant,  or  the 
bishop  absent,  the  episcopal  functions  of  hearing,  judging, 
ruling  (quite  apart  from  the  sacred  offices  of  ordination,  &c.) 
did  not  pass  into  commission  in  the  hands  of  the  clerus,  but 
were  reserved  whenever  it  was  possible.  And  by  the  atten- 
dance of  other  bishops,  any  steps  of  discipline  which  had  to 
be  immediately  taken  received  an  episcopal  sanction.  Hadru- 
metum,  Rome,  and  Carthage,  as  well  as  the  minor  cases  of 
Assuras^  and  Furni  yield  one  result. 

^  Omni  actu,  Ep.  49.  2.  qui  et  eo  die  praesentes  fuerunt.  Ep.^^.i. 

'^  Adfuerunt  etiam  presbyteri  quinque  ^  Ep.  65. 


330  INTERCALARY. 

The  contrast  is  manifest  between  what  could  constitution- 
ally be  done  by  the  largest  clerus  in  the  most  influential 
position,  and  the  power  and  responsibility  attaching  to  the 
least  prominent  bishop.  It  is  no  account  of  the  facts  to 
say  that  the  scheme  carefully  examined  yields  no  trace  of 
presbyterian  government.  It  is  an  absolute  negation  of  the 
presbyterian  idea.  It  is  an  equally  complete  negation  of  the 
papal  idea.  Scarcely  less  does  it  contrast  with  that  modern 
sharpness  which  would  fence  off  each  diocese  as  a  preserve  in 
which  neighbour  bishops  have  no  concern  or  interest.  The 
true  capitular  idea  is  there,  but  with  a  flexibility  and  width 
of  which  we  are  not  yet  capable  again. 

The  Epistle  of  Firmilian  {Ep.  75.  4)  has  to  some  seemed  to  speak 
as  if  in  the  general  Councils  of  the  East  bishops  and  presbyters 
sitting  together  regulated  church  affairs  in  common,  *...apud  nos 
'fit  ut  per  singulos  annos  seniores  et  praepositi  in  unum  con- 
'veniamus  ad  disponenda  ea  quse  nostras  curas  commissa  sunt.' 
Ritschl,  however,  points  out  (p.  157)  that  the  Greek  original  must 
have  been  ol  npea-^vTepoi  ol  TrpotoTd/ifrot,  and  the  ei  due  to  a  mis- 
understanding of  the  translator.  Similarly  {Ep.  75.  7)  '...quando 
'  omnis  potestas  et  gratia  in  ecclesia  constituta  sit  ubi  praesident 
'  majores  natu  qui  et  baptizandi  et  manum  imponendi  et  ordinandi 
'■  possident  potestatem^  He  compares  Hermas  {Vis.  ii.  4)  where  o\ 
TTpea-^iiTfpoi  ol  Trpoiarapevoi  t^s  fKKXrjirias  is  in  the  Latin  version 
'seniores  qui  praesunt  ecclesiae,'  and  Eusebius  H.  E.  vii.  5.  i:  5.  5: 
29.  I,  from  which  it  is  clear  that  bishops  alone  formed  the  Eastern 
Councils. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  BAPTISMAL   QUESTION. 


Vert  similitudine  aberrantes  a  veritate. 

Aug.  de  Catechizatidis  Rudibus,  c.  8. 


There  is  an  early  and  rather  graceful  martyr-tale  which 
Baronius  welcomes  as  history,  and  which  Tillemont  smiles  at 
himself  for  admitting  to  some  consideration  on  account  of 
its  honest  mien\  It  is  called  the  'Acts  of  Hippolytus, 
Eusebius,  and  their  Fellow-Martyrs,'  Hippolytus  is  a  Roman 
recluse  who  lives  in  a  sandburrow  in  the  Crypts,  or  Cata- 
combs^  and  there  conceals  for  some  time  his  converted 
relations.  The  difficulties  of  maintenance  in  such  a  place, 
the  unhistorical  details,  and  later  features  shew  the  story 
to  be  pure  romance. 

The  principal  personage  is  Pope  Stephen,  who  is  intro- 
duced to  baptize  the  multitudes  whom  Hippolytus  Christian- 
izes. The  well  appropriated  by  the  story  to  his  use  is  yet 
near  the  old  entrance  from  the  sandpit-road  to  the  Cemetery 
of  Domitilla  on  the  Via  Ardeatina'.    This  character  in  which 

1  Baronius,  Annates,  A.D.  259,  vii —  *  J.  H.  Parker,  ArchcBology  of  Rome, 

xii.    Tillemont,  Note  it.  sur  S.  Estienne,  p.  xii.     The  Catacombs,  sect.  VI.  p.  89. 

V.  IV.  p.  593.  On    one    side  of   the    original   en- 

*  In  cryptis...in  arenario.  trance  and   like  it   built  of  beautiful 


332 


THE   BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 


Stephen  appears,  as  the  Great  Baptizer,  is  the  rude  form 
which  the  main  episode  of  his  life  assumed  among  the  simple. 

It  is  with  that  episode  that  our  next  group  of  letters  and 
documents  is  concerned.     This  group  includes  Epistles  69  to 


brickwork  is  the  arched  recess  with 
the  deep  well.  The  well-top  is  of 
white  stone,  two  feet  high ;  on  either 
side  above,  the  holes  for  the  beam  on 
which  the  pitcher  hung;  in  the  wall 
on  our  right,  the  conduit  and  basin  to 


receive  the  water.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  entrance  a  vestibule  with  seats 
of  stone.  The  baptismal  arrangements 
throughout  deserve  more  notice  than, 
I  believe,  they  have   received. 


VIII.  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.  333 

75  and  the  'Judgments  of  the  Eighty-seven  Bishops.'  They 
belong  to  the  years  255  and  256  A.D.  Their  exclusive  subject 
is  '  Rebaptism.'  For  although  Cyprian  protests*  against  the 
application  of  that  term  to  his  view,  catholic  teaching  insists 
on  the  assertion  which  it  involves. 

The  simplest  lines  on  which  our  investigation  can  advance 
will  be — I.  to  give  what  we  perceive  of  the  earlier  opinions 
forming  Cyprian's  tradition ;  II.  next  to  describe  the 

positions  of  the  two  leaders  and  the  action  and  documents 
of  the  contest ;  III.  then  to  group  together  the  reasonings 
urged  on  either  side  of  this  great  argument. 

A  great  argument  it  is,  in  spite  of  its  narrow  form. 
The  first  questioning  was  'How  can  profane  waters  bless?' 
It  means  at  least  this : — '  A  Soul  longs  to  be  baptized  into 
'  Christ.  A  mistaken,  erring,  even  an  immoral  believer  does 
'in  intention  baptize  it  into  Christ.  Is  that  Soul  in  fact 
*  baptized  into  another  than  Christ,  or  into  a  society  other 
'than  His  Church?  Or,  is  the  baptized  proselyte  of  a 
'  heretical  sect  a  baptized  Catholic  in  spite  of  circumstance  ? ' 
The  decision  which  the  wise  and  loving  Cyprian  formed  and 
laboriously  propagated  was  to  deny  the  reality  of  all  such 
baptism.  This  is  that  grave  anti-catholic  error  of  his  which 
not  only  struck  unperceived  at  the  root  of  the  spiritual  con- 
stitution of  the  Church,  and  threatened  to  number  her  among 
her  own  sects,  but  in  principle  withdrew  the  virtue  of  the 
Sacrament  from  the  immediate  ministering  of  Christ  present, 
and  attached  it  to  the  human  agent. 

The  difference  was  great.  Yet  not  for  a  moment  did 
Cyprian  dream  of  severing  the  connection  between  his  own 
church  and  the  churches  which  he  conceived  to  be  in 
error.  Not  for  a  moment  has  the  Catholic  Church  ceased  to 
revere  him  as  one  of  her  most  authoritative  fathers.     O  si  sic 


^  Ep.  73.   I.    However,  the  Nicene       church    baptism   which    it    orders  for 
Council,    canon    19,    adopts   dva^avTl-       returning  Paulianists. 
feo-^oc  as  a  word  without  a  sting,  for  the 


334  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

omnia.  The  bounds  which  of  necessity,  as  men  now  believe, 
part  many  sects  at  present  from  the  Church  are  like  low  lines 
of  hill  in  comparison  with  that  mountain-range  of  difference 
on  fundamentals  which  lay  between  Cyprian  and  those  from 
,whom  he  dissented. 

The  distance  between  their  possibilities  and  ours  is  the 
distance  between  a  great  age  of  construction  and  an  age  of 
minute  criticism.  But  have  we  for  ever  lost  the  power  of 
acting  as  they  acted ?  of  seeing  with  the  ' larger,  other  eyes'.' 

To  Cyprian  himself  in  his  ingenuous  moderation  it  seemed 
but  an  obvious  course  to  desire  *  every  man  to  speak  his 
'  thought :  to  judge  no  man :  to  remove  no  man  from  the 
'right  to  communion,  if  he  dissents... ':  'to  wait  for  Christ's 

*  own  judgment\'  The  Donatists,  perplexed  like  us  by  this 
liberality  in  one  whom  they  chose  to  look  on  as  their  patron, 
imagined  it  to  have  been  a  ruse  to  elicit  free  expression  of 
opinions ;  on  which  Augustine's  comment  is  that  this  would 
have  been  a  morality  far  worse  than  any  heresy ^  Equally 
simple  the  course  seemed  to  Augustine :  '  Put  me  down  as 

*  one  of  those  whom  Cyprian  failed  to  persuade.  Never  may 
'I  attain  his  glory;  nor  compare  in  authorship  with  him;  for 
'  his  genius  I  love  him,  in  his  eloquence  I  delight  me ;  I 
'  marvel  at  his  charity,  and  I  venerate  his  martyrdom, — but 
'this,  his  strange  doctrine,  I  do  not  accept^'  The  great 
lesson  in  fact  which  Augustine  is  perpetually  enforcing  by 
Cyprian's  example  is  the  lesson  of  our  '  liberty  without 
losing  our  communion-rights  to  think  diversely*.' 

Hooker's  famous  apophthegm,  '  The  teacher's  error  is  the 
'  people's  trial, — harder  and  heavier  to  bear,  as  he  is  in  worth 

*  and  regard  greater  that  mispersuadeth  them,'  no  way  quali- 
fies his  appreciation  of  him  '  whom  the  world  did  in  his  life- 
*time  admire  as  the  greatest  among  prelates  and  now  honours 

^  Sentt.  Epp.  Proem.  *  Salvo    jure    communionis    diversa 

2  Contra  Crescon.  iii.  2.  sentire.    De  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  VI.  vii.  10. 

'  c.  Crescon.  II.  xxxii.  40. 


VIII.   I.    I.  THE  TRADITION  OF  AFRICA.  335 

'as  not  the  lowest  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven\'  Taylor 
vigorously  sums  the  moral,  '  Saint  Cyprian  did  right  in  a 
'  wrong  cause  and  Stephen  did  ill  in  a  good  cause.  As  far 
'then  as  piety  and  charity  is  to  be  preferred  before  a  true 
'  opinion,  so  far  is  Cyprian's  practice  a  better  precedent  for 
'  us,  and  as  an  example  of  primitive  sanctity,  than  the  zeal 
'and  indiscretion  of  Stephen.  S.  Cyprian  had  not  learned 
'to  forbid  to  any  one  a  liberty  of  prophesying  or  interpre- 
'  tation  if  he  transgressed  not  the  foundation  of  the  faith  and 
'  the  creed  of  the  Apostles'.' 


I.   I.      The  Tradition  of  Africa. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider,  as  one  source  of  Cyprian's 
teaching,  the  tradition  which  he  inherited  : — 

The  religious  sympathies  of  the  Africans  flowed  ever  in 
deep  impetuous  narrow  courses  like  the  streams  of  their  own 
Atlas.  To  make  separations  sharp  and  unkind  was  not  the 
aim  of  a  Tertullian  only  or  a  Donatus.  Cyprian  himself  is 
not  unaware  of  the  tendency  of  his  church  to  narrow  its  own 
limits.  '  Certain  predecessors  of  ours  among  the  bishops  here 
'  in  our  own  province,'  he  writes,  '  have  utterly  refused  any 
'  place  of  repentance '  to  offenders  who  in  other  churches 
'  were  forgiven  after  penance.'  Nay  Augustine,  broader 
churchman  as  he  was,  had  rather  a  shivering  trust  in 
even  the  Divine  charity  towards  those  whom  his  particular 
breadths  did  not  comprehend. 

The  '  first  of  all  mortals,'  as  Vincent  of  Lerins  puts  it,  to 
rule  that  they  who  had  been  baptized  by  schismatics  must  be 
baptized  anew  ere  they  could  become  catholics  was  Agrip- 
pinus  of  Carthage',     Augustine  points  out  often  that  Cyprian 

^  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  B.  V.  Ixii.  9.  Of  Heresy,  23. 

2  Liberty  of  Prophesying,    Sect.    2.  '  Vine.  Lir.  Common,  i.  6. 


336 


THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 


is  unable  to  adduce  any  earlier  authority  than  his  against 
'universal,  sturdy  custom \'  As  regards  the  Western 
churches  the  reader  may  accept  the  statement.  Agrippinus 
was  the  bishop  next  but  one  before  Cyprian  in  his  see. 
Under  him  a  Council  of  seventy"  African  and  Numidian' 
prelates  decided  in  his  sense. 

In  the  Roman  Church  on  the  contrary  the  tradition  was 
clear  and  continuous  against  Rebaptism  of  schismatics.  Some 
have  understood  a  passage  of  Hippolytus,  which  covers  the 
ground  up  to  that  time,  to  accuse  Callistus*  of  rebaptizing 
them'.  But  not  only  is  the  passage  not  susceptible  of 
that  meaning,  but  the  distinct  unchallenged  declaration  of 
Stephen  that  his  church  had  never  allowed  such  a  practice 


^  Universalis ...  robusta  consuetudo. 
Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  III.  i.  3;  xii. 
17;  II.  vii.  12  ;  IV.  vi.  8. 

*  Aug.  de  unic.  Bapt.  c.  Petil.  xiii.  11. 
'  Ep.  71.  4. 

*  Sedit  A.D.  217—14  Oct.  A.D.  222. 

5  Hippolytus,  Ref.  Hcer.  ix.  12  'Eiri 
roirov  [toO  KaXX/ffToy]  Trpwrws  TeroK- 
fiTjTai  devrepov  avroTv  pairTia/Jia.  The 
words  should  have  accurate  attention : 
it  is  not  said  TerdXfirirai  airrifi,  but  iirl 
ToijTov  airoTs  '  by  that  party  during  his 
bishopric'  It  is  not  irpdrrov  avroh 
TeroX/JiTiTai.  as  though  t/iey  were  the 
inventors ;  but  iirl  toijtov  Trpibrus  'prima- 
rily in  his  time.'  The  perfect  reroXfiriTai 
indicates  that  (Aeir  practice  existed  still 
at  Rome  when  Hippolytus  wrote,  and 
so  probably  in  Stephen's  time,  without 
in  the  least  affecting  church  tradition. 
The  passage  proceeds,  TaDra  fjLh  oSv 
6  davfjiafftiOTaTos  KaXKiaroi  ffvveffTifi- 
ffaro.  TaOra  refers  to  all  the  list  of 
doctrines  and  practices  which  Callistus 
was  supposed  to  patronise.  The  care- 
ful reader  of  the  whole  story  will  not 
conceive  that  the  word  <rvveffTri<raTO 
is  intended  to  state  that  Callistus  him- 
self taught  Rebaptism,  but  will  rather 


admire  the  skill  with  which  Hippolytus 
avoids  asserting  it.  Nor  will  he  have 
any  doubt  that  avrdts  means  a  corrupt 
and  evil  faction  who  for  a  time  were 
too  near  the  papal  chair,  but  fell  (some 
at  least)  into  the  Elchasaite  delusions. 

To  so  much  exculpation  Callistus  is 
entitled,  but  it  is  positively  scaring  to 
mark  the  modes  and  motives  of  Roman 
Catholic  scholars.  Even  Hefele,  B.  i. 
c.  II.  §  4,  not  seeing  how  to  deliver 
Callistus  from  the  scandal  of  a  practice 
(which  is  not  really  imputed  to  him  in 
the  words)  or  how  to  disentangle  him 
from  his  party  (which  is  more  difficult) 
represents  Hippolytus  as  saying,  'Re- 
baptism was  introduced  under  Cal- 
listus in  some  churches  in  communion 
with  him';  adding,  'one  can  scarcely 
doubt  that  he  has  in  view  Agrippi- 
nus and  his  Synod  of  Carthage.' 

On  the  other  hand,  for  want  of  atten- 
tion to  these  same  points  Fechtrup  (p. 
194  and  n.  i)  renders  'unter  Kallistus 
sei  das  Wagniss  der  Wiedertaufe  in  der 
Kirche  aw^Aommen,'  and  fixes  the 
Council  of  Agrippinus  in  the  middle  of 
the  Episcopate  of  Callistus  a.d.  220,  a 
date  which  suits  none  of  the  conditions. 


VII I.   I.    I.  THE   TRADITION   OF  AFRICA.  337 

from  the  apostles  down  is  incontrovertible  \  Hippolytus 
however,  though  Callistus'  bitter  enemy,  certainly  avoids 
ascribing  the  practice  to  him  personally.  '  In  his  time 
first  hath  second  baptism  been  ventured  on  by  them' 
that  is,  by  the  worldly,  lax  and  perhaps  licentious  party 
which  was  named  after  that  liberal  and  versatile  prelate. 
All  doctrines  and  practices  found  their  way  sooner  or  later 
to  Rome.  This  practice  came  to  Rome  in  Callistus'  time, 
and  was  adopted  during  his  administration  by  the  party  with 
whom  he  had  been  connected  before  he  became  pope,  and 
who  were  called  Callistians  by  his  enemies  and  theirs*.  Only, 
whereas  in  its  native  province  that  practice  bore  a  Puritan 
character,  drawing  the  sharpest  line  between  church  and  sect, 
it  received  in  the  Capital  the  quite  opposite  stamp  ;  being 
intended  by  the  Callistians  to  open  an  easier  way  than  that 
of  penance  to  the  restoration  of  gross  sinners.  The  reception 
of  schismatics  followed  easily,  but  the  Church  never  accepted 
this,  nor  is  there  evidence  that  Callistus  himself  did. 

If  we  allow  four  or  five  years  for  the  practice  to  have  been 
in  use  elsewhere  before  it  came  in  at  Rome,  we  might  infer 
that  the  unknown  date  of  Agrippinus'  Council  was  about  213'. 
In  the  Council  of  September  A.D.  256  was  present  one 
Novatus  who  had  been  bishop  of  the  rich  and  beautiful  city 
of  Thamugadi  so  long  that  he  was  now  one  of  the  very  oldest 
prelates  there,  fourth  by  seniority  out  of  the  eighty-seven. 
If  our  date  for  Agrippinus'  Council  be  correct  we  can  under- 

^  Ap.   Mp.  75.   5,    6,    19;  ap.  Epp.  tCjv  toio&tuv   ipyQw   KdWi(TTov  KaWt- 

71- 2.  3;  73*  ^3-     What  Bunsen  means  ariavoL     Yi\^^o\yi\xs,  Jief.  ffcer.  \X..  12. 

by  saying  'Dollinger  has  demonstrated  They  especially  affected   the   style  of 

that   Zephyrinus    (a.d.    199 — 217)  ad-  'Catholics,'  iavroii^  ol  i-iri]pvdpi.a(TfjL^voi. 

mitted    rebaptism    of  those    who   had  KaOoXiKrii'  iKKK-qala-v   AvoKoKelv    iirixei- 

been  heretics,  and  as  such  had  com-  povai,  as  was  natural, 

mitted   carnal    mortal    sins'    I   cannot  '  This  date  best  fits  all  the  circum- 

divine.     Hippolytus  and  his  age,  v.   i.  stances  of  the  text.     I  am  sorry  that 

p.  271  (ed.  1854).  I   once  wrote  differently:   Article   on 

*  Ttjv  toO  6v6/m.tos  tieriaxov  iirlKKt}-  '  Agrippinus,'  Dictionary  of  Christian 

iriv  KaXeiffdai  5ii  rbu  irpuToffTdT^aavTa  Biography. 

B.  22 


338  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Stand  how  this  old  man  could  just  speak  of  the  members  of 
that  Council,  forty-four  years  before,  as  'colleagues'  while 
he  also  calls  them  'men  of  holiest  memory\'  We  can 
understand  how  Cyprian,  talking  of  a  long-standing  custom, 
says  '  many  years  have  passed  and  a  long  period  since 
Agrippinus'  Council,'  while  Augustine,  thinking  of  the  whole 
tenor  of  church  practice,  says  'the  novelty  had  prevailed 
but  a  few  years  before  Cyprian*.' 

An  interesting  question  has  arisen  as  to  whether  this 
Council  had  felt  the  influence  of  Tertullian,  since  in  a  treatise 
commonly  accepted  as  catholic,  and  if  so  probably  prior  to 
the  year  200,  hfe  not  only  declares  the  rebaptism  of  heretics 
to  be  necessary,  but  says  he  had  written  a  Greek  treatise  to 
that  purpose'. 

I  can  feel  only  surprise  that  his  pamphlet  on  Baptism 
should  ever  have  been  looked  on  as  catholic  work*.  Its 
singularities,  not  to  say  frivolities,  are  as  striking  as  its  power 
and  grasp  and  goodness,  and  they  have  the  Montanist  tinge. 
When  a  Catholic  he  did  not  write  in  the  character  of  a  Mon- 
tanist, but  as  a  Montanist  he  often  wrote  like  a  noble  Catholic. 

Neander  thinks  that,  when  under  the  influence  of  Mon- 
tanism,  he  could  scarcely  have  spoken  as  he  does  here  of  the 
visible  Church.  But  his  Montanist  mind  is  a  strange  stormy 
study.  This  dogma,  we  should  remember,  was  quite  in  the 
Montanist  vein*,  and  his  belief  in  continuous  revelation  did 
not  obliterate  respect  for  a  solemn  church  utterance,  though 
it  made  him  hold  churchmen  cheap. 

He  observes  that  'it  would  be  improper  to  rehandle  the 

1  Morcelli's  date  a.d.  197,  sixty  years  *  Bp.  Kaye  doubts  if  he  is  right  in 
before,  would  make  '  decretum  colle-  following  the  majority  of  commentators 
gartim  noslrorum '  meaningless.  in  so  classifying  it. 

2  Cf.  Firmilian,  Ep.  75.  4,  speaking  "*  In  a  pamphlet  which  he  hurled  at 
of  Valentinus  and  Basilides  as  having  the  Church  as  a  Montanist,  the  Heathen 
\\vtd.pose  apostolos  etpost  longam  cetatem.  baptized  by  a  Heretic  has  to  be  cleansed 
Ep.  71.  4-  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  IV.  of  'both  the  men,'  his  ethnic  self  and 
vi.  8.  his  heretic  self :  De  Pudicitia  z.  19. 

3  Tert.  De  Baptismo,  c.  15. 


VIII.  I.  2.       THE  TRADITION  OF  ASIA  MINOR  EAST.         339 

'question  of  what  should  be  observed  as  concerning  heretics, 
'for  it  has  been  published  to  us.'  His  word  is  *  published' 
not  'handed  down'  to  us\  This  expression  can,  I  believe, 
only  refer  to  the  Council  of  Agrippinus.  It  cannot  refer,  as 
some  wish,  to  the  voice  of  Scripture,  for  Tertullian  is  the 
most  patient  and  pertinacious  arguer  upon  texts,  and  never 
passes  Scriptural  warrant  with  so  vague  an  allusion.  He  can 
only  have  in  view  some  well-known,  recent,  authoritative 
sentence,  and  the  great  Council  of  Seventy  under  the 
Bishop  of  Carthage  is  fitly  alluded  to  by  the  Carthaginian 
presbyter  in  those  terms. 

Later  on  in  the  controversy  we  become  suddenly  aware 
from  the  lengthy  Epistle  of  Firmilian,  Bishop  of  Caesarea  in 
Cappadocia,  that  there  had  for  long  past  been  some  inter- 
change of  influences  on  this  subject  between  Africa  and  the 
Eastern  regions  of  Asia  Minor,  We  therefore  look  to  what 
we  know  of  the  judgment  of  these  last. 


I.  2.     The  Tradition  of  Asia  Minor  East. 

In  his  furiously  Montanist  treatise  '  On  Fasting'  Tertullian 
speaks  with  reverence  of  the  'councils'  habitually  held  'through- 
out the  Graecias*  as  an  impressive  image  of  the  whole  Church. 
He  would  fain  see  them,  with  their  preliminary  fastings,  intro- 
duced into  the  West''.  We  may  readily  assure  ourselves  that, 
when  so  speaking,  he  had  not  in  view  councils  which  specially 
subjected  Montanists  to  Rebaptism  as  an  apostolic  insti- 
tution for  the  restoration  of  heretics^     This  would  have  been 

1  Editutn not traditum.  DeBapt.  li,.  this  helps  us  to  fix  the  date  of  that 
The  difference  is  an  accurate  one.  pamphlet  as  towards  210  A.D.     And  if 

2  If  this  suggestion  of  Tertullian's  de  the  previous  reasoning  is  accurate  we 
Jejun.  c.  13  reasonably  indicates  that  should  further  determine  the  date  of 
the  First  Coimcil  of  Carthage  under  the  de  Baplismo  to  about  a.d.  •214  or 
Agrippinus  had  not  yet  been  held  (He-  215. 

fele,  H.  des  Conciles,  B.  i.  c.  ii.  §  4),  '  Ep.  75.  5,  7. 

22 — 2 


340  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

more  than  flesh  and  blood,  particularly  TertuUian's,  could 
endure  to  eulogize. 

The  Council  of  Iconium  there  held  for  Phrygia,  Galatia 
and  the  neighbouring  districts  is  one  which  thus  ranked  Mon- 
tanists  with  heretics  needing  baptism.  There  is  no  reason 
for  fixing  its  date  earlier  than  A.D.  230*.  Firmilian,  writing  in 
256,  says  he  had  been  one  of  the  'very  many'  who  there  so 
ruled  it*,  and  Synnada'  which  dealt  with  the  same  subject  in 
the  same  sense  was  probably  near  the  same  time.  One  of  these 
two  is  probably  that  'Council  of  Fifty' which  Donatists  al- 
leged against  Augustine*.  The  large  number  of  Fifty  Bishops 
gathered  in  that  small  locality  is  a  note  of  truth.  For  in 
Phrygia  Towns  and  Bishoprics  were  identical*.  A  system 
of  Rector-Bishops,  which  commends  itself  to  some  imagina- 
tions now,  prevailed  there.  Power  vested  in  an  aggregation 
of  necessarily  second-rate  men  proved  to  be  powerless  against 
those  elements  of  faction,  passion  and  superstition  which 
S.  Paul  foresaw  might  rend  and  end  those  churches. 

The  religious  tone  of  Phrygia  was  peculiarly  likely  to  lead 
to  some  difficulty  as  to  Baptism.    Everything  initiatory,  that  is 


1  The  date  of  Tillemont,  iv.  p.  140,  be  some  mistake  (conj.  diJ.TreX6<pvTov), 
and  Valois  on  Euseb.  vii.  7.  as   olives  will    not   grow   at   3400   ft. 

2  Plurimi  simul  convenientes  in  Ico-  (W.  M.  Ramsay,  Journal  of  Hellenic 
nio  diligentissime  tractavimus  et  con-  Studies,  vol.  viii.  pp.  481,  i).  As  to 
firmavimus,  Ep.  75.  19.  points  connected  with  the  Council,  it 

3  The  site  of  Synnada  was  unknown  suits  Dr  Peters'  arguments  to  call 
until  1876,  when  M.  Perrot  found  it  in  Synnada  the  capital  of  Phrygia,  but  it 
the  highlands  of  Phrygia.  It  was  an  never  was  so  until  after  300  A.D.,  and 
assize-town  (conventus)  and  the  central  then  capital  only  of  the  Division  'Sa- 
office  of  the  imperial  procurator  mar-  lutaris.' 

morum,  manager  of  the  quarries  and  'Why  does  Firmilian  wt?/ w^m/w«  the 

vast  transport  of  bath-slabs,    monolith  Council  of  Synnada?'  is  an  unanswer- 

columns   and   capitals    of    the   purple-  able    question.      Dollinger    arbitrarily 

flecked   Phrygian  marble  called  Doci-  takes  one  out  of  many  possible  replies 

mites  or  Synnadic.     After  a.d.  160  the  and  thereupon  dates  the  same  Council, 

office  was  merged  in  the  new  one  oi pro-  Hefele  does  not  even  quote  his  reasons. 
curator  Phrygice  who  took  the  woods  *  Aug.  c.  Crescon.  iii.  2,  3. 

and  lands  also.     Strabo  speaks  of  its  *  W.   M.    Ramsay,    The   Cities  ami 

great  i\a.u)<j>VTOv  veSlov,  but  there  must  Bishoprics  of  Phrygia,  f.  of  H.  S.  l.c. 


VIII.  I.  2.      THE   TRADITION  OF  ASIA   MINOR   EAST. 


341 


everything  exclusive,  was  dear  to  the  native  mind.  But  while 
Augustine  remarks  that  fifty  oriental  bishops  were  no  evi- 
dence, though  backed  by  seventy  Africans,  against  the  unity 
of  the  tradition  elsewhere,  Iconium  and  Synnada  must  both 
be  numbered  among  the  series  'held  long  ago'  and  'in  many 
districts,'  of  which  Dionysius  the  Great  tells  ^  his  namesake 
(as  yet  a  presbyter)  of  Rome  that  he  had  heard,  and  which 
took  the  same  view  as  to  the  reception  of  Heretics  in  general. 
The  firm  belief  which  these  Councils  entertained  that  they 
were  continuing  apostolic  usage,  while  the  very  need  for  them 
is  the  best  evidence  that  the  usage  was  far  from  being  clear 
or  accepted,  may  connect  itself  with  the  fact  that  two  canons, 
based,  to  say  the  least,  on  their  decisions,  appear  in  the 
Apostolic  Canons.  It  would  not  be  strange  if  one  of  these 
two  were  the  actual  utterance  of  Iconium*. 


^  Before  A.D.  258 ;  ap.  Eus.  vii.  7,  which 
is  given  in  full  in  Note  on  'Dates,'  p. 

347- 

-  Apost.  Can.  xlv.  (Dionys.  Exig. 
xlvi.),  'ETTtcr/coTToi'  t)  irpe<T^\rTepov  alperi- 
kQv  de^d/ievou  ^d-TTTiafjLa  [ij  dvcriav]  Kadai- 
peT<rdai  irpocrTdacrofiei'.  T/s  yap  ffv^icpuiin}- 
(Tty  ToO  XpitTTov  irpos  rod  BeXlaX ;  ■!}  rlt 
fiepls  TTicTToD  fiera  dTr[(Trov ;  The  manifest 
interpolation  17  dvo-iav  has  no  place  in 
the  Latin  rendering  of  Dionysius. — Can. 
xlvi.  (D.  xlvii.)  'Ett^kottos  tj  irpi<y§iT(pos 
rhv  /car'  dXrideiav  ixovra  ^airTi<r/J.a  idv 
dvuOev  jSoTrriiTTj,  17  rbv  fj.eixoXvfffxivov  irapd 
tCiv  dcre^Qv  idv  firi  ^aTTTLcrri,  Kadaipd- 
adw,  ws  yeXwv  rbv  aravphv  Kcd  tov  toO 
Kvpiov  Odvarov,  koI  firj  diuKplvciii'  iepeas 
tQv  ij/evSifpiwv. 

45.  '  Bishop  or  Presbyter  admitting 
baptism  of  heretics  we  appoint  to  be 
deposed.  For  what  is  Christ's  consent 
to  Belial,  or  what  the  faithful  man's 
part  with  the  faithless? ' 

46.  'Bishop  or  Presbyter,  if  he  bap- 
tize anew  him  that  hath  a  Baptism  ac- 
cording to  truth,  or  if  he  baptize  not 


him  that  hath  been  polluted  of  the 
impious, — let  him  be  deposed,  as  one 
that  mocketh  the  Cross  and  the  Lord's 
Death,  and  discerneth  not  priests  from 
the  false  priests.' 

These  canons  are  plainly  the  work  of 
different  legislators.  One  clause  of  the 
second  covers  the  whole  ground  of  the 
first.  They  allege  different  specimens 
of  the  then  popular  arguments.  Only 
the  first  of  the  two  appears  in  the 
Coptic  Code  (Bunsen,  Hippolytus  and 
his  age,  vol.  II.  p.  228,  ed.  1854).  We 
might  have  fancied  that,  were  they 
actual  canons  of  Iconium  or  Synnada, 
they  would  not  have  escaped  some  allu- 
sion to  Cataphrygians.  But  Firmilian 
shews  {Ep.  75.  19)  that  the  Iconium  Re- 
solution was  made  general  on  purpose ; 
'repudiandum  esse  omne  omnino  bap- 
tisma  quod  sit  extra  ecclesiam  con- 
stitutum,'  and  thus  it  is  possible  that 
the  very  words  of  Iconium  may  be  con- 
tained in  Canon  xlv.  Pearson  con- 
siders them  earlier  than  Iconium,  but 
if  so,  why  should  they  not  have  been 


342  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Evidence  there  is  none  to  enable  us  to  answer  the  in- 
teresting question  whether  Tertullian's  Greek  Treatise  had 
influenced  the  decision  of  the  Greek  Councils*.  If  it  were  so 
his  weapon  was  strangely  turned  against  him. 

One  far-fetched  theory  is  that  Tertullian  actually  con- 
demned Heretical  Baptism  with  the  aim  of  procuring  an 
oblique  sanction  for  Montanism  from  the  Catholic  Church, 
which  he  expected  not  to  condemn  its  advocate:  nay,  that 
he  was  so  far  successful  that  Synnada  left  Montanism  in 
consequence  untouched.  This  view,  not  baseless  only,  but 
contrary  to  the  facts  of  the  documents,  is  worth  noticing  only 
as  an  instance  of  the  modern  Roman  determination  to  trace 
every  anti-Roman  fact  to  condemned  or  suspected  sources 
outside  the  Church.  Tertullian  is  to  be  the  great  '  First 
'cause  of  the  Innovation  introduced  as  well  into  Africa  as 
'  into  the  East' 


II.  I.     Position  of  the  Leaders. 

Tertullian  then,  whether  he  contributed  or  no,  through 
his  treatise  on  Fasting,  to  popularise  in  Africa  the  idea  of 
Councils,  cannot,  at  least  by  his  treatise  on  Baptism,  have 
affected  the  Agrippine  decision.  Tertullian  with  his  spiritual 
allies  and  Agrippinus  with  his  Bishops  were  alike  carried 
on  by  a  rising  wave  of  rigour,  which  swept  across  Asia  Minor 
and  Africa,  was  observed  from  Egypt  as  it  passed,  and  just 
reached  Rome,  there  to  affect  only  a  miserable  sect.  In  the 
more  tenacious  Asia  the  practice  of  Rebaptism,  once  ratified, 

appealed  to  as  still   more   important?  (p.  498)  rejoices  to  think  the  notion  is 

Firmilian  appeals  to  that  Council's  de-  his  own.     'Diese  Behauptung  ist  neu  !' 

cision  as  final,  and  Dionysius  to  both  We  will  lament  for  him  that  Dollinger 

it  and  Synnada  as  most  weighty.  should  have  anticipated  him  (see  Doll. 

^  Fechtrup,  p.    195,  alleges  no  evi-  Hipp,  und  Kallist.  p.  191),  only  Dol- 

dence  except  the  writing  of  that  treatise  linger   observes   its    fearful    effect    on 

in  Greek.     Unhappily  such  things  well  the   longevity  of  Firmilian  and  dates 

expressed  pass  for  evidence.    Dr  Peters  Iconium  about  a.d.  231. 


VIII.  II.  I.      POSITION   OF  THE  LEADERS— CYPRIAN.  343 

quietly  held  its  ground.  In  busier  Africa  it  quietly  went 
much  out  of  use,  so  that  Cyprian,  while  he  declares  that 
'  thousands  of  heretics  have  thus  become  churchmen  through 
'the  Laver  of  Life,'  has  nevertheless  to  meet  the  argument 
that  numbers  of  them  had  been  received  without  it,  and  had 
fallen  asleep  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church\  It  had  continued 
in  Numidia  since  the  old  Council,  but  a  change  of  feeling 
forces  her  bishops  to  consult  Carthage  afresh^  And  Augus- 
tine confesses  that  he  '  scarcely  knows  what  Cyprian  means 
'  by  saying  that  the  practice  had  prevailed  from  Agrippinus' 
*  day  to  his  own ;  for,'  he  rationally  asks,  '  what  occasion  was 
'  there  for  Cyprian's  three  Councils  if  all  Africa  had  but  one 
'  custom  .-•  or  why  should  Cyprian  have  argued  to  Jubaian 
'  that  he  was  making  no  change,  since  Agrippinus  had  deter- 
'  mined  it  before  .■'  or  why  should  so  many  of  the  Bishops 
'have  advised  [in  the  Third  Council  on  Baptism]  that  reason 
'  and  truth  must  be  preferred  to  custom ' ' — if  the  fact  were 
not,  as  Firmilian  allows,  that,  while  Asia  had  maintained  the 
doctrine  and  the  practice,  the  practice  of  Africa  had  diverged 
from  the  theory''? 

We  have  seen  all  along  that  Cyprian's  most  brilliant 
characteristic  was  that  he  quickened  anew  every  languishing 
organ  of  church  life  and  inspired  with  fresh  forces  each  doctrine 
which  worldly  peace  was  holding  lightly.  In  the  most  vigorous 
time  of  life  he  first  received  both  doctrines  and  ordinances 
into  a  vivid  intellect  logically  trained.  He  could  not  accept 
them  merely.  They  must  live.  They  must  be  lived.  To 
such  '  late-learning '  leaders  of  great  movements  it  has  not 
unfrequently  happened  that  some  one  point  bursts  out  of 
its  desuetude  upon  their  imagination  with  disproportioned 
power.     In  his  case  the  exceeding  delight  of  his  own  reali- 

^  Ep.    73.    3    and    23.     Dr    Peters  Catholics  whom  he  is  disparaging.    But 

points  out,  p.   497,  note  5,  that  Ter-  the  bearing  of  the  words  is  arguable. 

tuUian,  de  Pudic.  19,  seems  to  say  that  ^  Epp.  70,  71. 

Rebaptism  was  among  the  Montanists  *  Aug.  de Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  iii,  xii.  17. 

C^/  apud  nos'},  as  in  contrast  to  the  *  Ep.  75.  19. 


344  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

sation  of  the  blessing  and  illumination  of  Baptism*  gave 
intense  meaning  to  the  old  ruling,  when  he  first  read  it,  that 
even  believers  in  Christ,  unless  once  baptized  into  the  catholic 
fulness  of  the  one  Church,  need  still  to  be  baptized.  Every 
reader  of  the  De  Unitaie  is  startled  at  the  vehemence*  with 
which  he  so  early  recorded  this  conviction.  Then  although 
the  Novatianist  exclusion  of  the  whole  Church  from  the 
Church  provoked  no  mere  retaliation,  it  is  impossible  to 
think  that  it  did  not  stimulate  the  sense  that  the  schis- 
matics were  themselves  excluded  by  an  earlier  flaw ;  point 
the  observation  that  they  had  sufifered  so  much  less  in  the 
persecution ;  and  awaken  a  confidence  that  the  neglected 
church  duty  would,  if  revived  and  insisted  on,  exhibit  to  all 
men  the  fact  that  Novatianists  were  not  church  people  at  all. 
A  half-worldly  temptation  strangely  reinforced  the  spiritual 
enthusiasm. 

When  therefore  the  question  arrived  in  simple  form 
'Are  we  of  Numidia  right  in  rebaptizing,  or  are  you  of 
Carthage  right  in  ignoring  the  standing  order.?'  it  was  not 
a  crotchet  which  Cyprian  took  up.  The  whole  man  was 
on  fire. 

It  is  only  through  these  facts  that  we  can  account  for 
what  we  have  now  to  study  and  lament ;  the  precipitation 
and  the  passion  which  possessed  him  and  the  many  men 
whom  he  had  by  this  time  moulded  to  be  like  him.  It 
was  inevitable  that  sooner  or  later  the  broad  and  the  purist 
theories  should  collide,  because  they'  were  theories  embodied 
in  daily  usages. 

Some  indication  on  the  part  of  Stephen  in  favour  of 
heretical  baptism  was  the  occasion  of  the  conflict.  Whether 
the  incident  was  to  his  honour  or  no,  it  is  thankless  to 
aggravate  the  failings  of  an  unpopular  personage,  from  whose 

^  See  sup.  p.  1 5,  ad  Dottattim.  ferent  interpretation  proposed  by  him- 

"^  Peters,  p.  510  n.,  speaks  of  a  dif-       self  and  not  approved. 


VIII.  11.  I.       POSITION  OF  THE  LEADERS— STEPHEN.         345 

conduct  nothing  but  good  has  resulted.  His  tolerance  of 
Novatianism,  and  his  patronage  of  lapsed  bishops,  may- 
make  it  probable  that  personally  he  was  biassed,  though  in 
the  right  direction,  by  little  else  than  his  vague  liberality. 
But  it  is  at  least  possible  that  his  motive  was  the  exact  con- 
trary of  this ;  that  he  interposed  with  a  necessary  correction 
of  the  Callistian  Liberals,  who  doubtless  were  prepared  to 
purge  errors  of  belief  as  they  purged  errors  of  life,  by  second 
baptism. 

'  It  must  move  our  wonder,'  says  Cyprian  in  his  first 
letter  on  the  subject S  'nay  rather  our  indignation  and  grief, 

*  that  there  are  Christians  found  to  take  the  side  of  antichrists  ; 
'  that  shufflers  in  the  faith,  and  traitors  to  the  Church,  take  a 
'  stand  within  the  Church  herself  against  the  Church.  Now, 
'  since  these  allow  (notwithstanding  their  usual  pertinacity  and 

*  indocility)  that  heretics  and  schismatics  alike  do  not  possess 

*  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  accordingly,  though  they  can 
'  baptize,  they  cannot  impart  the  Holy  Spirit, — here  we  con- 

*  vict  them ; — namely,  by  pointing  out  that  such  as  have  not 
'the  Holy  Spirit  cannot  baptize  at  all'  In  enquiring  who 
his  earliest  adversary  was,  it  is  noteworthy,  though  not  in 
itself  sufficient  index,  that  '  pertinacity  and  indocility '  are 
the  particular  virtues  which  Cyprian  steadily  assigns  to 
Stephen. 

Next,  an  Italian  localisation  is  given  to  these  asserters 
of  the  obnoxious  doctrine  by  another  passage  in  the  same 
letter^  '  Since  the  Church  alone  has  the  water  of  life,  and 
'power  to  baptize  and  to  wash  man,  he  that  says  one  can 
'be  baptized  and  sanctified  in  Novatian's  hands,  must  first 
'  prove  and  convince  us  that  Novatian  is  in  the  Church,  or  a 
'  prelate  of  the  Church.  The  Church  is  one.  As  one  she  cannot 
'be  both  inside  and  outside.  If  she  is  with  Novatian,  she  was 
'  not  with  Cornelius.     But  if  she  was  with    Cornelius,  who 

^  Ep.  69.  10.  ^  Ep.  69.  3. 


346  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

'succeeded  to  Bishop  Fabian  by  legitimate  ordination,... 
'Novatian  is  not  in  the  Church,  and  cannot  be  counted 
'a  bishop,  seeing  that  he,  in  contempt  of  evangelical  and 
'apostolic  tradition,  being  in  succession  to  no  one,  is  self- 

*  produced.     For  in  no  wise  can  he  hold  or  keep  the  Church, 

*  who  has  not  been  ordained  in  the  Church.' 

The  personality  of  the  gainsayer  next  becomes  clear 
(though  as  yet  no  name  has  been  mentioned)  when  in  the 
seventy-first  letter'  we  read,  *We  must  not  go  by  prescription 
'  of  custom :  we  must  prevail  by  reasoning :  for  neither  did 
'  Peter,  whom  the  Lord  chose  first  of  all,  and  on  whom  He 
'  built  His  Church,  when  afterward  Paul  disputed  with  him  on 
'  Circumcision,  insolently  claim  or  arrogantly  assume  anything 
'  to  himself,  declaring  "  that  he  himself  held  the  primacy  and 
'  ought  the  rather  to  be  obeyed  by  novices,  and  men  (called) 
'later  than  himself";  neither  did  he  look  down  on  Paul,  as 
'  the  Church's  former  persecutor,  but  he  adopted  the  counsel 
'  of  truth,  and  readily  assented  to  the  legitimate  system  that 
'  Paul  maintained  ;  giving  us  thereby  a  lesson  in  unity  and 
'  patience,  not  to  hug  our  own  fancies  with  pertinacity,  but,  if 
'  our  brothers  and  colleagues  offer  upon  occasion  useful  and 
'  wholesome  suggestions,  rather  to  make  those  our  own,  if 
'  they  are  true  and  regular.' 

Although  he  may  in  these  passages  include  other  and 
nearer  neighbours ;  whether  bishops  who  in  the  first  Council 
dissented  from  his  views,  or  that  remarkable  Unknown  Author 
(he  may  have  been  one  of  these)  from  whose  pen  we  have  the 
fine  contemporary  tract  'Of  Rebaptism*';  yet  plainly  the 
one  prominent  figure  before  him,  in  whose  opposition  all 
other  opposition  was  merged,  is  none  other  than  the  Bishop 
of  Rome.  And  in  Stephen's  tone  there  had  evidently  been 
some  personal  disparagement,  as  well  as  some  uncalled  for 
measuring  of  the  popedom  of  Rome  against  that  of  Carthage. 

1  Ep.  11.  3.  *  Vid.  infra  p.  352. 


VIII.  II.  I.        POSITION   OF   THE   LEADERS — STEPHEN.        347 

Then  flowed  in  upon  Cyprian  (not,  one  would  infer\ 
without  something  of  concert  with  himself)  a  series  of  formal 
letters,  known  to  us  only  by  his  replies,  requesting  him  to 
deliver  his  opinion  upon  the  subject.  The  original  enquiry 
was  whether  a  baptism  among  the  adherents  of  Novatian,  the 
accuracy  of  whose  creed  was  unimpeached,  might  be  accepted 
as  valid,  when  such  persons  turned  to  seek  admission  among 
the  Catholics.  The  question  then  ran  through  degrees  of 
misbelief  until  the  case  of  Marcionites,  and  perhaps  even  of 
Ophites,  was  debated^  Stephen  made  no  difficulty  about 
including,  Cyprian  about  excluding,  one  and  all.  But  for 
the  ordinary  African  bishop  who  felt  the  puritanic  tendency 
of  his  people  towards  Novatianism,  (a  tendency  which 
had  already  surged  up  in  Montanism,  and  was  to  break 
over  them  yet  more  terribly  in  Donatism,)  and  who  now 
saw  Rebaptism  used  in  this  alone  of  all  heresies  as  its 
characteristic  initiation,  it  was  no  slight  dilemma  which  pre- 
sented itself  in  the  question.  Was  the  adherence  to  this 
almost  isolated  tradition  of  Africa  itself  a  dangerous,  a  puri- 
tanic, a  practically  Novatianistic  departure  from  the  breadth 
of  catholic  use  ? 

Dates  {Council  of  Iconium  and  other). 

Eus.  H.  E.  vii.  7.  (i)  Lipsius  {Chron.  d.  Rbmischen  Bischbfe,  pp.  219, 
20)  argues  that  the  Synod  of  Iconium  was  later  than  the  Synod  of  Antioch 
A.D.  253,  because  it  appears  from  comparing  Euseb.  vi.  46  with  vii.  4,  5 
that  after  the  unexpected  harmony  at  Antioch  they  felt  anxious  lest  the 
question  of  baptism  should  divide  them.  But  surely  this  is  no  argument 
for  dating  any  one  particular  Synod.  For  we  might  equally  well  apply 
it  to  others,  one  by  one,  and  conclude  that  all  Baptismal  decisions  were 
later  than  the  Council  of  Antioch.  (2)  Lipsius  argues  that  since  Cyprian 
was  Trpwroy  riiv  rdre  (Eus.  vii.  3)  who  held  this  particular  opinion  (ij-yflro), 
therefore  Cyprian's  rupture  with  Stephen /r^c^(a5?^/  the  Council  of  Iconium. 

^  The   series   is   so   complete   as   to  African  La3rman,  2.  From  the  Bishops 

suggest   this.     As   the   three   Councils  of  Numidia,   3.  From  two  Bishops  of 

represent,  i.  Africa,  1.  Africa  and  Nu-  Mauretania. 
midia,  3.  Africa,  Numidia  and  Maure-  ^  Ep.  73.  4. 

tania,   so  the  letters   are,   i.    from  an 


348  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

which  he  accordingly  dates  255  A.D.  But  certainly  Eusebius  does  not 
mean  to  contradict  the  statement  which  he  quotes  (vii.  7)  from  Dionysius 
who  in  A.D.  256  writes  that  Rebaptism  had  been  held  'long  ago,'  xrpo 
TToXXov,  Kara  roiis  irpo  i^fiav  tTTKrKoirovSf  iv  rais  irokvavQpatnoTarais  fKKKr]<riaig 
xat  rais  avv68ois  rav  ddf\(f>civ  iv  'iKovia,  Koi  'SvvaBots  Koi  napa  iroXKols  tovto 
edo^tv,  nor  yet  can  he  mean  to  deny  that  the  Council  of  Agrippinus 
had  so  ruled  in  Carthage  itself.  But  if  TrpcSror  rav  rort  affects  the  date 
of  Iconium  it  must  affect  the  date  of  Dionysius'  Councils,  and  that  of 
Agrippinus  too.  Mark  too  that  the  Tav  rort  is  in  the  very  next  sentence 
to  his  distinct  expression  (vii.  2)  (rjT^fiaros  ov  a-fiiKpov  rriviKade  dvaKivrjdivros. 

The  fact  is,  Eusebius  means  exactly  what  he  says.  Asia  Minor 
had  quietly  continued,  Africa  had  in  many  parts  quietly  dropped  the 
practice,  and  Cyprian  was  the  first  rav  t6t€,  i.e.  of  his  contemporaries ., 
to  moot  its  reaffirmation. 

Lipsius  is  driven  by  his  own  special  pleading  to  say  that  there  were 
two  synods  at  Iconium  'which  must  not  be  confounded,'  one  of  A.D.  255 
mentioned  by  Firmilian,  and  the  other  much  earlier  named  by  Dionysius; 
both  about  the  baptism  of  heretics  ;  both  making  only  the  same  declara- 
tion, at  considerable  interval.  Sufficiently  improbable.  Besides,  Fir- 
milian attended  the  one  he  mentions,  and  he,  writing  in  256  A.D.,  speaks 
of  it  {Ep.  75.  7)  as  having  been  held  Jam  pridem. 

Of  Roman  writers,  Baronius  and  Labbe^  were  anxious  to  believe  this 
synod  was  held  in  Stephen's  time,  and  thereby  to  justify  his  behaviour 
to  the  East.  Dr  Peters  on  the  same  side'*  places  it  'not  in  the  second, 
but  very  early  in  the  third  century'  in  order  to  enable  it  to  have  been 
misled  by  the  pamphlets  of  TertuUian,  and  this  induces  him  to  put 
Synnada  earlier  still,  and  at  the  same  time  as  Agrippinus'  Council. 

The  order  in  which  Dionysius  names  the  two  synods  is  rather  against 
the  general  assumption  that  Synnada  preceded  Iconium. 


The  following  then  are  the  approximate  dates  which  appear  probable 
an  respect  of  the  conditions  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 

Zephyrinus  Bp.  of  Rome  A.D.  199 — 217, 


TertuUian  becomes  Montanist 

circ. 

200. 

„         writes  De  Jejunio 

circ. 

209,  10. 

Council  of  Agrippinus 

circ. 

213. 

TertuUian's  De  Baptismo 

circ. 

214,  15 

Callistus  Bp.  of  Rome 

217—222, 

Council  of  Iconium 

circ. 

230. 

Council  of  Synnada  ?  231, 

^  Baron.  Ann.  a.d.  258,  xiv. ;  Labbe       whom  he  quotes;  Cone.  t.  I.  p.  769. 
A.D.  158,  in  spite  of  Pagi  and  Harduin  ^  p,  ^pg. 


VIII.  II.  2.  ACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS.  349 

II.  2.     Acts  and  Documents. 

Our  clearest  method  will  now  be  first  to  describe  the 
Documents,  and  then  to  draw  out  by  themselves  the  Argu- 
ments, which  are  so  often  repeated  that  chronological  analysis 
of  the  letters  would  be  wasted  here\ 

Magnus,  a  layman,  whom  Cyprian  treats  with  respect  and 
affection,  writes  the  first  letter — an  enquiry  whether  Nova- 
tianists  should  be  accounted  as  other  heretics  in  the  need  of 
church-baptism  on  recantation.  In  Magnus'  circle  the  old 
canon  was  plainly  not  forgotten,  and  the  plausibility  of  an 
exception  is  obvious. 

Then  followed  an  application  from  eighteen  bishops  of 
Numidia.  These  had  continued  the  practice  which  they  and 
their  predecessors  had  helped  Agrippinus  to  establish'' ;  but 
the  movement  of  the  times,  especially  perhaps  among  the 
laity,  required  fresh  consideration.  The  reply  to  Magnus 
came  from  Cyprian';  that  to  the  Numidians  from  a  Council 
which  he  soon  convoked,  of  thirty-three  bishops  of  Africa 
with  the  presbyters  of  Carthage*. 

This  is  Cyprian's  Fifth  Council  of  Carthage  and  a.d.  255. 

A.U.C. 

First  on  Baptism,  a.d.  255.  1008. 

The  seventieth  epistle  is  their  conciliar  declaration,  con-  q^^^  p'^P' 

firming  that  of  the  old  Council  of  Agrippinus,  That  neither  the  y^^j^j^^^^^^ 

baptism  nor  the  confirmation  of  heretics  has  any  value  :  That  Pius  Felix 

converts  from  a  heresy  can  only  through  baptism  enter  into  imp'.  Caes. 

the  faith  and  unity  of  the  Church.  Egildus"' 

This  decision  seems  to  have  been  not  unanimously  arrived  Galllenus 

Pius  Felix 

^  We  may  repeat  that  the  group  in-  kreis'  apparent  in  it.     But  as  his  reply 

eludes  Epp.  69 — 75  and  the  Sententia  to  Magnus  is  rested  upon  his  own  view 

Episcoporum  of  the  Third  Council,  and  and    arguments    without    reference    to 

belongs  to  the  years  a.d.  255  and  256.  councils,  it  certainly  precedes  all   the 

'^  Ep.  70.  I.  councils.     That    to    Pompeius    alludes 

'  Ep.  69.     Rettberg  (pp.  190 — 192)  {Ep.  74.  12)  to  the  first  Council  {Ep. 

assigns  to  this  letter  the  same  date  as  70.  i)  if  not  to  the  second, 
to  that  which  answers  Pompeius,  Ep.  *  Ep.  71.  i. 

74,   on  account  of  the   same    'Ideen- 


350  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

at.  Cyprian  describes  it  as  the  judgment  of  '  very  many 
fellow-bishops ' ;  but  he  laments  the  fact  that  '  certain  of 
our  colleagues  are  guided  by  some  strange  confidence'  to 
the  other  opinion  \ 

Next  comes  a  Mauretanian  bishop,  one  Quintus',  enquiring 
through  a  compreshyter  Lucian  ;  he  is  answered  by  the 
seventy-first  letter,  with  the  seventieth,  already  in  wide  circu- 
lation, enclosed'.  The  tone  of  Cyprian  is  as  of  one  who  has 
suffered  slights.  It  is  clear  that  the  tone  of  the  Roman  bishop 
was  already  becoming  injurious;  clear  also  that  unanimity 
had  not  yet  prevailed  in  Carthage. 

At  this  time,  without  one  allusion  in  it  to  the  embittering 
controversy,  Cyprian  published  his  tract,  '  Of  the  Excellency 
of  Patience,'  to  be  a  calming  note  in  the  awaking  storm. 
Very  little  later  in  date,  and  similar  in  purpose,  is  his 
'  Jealousy  and  Envy ' ;  equally  reticent  on  passing  circum- 
stance, except  for  one  slight  touch  upon  Novatian.  These 
shall  be  examined  later.  Now  we  need  only  name  them  as 
further  illustrations  of  Cyprian's  vision  of  a  new  philosophy  of 
moral  feeling,  adjusted  to  the  new  doctrine  and  proportioned 
to  its  standard.  And  we  may  think  of  the  angelic  spirit  of 
the  man  who,  when  passions  were  rising  on  every  side,  read  to 
himself  and  his  combatants  lessons  so  sweet  and  so  stern. 

'  Ep.    71.    I  phirimi . .  .cetisuerimus  of  Buruc  who  spoke  in    the   Seventh 

here  seems  to  be  not  equivalent  to  'a  Council,  whom  extant  MSS.  call  Quietus, 

numerous  body  and  all  of  them, '  because  Send.  Epp.  2  7  (see  Appendix  on  Lis^s  of 

the  phrase  describing  the  objectors,  qui-  Bishops,  p.  565).     Morcelli  thought  so 

datn  de  collegis  nostris  (which  is  repeated  but  merely  through  misreading,  for  there 

in  Ep.  71.  i),  is  not  apparently  a  mere  is  no  var.  lect.    Fechtrup  confounds  him 

plural  equivalent  for  qui  hoc  illis patro-  (p.  202)  with  Quintus  of  Aggya  which 

cinium  de  sua  auctoritate  prcestat,  who  was  in  the  Proconsular  Province, 

must  be  Stephanus,  and  who  is  again  ^  £pp^   y^.    i,    71.   4.      What   does 

meant  in  Ep.  71.3  pritnatum,  &c.  (see  Peters  mean  in  view  of  the  last  reference 

note  5,  p.  351).  by  saying  on  p.  513  that  we  might  have 

■^  i?/.  71.  4.     Quintus  and  his  ^^i??>iJ-  expected    Cyprian    to   appeal    to    the 

copi  are  spoken  of  as  illic,  and  informed  Council  of  Agrippinus  and  rely  on  that 

of  the  state  of  things  in  Africa  and  Numi-  as  proof  of  custom,  and  that  Cyprian's 

dia  which  followed  Agrippinus'  Council.  not  doing  so  shews  that  he  was  aware 

I  doubt  not  that  Quintus  is  the  Bishop  the  canon  was  not  acted  on? 


"  Ao*^  DOCUMENTS.  35 1 

Next  year,  A.D.  256,  the  question  occupies  the  Bishops  a.d.  156. 
in  their  Council  before  Easter ;  the  Sixth  under  Cyprian  '^'^' 
and    Second    on    Baptism.     They   were    seventy-one    in  ^""^  ^' 

'  Valerius 

number  \     They   formulate   into   a   kind   of  Canon,  applic-  Maximus 
able   to   clergy  who   had    joined   heretical   or    schismatical  Adiius 
bodies   and   then   recanted,   the   same   practice   which   they  ^^^^"°- 
had  adopted  as  to  lapsed    Clerics,  namely  to  restore  them 
simply  to  Lay-Communion.     They  decide   that  baptism  is 
necessary  for  all  converts  from  the  sects.     They  adopt  the 
terrible   phrase   of  'the  stain  of  profane  water  bespotting' 
those  baptized  with  it  ^ 

We  must  note  that  now  the  prelates  of  Africa  and 
Numidia^  are  sitting  together,  and  are  unanimous  under 
Cyprian  in  re-affirming  the  old  decision  of  their  own  prede- 
cessors under  Agrippinus.  A  synodical  letter  from  them 
was  forwarded  to  Stephanus  at  Rome.  The  letter  to  the 
Numidians  and  the  letter  to  Ouintus  were  enclosed  with 
it.  It  is  an  unconciliatory  document,  and  hints  conscious- 
ness of  the  offence  which  it  will  give*. 

Stephen  had  however  among  Cyprian's  bishops  those  who 
sympathized  with  him^:  one  of  these,  or,  as  it  has  been 
surmised,  Stephen  himself  through  them,  circulated  an  au- 
thoritative paper,  recognising  the  baptism  of  even  Marcion® 
by  name.     A  copy  of  it,  with  some  other   arguments,  was 

^  -^P-  73-  !•  '  Quidamdecollegisnostris,  ^/. 71. 1. 

2  Epp.  72.  I ;  73.  I.  Cyprian  had  used  Cf.  Quidam  de  collegis,  Senti.  Epp.  59. 
the  expression  in  its  fullest  strength  in  Quidam  nostri  praevaricatores  veritatis, 
De  Unitaie,  c.  12,  and  adhered  to  it  in  Sentt.  Epp.  38,  and  see  note  I,  p.  350. 
his  first  letter,  to  Magnus  {Ep.  69.  16).  «  Ep.  73.  4.  Cf.  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Do- 
Optatus  endorses  it,  solely  with  reference  natt.\\\,yi.v'\.  {30).  Rettberg,  p.  178, cites 
to  the  Patripassians,  Bk  v.  c.  1.  Constant,  Epp.  pont.  p.  226,  and  agrees 

3  In  A.D.  312  the  relations  of  Numidia  that  this  document  was  a  copy  of  Ste- 
to  Carthage  were  not  held  to  be  defi-  phen's  letter  to  the  East.  No  evidence, 
nitively  settled.  Hefele,  B.  i.  c.  iii.  Peters  thinks  that  it  was  the  extant 
§  14-  tract  De  Rebaptismate,  which   renders 

*  Augustine  does  not  seem  to  have       it  doubtful  whether  he  can  have  read 
seen     this    letter,    which    is    strange.        that  tract  through. 
Jerome  mentions  it  adv.  Luciferian,  25. 


352  THE  BAPTISMS  ..xoS. 

forwarded  to  Cyprian  by  Jubaian,  a  prelate  of  Mauretania, 
who  felt  himself  much  exercised  by  their  strength.  The 
Mauretanians  had  not  been  represented  in  the  old  Council  of 
Agrippinus,  and  the  opening  now  occurred  for  securing  them 
upon  a  new  one.  Cyprian  answered  these,  and  in  so  elabo- 
rate a  form,  that  at  the  final  Council  he  read  his  answer 
as  the  complete  exposition  of  his  views,  supplementing  it 
with  Jubaian's  grateful  and  convinced  reply.  This  letter  was 
accompanied  to  its  first  destination  by  copies  of  the  docu- 
ments that  had  been  sent  to  Stephen,  and  a  codex  of  '  The 
Excellency  of  Patience.' 

A  deputation  of  bishops  from  Cyprian  now  went  to 
Rome  and  waited  upon  Stephen,  as  bearers  either  of  the  last- 
named  or  of  some  separate  epistle.  Some  little  graciousness 
might  have  made  much  of  so  conciliatory  an  act.  But  (so  at 
least  Firmilian  relates  the  incident  amid  his  condolences*)  no 
audience  was  allowed  them  either  public  or  private;  and  the 
Roman  congregation  was  desired  to  shew  them  no  hospitality 
or  attention'^. 

Nevertheless,  the  letter  was  answered',  and  that  in  terms 
appreciative  of  the  importance  of  the  situation  and  of  the 
greatness  of  the  baptismal  gift*,  large  in  charity  towards 
Separatists,  and  not  deigning  to  argue  at  length.  Stephen 
asserted  in  it  the  apostolic  authority  of  a  distinct  tradition 
for  the  Roman  usage",  magnified  the  chair  of  Peter*,  and 
vituperated  Cyprian  as  'a  false  Christ,  a  false  apostle,  a 
treacherous  worker^' 

Lamentable  language :  yet  Cyprian's  qualification  of  dis- 
sentient colleagues  as  'Fautors  of  Antichrist'  and  '  Traitors 
to  the  Church®'  laid  him  open  to  it. 

^  E/>.  75.  25.  and  the  Africans  together,  a  theory  not 

2  Labbe,  Cone.  1. 1,  p.  771,  makes  this  yet  ventured  on. 
an  embassy  of  excommunicated  Oriental  ^  £/>.  74.  i.  *  £/>.  75.  17. 

bishops.     But  the  reference  of  the   a  "  E/>.  75.  5,  6  (compare  £/>.  73.  13). 

quibus  is  to  vobiscum  {Ep.  75.  25),  the  *  Ep.  75.  17. 

Africans ;  or  else  to  both  the  Orientals  ''  Ep.  75.  1*,.         *  Ep.  69.  ro. 


VIII.  II.  2. 


ACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


353 


Stephen  however  had  by  this  time  issued  a  paper*  which 
awakened  a  universal  storm  of  indignation  and  dispute* 
among  the  Bishops  of  the  East',  or,  according  to  the  more 
guarded  statement  of  Dionysius  the  Great,  among  the  Bishops 
of  Asia  Minor*.  He  threatened  to  withdraw  from  their  com- 
munion. 

To  assume  that  Stephen  had  already  rebuked  these 
Bishops  of  the  East  when  Cyprian  first  mooted  in  Africa 
the  question  of  rebaptism"  is  one  of  the  Roman  modes  of 
at  once  exhibiting  his  vast  jurisdiction  and  of  softening  the 
blameworthiness  of  his  asperity  towards  so  great  a  saint. 
But  this  was  not  so.  The  thought  contradicts  all  our  docu- 
ments upon  critical  examination'.  Stephen  quarrelled  with 
Cyprian  first,  and  then  turned  on  those  who  were  sure  to  side 
with  him.  No  doubt  the  relations  of  the  Roman  bishop  with 
the  East  must  have  been  somewhat  complicated  by  the  pro- 
pension  which  the  late  patriarch  of  Antioch  had  exhibited 


^  'EireffTdXKCt  /xev  otv  irp&repov,  Euseb. 
If.  E.  vii.  5. 

'  Ep.  75.  24  'Lites  enim  et  dissen- 
siones  quantas  parasti  per  ecclesias 
totius  mundi  ? ' 

3  Ep.  75.  25. 

■*  Euseb.  vii.  5. 

'  So  Maran  and  Hefele,  B.  i.  c.  ii. 
§  6.     Rettberg  agrees. 

*  Apart  from  the  erroneous  date  253 
which  Maran  {Vit.  Cypr.  xxix.)  and 
others  have  assigned  to  Stephen's  de- 
nunciation of  the  Orientals  in  order  to 
bring  it  earlier  than  his  controversy 
with  Cyprian  (since  we  now  know  that 
Stephen's  accession  was  not  earlier  than 
about  May  12,  254),  the  conclusion  is 
against  the  whole  tenor  of  our  docu- 
ments. 1.  How  Eusebius  writes  we 
have  seen  (Note  on  Dates,  p.  347). 
The  opening  strife  is  seen  by  him 
in  Cyprian's  movement  and  Stephen's 
indignation.  2.  Dionysius  in  the  frag- 
ment of  his  Second  Letter  preserves  a 


fragment  of  his  First.  In  this  the 
words  U)S  ovhk  ^(cetVots  KOivwvT^ffuv  5io 
TTJv  avTT]v  ra&rrjv  alrlav  clearly  shew 
Stephen  to  be  already  for  the  same 
Baptismal  cause  in  collision  with  some 
other  church :  and  none  but  the  African 
is  possible.  3.  Dionysius'  series  of 
letters  has  one  to  Stephen  in  his  three 
years'  seat  and  three  to  his  successor 
who  sate  one.  It  may  fairly  be  inferred 
that  the  close  of  Stephen's  time  saw 
the  commencement  of  the  correspon- 
dence. These  points  are  brought  out  by 
both  Peters  and  Fechtrup.  On  the  other 
hand  Maran  urged  a  rhetorical  phrase 
of  Firmilian's  (Ep.  75.  25)  'Stephen 
quarrels  now  with  the  Easterns,  now 
with  you'  as  if  it  were  a  chronological 
note  of  the  order  of  events.  And  Peters 
instead  of  dealing  rationally  with  the 
words  suggests  that  probably  the  vanity 
of  Firmilian  caused  him  the  subjective 
sensation  of  having  been  assailed  first. 


B. 


23 


354  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

toward  Novatian,  nor  was  it  a  meaningless  anxiety  which 
lurked  under  Stephen's  complaint  of  *  treachery.'  But  it  was 
a  weakness  and  an  error  to  urge  upon  such  men  an  un- 
reasoned conformity ;  to  threaten  that  he  would  hold  no 
communion  with  bishops  who  used  second  baptism.  They 
had  what  they  thought  immemorial  usage^  and  their  recent 
Councils  behind  them ;  and  he  but  smote  a  rock.  The  most 
conspicuous  Churchman  of  the  day,  Firmilian,  metropolitan 
of  Cappadocia,  replied  '  Thou  hast  excommunicated  thine 
own  self.' 

Did  Stephen  excommunicate  the  Bishops  of  the  East? 

Our  only  original  materials  for  settling  whether  Stephen  carried  his 
threat  further  z.r&  Epp.  74.  8;  75.  24;  Dionys.  ap.  Eus.  vii.  5.  There 
is,  I  think,  just  critical  light  enough  to  arrive  at  the  fact.  Supposing 
Dionysius  had  written  that  Stephen  cVfcrroXKei  on  ov  Koivamja-oi  (as 
Thucyd.  8.  99  writes  e7r€0TaXK«i...0Ti  ovtc  al  vrjes  irapftToivro  ac.t.X.)  even 
this  would  not  have  said  more  than  that  he  threatened.  But  he  writes 
eVfoxaXKet  o5v  ov  Koivrnvrjaav,  and  this  subjective  wj  marks  a  distinct  sub- 
traction from  the  actuality  of  the  verb  [being  used  as  Henri  Estienne 
says  ^  cogitationis  vel  consilii  indicandi  causa  quo  quis  aliquid  facit  vel 
facere  se  simulat  vel  aliis  videtur.'  Thesaurus  G.  L.  ed.  Hase,  and  Dindorf 
VIII.  col.  2085.  L.]  (Winer,  Gr.  Gr.  Part  ill.  65.  9.)  Also  Cyprian  says 
Stephen  ^ saiC&rdo\.QS...abstinendos putat'  {Ep.  74.  8)  and  Firmilian  '•putas 
omnes  a  te  abstineri  posse'  (75.  24).  Both  imply  that  the  note  had  been 
sounded,  but  not  that  the  deed  was  done.  If  these  passages  proved 
the  excommunication  they  would  prove  it  to  be  earlier  than  the  Third 
Council,  but  Cyprian's  speech  {Sentt.  Epp.  Proem.)  shews  that  'com- 
pliance' had  not  then  'been  enforced  by  terror.'  '...quisquam  nostrum^ 
there  cannot  of  course  mean  Africans  as  against  Romans. 


Dionysius  the  Great. 

Two  of  Stephen's  leading  presbyters,  Philemon  and  Diony- 
sius a  learned^  successor  of  his  own,  in  the  first  instance 
shared  his  views  and  supported  his  action.     Later  on  they 

^  'A  Christo  et  ab  Apostolis,'  Ep.  ^  X67t6s  re  koX  OaufiaffLos,  Eus.  vii.  7. 

75-  19- 


VIII.  II.  2.         ACTS,  ETC. — DIONYSIUS  THE  GREAT.  355 

consulted  the  great  Dionysius  at  Alexandria\  He  replied,  as 
he  himself  observes,  at  first  briefly  and  then  at  some  length. 
In  the  fragment  of  his  letter  to  Philemon,  which  Eusebius  has 
preserved,  he  mentions  that  from  his  predecessor  Heraclas  he 
had  received  it  as  a  rule,  not  to  rebaptize  returning  heretics  : 
but  he  is  here  speaking  only  of  such  as  had  been  baptized 
before  their  error:  an  exception  which  even  Cyprian  allowed'. 
Clement  of  Alexandria  had  however  more  than  doubted  the 
reality  of  heretical  baptism,  for  he  glosses  one  of  the  strange 
phrases  interpolated  by  the  Seventy  in  the  ninth  chapter  of 
Proverbs  'so  wilt  thou  cross  over  the  water  of  strangers'  by 
the  words  'Wisdom  here  accounteth  the  heretic  baptism  to 
be  no  native,  genuine  water^'  But  no  Egyptian  synod  had 
then  taken  up  the  question,  and  determined  it.  So  far  from 
this,  that  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  in  his  letter  to  Xystus 
of  Rome*  relates  a  moving  story  of  his  own  resistance  to 
the  entreaties,  tears  and  prostrations  of  an  aged  Catholic 
who  discovered  his  own  Baptism  to  have  been  utterly  hereti- 
cal. He  encouraged  him  to  have  no  scruples ;  his  long  life 
in  the  Communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  counter- 
vailed every  incompleteness.  He  failed  to  persuade  the  old 
man,  who  dared  not  communicate  and  scrupled,  as  if  un- 
baptized,  even  to  attend  the  prayers.  Yet,  although  ready 
to  be  advised  by  Xystus,  Dionysius  could  not  upon  his  own 
convictions  give  way :  so  important  did  he  deem  it  that  the 
relations  of  communions  to  each  other  should  not  be  at  the 
mercy  of  the  weak  and  scrupulous.    Again  we  must  remember 

^  I  am  not  clear  that  they  did  not  letter  to  Xystus  that  he  mentions  the 
write  to  Dionysius  even  in  Stephen's  fact,  and  the  fuller  letters  (which  re- 
lifetime.    ...(TviJ.\pi^^oLsirp6T€pov  Zretpavcp  main)  are  written  in  Xystus'  time. 
yevo/xivois,  koX  irepl  ti2v  avrdv  /tot  yp6.-  '  Euseb.  vii.  7.     Ep.  74.  12. 
^oi/<rt...Euseb.  H.  E.  vii.  5.    The  latter           ^  On  Prov.  ix.   18  Sia^yjffr]  v5wp  a\- 
participle  in  the  absence  of  any  limiting  Xorpiov — rb  /SaTrrtcTyaa  to   aiperiKbv   ovk 
particle  (and  if  they  had  just  written  oUelov  Kal  yvriffiov  vSup  Xoyij^ofi^vt}  (2o- 
he  would  have  said  ypa\paa-i)  is  rather  </>la).     Strom.  I.  xix. 
imperfect   than   present — 'were   corre-          ■•  His  5th  on  Baptism,  Euseb.  vii.  9. 
spondents  of  mine.'     But  it  is  in  his 

23—2 


356  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

that  his  severe  language  about  Novatian  is  extracted  from  one 
of  his  Baptismal  Letters,  namely  the  fourth  to  his  namesake 
at  Rome ;  that  it  is  severe  on  account  of  the  hard  separatism 
of  the  sectarian,  and  that  one  trait  of  this  separatism  is 
that  by  Rebaptism  *  he  sets  at  nought  the  Holy  Font\'  It 
seems  clear  then  that  he  agreed,  as  did  the  two  Roman 
presbyters,  with  Stephen's  theory.  But  he  was  shocked  with 
his  want  of  delicacy,  and  addressed  to  him  an  earnest 
entreaty  not  to  be  severe  upon  a  practice  resting  on  such 
authority  of  old  bishops  and  councils*.  We  know  also  that 
he  admitted  the  Baptism  of  Montanists,  at  which  Basil' 
expresses  surprise,  considering  this  to  be  a  distinct  Heresy 
about  the  Godhead.    But  here  Dionysius  was  better  informed. 

It  is  difficult  then  to  reconcile  with  these  fragmentary 
facts  which  we  know,  Jerome's  statement  that  Dionysius 
'  consented  to  the  dogma'  of  Cyprian*.  Still  it  may  be 
argued  that  Basil  would  not  have  been  so  surprised  as  he  was 
at  Dionysius,  if  his  view  of  Montanism  had  not  seemed  an 
exception  to  his  view  of  other  heresies,  and  that  he  would 
have  been  more  surprised  if  he  had  admitted  the  baptism 
of  all.  For  Basil  is  mistakenly  persuaded  that  a  difference 
had  been  already  at  that  early  date  defined  between  heretical 
and  schismatical  baptism  and  that  the  latter  was  admissible. 

Perhaps  we  may  infer  from  all  that  is  before  us  that 
Dionysius  held  a  policy  not  unlike  Basil's  own  about  the 
Kathari :  and  would  have  had  every  country  observe  its  own 
tradition.  While  he  himself  would  have  accepted  Stephen's 
clientele,  he  was  not  willing  that  Africa  and  Asia  should  be 
interfered  with.  Such  a  policy  suits  the  broad  and  tolerant 
character  of  Dionysius'  mind  and  the  hypothesis  harmonizes 
the  various  statements. 


^  Euseb.  H.  E.  vii.  8.    By  the  light  of  ^  aKoiret   to  /liyedoi  rod  irpdyfjuiTos, 

his  fifth  letter  and  Cyprian's  '  Novatian-  Euseb.  vii.  5. 

enses  rebaptizare, '  £p.  73.  2,  it  is  plain  '  Epist.  188,  Canon  I. 

that  Rebaptism  is  meant.  *  De  Vir.  Illustr.  c.  69. 


VIII.  II.  2.      ACTS,  ETC. — DIONYSIUS  THE  GREAT.  35/ 

His  middle  position  is  not  that  of  one  who  is  not  strict 
or  whose  mind  is  not  made  up\  His  information  increased 
with  his  enquiries,  but  his  views  and  his  conduct  were  con- 
sistent throughout.  His  view  was  that  heretics  may  be  validly 
admitted  without  second  baptism,  but  that  churches  which 
ruled  otherwise  must  not  be  overruled  from  without.  His  con- 
duct was  very  decisive.  Thanks  to  Eusebius  we  possess  the 
outlines  and  fragments  of  five  Letters  which  he  wrote  '  On 
Baptism'  to  Rome^  His  First  was  to  Stephen;  a  fulP 
letter,  called  forth  by  one  from  Stephen,  of  which  the 
address  is  not  given,  but  the  subject  was  'about  Helenus  of 
'  Cilicia  and  Firmilian  of  Cappadocia  and  all  (the  bishops) 
'of  their  provinces  and  of  all  the  neighbouring  tribes.' 
'About  them'  he  repeated  the  censure  and  the  threatening 
with  which  he  had  already  approached  Cyprian,  declaring 
'that  he  would  not  communicate  with  them  either,'  and  'for 
the  self-same  cause.'  Dionysius  addressed  him  in  the  in- 
terests of  peace.  He  delineated  the  restored  tranquillity 
of  the  Eastern  church.  Persecution  past ;  the  Antiochene 
Patriarch  who  had  leaned  to  Novatian  succeeded  by  one  of 
comprehensive  sympathies;  Jerusalem,  Caesarea  and  Tyre,  the 
Syrias  and  Arabia  grateful  for  Roman  beneficence ;  Meso- 
potamia, Pontus,  Bithynia — all  exulting  in  brotherly  concord. 
The  chord  which  plainly  he  hopes  to  touch  in  Stephen's 
heart  is  the  near  fulfilment  of  the  Pentecostal  foreshadowing. 
Of  Saint  Luke's  list  are  wanting  only  Parthia  and  Persia, 
for  Egypt  and  Rome  are  the  correspondents  and  Africa  is 
the  unnamed  subject.  '  How  grievous,'  is  Dionysius'  evident 
inference,  *  that  such  unity  should  be  vexed  by  threatenings.' 

Of  the  three  next  letters  we  have  spoken  already. 

The  candid  and  enquiring  mind  of  him  who  was  not  afraid 

^  As  Rettberg.  must   be   the  same  which   he   himself 

"  Euseb.  H.  E.  vii.  2 — 9.  describes  in  his  'Second  on  Baptism' 

^  7rXe?<rTa...6/xiX^(ra5,  Euseb.   vii.   4.  addressed    to    Xystus,    Stephen's   suc- 

Cf.  2,  5.     This  'The  First  on  Baptism'  cessor.     Euseb.  vii.  5. 


3S8  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

of  studying  the  attractive  literature  of  heretics,  because  (as 
he  tells  the  Roman  presbyter)  the  Divine  voice  reminded 
him  that  he  was  '  capable  of  criticizing  and  that  such  fearless 
study  had  brought  him  to  the  faith  at  first,'  comes  out  in 
delicate  touches.  His  earliest  letter  urges  on  Stephen  the 
general  ground  of  the  peace  of  the  Church,  without  refer- 
ence to  authority.  Of  the  Rebaptizing  Councils  he  then 
seems  to  know  nothing.  But  to  Xystus  he  writes,  *  I  find  by 
^enquiry  that  decrees  have  been  made  in  this  sense  in  the 
'  greatest  episcopal  synods,'  and  to  Dionysius  '  I  have  learnt 
this  too,'  meaning  the  copious  precedents,  and  particularly 
the  Councils  of  Iconium  and  Synnada\ 

Greatly  then  to  be  regretted  is  the  loss  of  a  sixth 
Letter — written  in  the  name  of  the  church  of  Alexandria 
by  their  bishop  and  containing  his  final  discussion^  of  the 
whole  question.  We  may  nevertheless  be  assured  that  his 
conclusions  were  the  same  pacific  and  truthful  ones  to  which 
he  pointed  all  through.  Had  he  really  decided  either  for 
Rebaptism  (as  Jerome  heard)  or  against  Cyprian,  this  would 
have  been  the  most  important  factor  in  the  controversy;  and 
Eusebius  could  not  have  failed  to  record  it.  His  silence 
implies  that  he  had  already  indicated  sufficiently  the  lines 
laid  down  by  Dionysius  the  Great. 

To  return  to  Carthage.  One  last  enquirer  now  appears, 
Pompey,  the  bishop  of  Sabrata  upon  the  Syrtis,  in  the  later 
province  of  Tripoli.  He  had  received  the  circulated  docu- 
ments and  was  anxious  to  learn  how  Stephen  had  replied  to 
them.  Cyprian  sends  him  Stephen's  epistle  to  himself,  with 
an  antidote  of  his  own^ — a  fine  letter  though  not  moderate*. 

1  TTw^cwo/iiaiEuseb./f.  £.vii.  5,/te/Mt-  of  his  First  Letter;  which  is  true,  but 

Bj]Ka.  vii.  7.  I  must  here  justify  Peters  (p.  not  as  from  the  letter  itself,  only  in  his 

502)  against  Fechtrup  (p.  ^■3,'^)  in  lapng  account  of  it. 

stress  on  the  expressions  ot  Dionysius.  *  5ia  fiaKpas  airoSel^ews.  Euseb.  vii.  9. 

Fechtrup  says  that  Dionysius  mentions  '  Porapeio  Fratri,  £p.  74. 

the  Councils  in  his  account  to  Xystus  *  Dial.  c.  Lticiferian  §  17. 


VIII.   II.   2.      ACTS,   ETC. — DIONYSIUS  THE  GREAT.  359 

One  of  those  which  Jerome  calls  '  a  rending  of  Stephen  and 
of  "  the  error''  of  inveterate  tradition.'  In  the  course  of  it  he 
lays  down  the  principles  of  a  true  Reformation  (and  such  he 
conceived  his  own  measures  to  be)  in  lines  which  the  historian 
of  our  own  Reformation  might  adopt  for  his  proem.  '  Reli- 
'  gious  and  single-hearted  minds  have  a  short  method  to  dis- 
'  burden  themselves  of  error,  and  to  discover  and  develop 
'  truth.  For  if  we  turn  back  to  the  fountain-head  and  source 
'of  the  Divine  tradition,  the  human  error  disappears;  the  plan 
'of  the  heavenly  mysteries  is  perceived,  and  all  that  lay 
'  darkling  under  the  gloom  and  mists  of  darkness  opens  out 
'  into  the  light  of  truth.  If  some  aqueduct,  whose  stream  was 
'  ever  large  and  copious  before,  fails  suddenly,  do  we  not  pro- 
'  ceed  to  its  fount,  there  to  learn  the  nature  of  that  failure  ; 
'whether  its  flow  has  dwindled  at  the  source  through  the 
'  drying  up  of  the  veins,  or  whether  indeed  it  gushes  thence 
'  in  full  unshrunken  volume,  but  has  failed  in  mid  course } 
'  that  so,  if  it  is  the  fault  of  a  broken  or  porous  channel  that 
'  the  water  does  not  run  in  uninterrupted  flow,  unceasingly 
'  and  perpetually,  the  channel  may  be  repaired  and  strength 
'  ened,  and  the  collected  waters  be  delivered  for  the  use  and 
'  drinking  of  the  city  in  all  the  self-same  richness  and  purity 
'  with  which  they  issue  from  the  spring.  Even  so  God's  priests 
'  must  deal  now,  and  keep  the  Divine  charge ;  so  that,  if  in 
'  aught  truth  totters  and  wavers,  we  turn  back  both  to  its 
'source  in  the  Lord,  and  also  to  its  delivery  by  evangelists 
'  and  apostles,  and  our  plan  of  action  takes  its  rise  where  rose 
'alike  our  order  and  our  beginning V  Considering  that  in 
these  words  Cyprian  is  laying  the  plan  of  a  campaign  against 

^  Ep.   74.    10   'et  ad  originem   do-  Djougar  (Mons  Zeugitanus  and  Mons 

minicam  et  ad  evangelicam  adque  apo-  Zuccharus)     through    channels    sixty 

stolicam  traditionem.'     The  length  and  miles  long,    part  buried,   part  on   the 

detail  of  the  simile  may  seem  to  point  surface    of  the    slopes,    part    on    vast 

to  some  recent  incident  of  management  arches,    it  poured    in    Cyprian's   days 

on  the  wonderful  Aqueduct  of  Carthage.  seven  millions  of  gallons  daily  into  the 

From  the   '  heads '   in   Zaghouan  and  city  and  neighbourhood,  the  '  civitas' 


36o  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Rome,  it  is  clear  that  Rome  was  not  to  him  the  'fountain' 
or  the  '  beginning '  of  either  doctrine  or  order. 

He  closes  his  letter  with  a  canon  framed  as  an  amend- 
ment on  that  of  Stephen  with  which  he  opens.  Pompeius  if 
he  had  wavered  was  convinced,  and  his  proxy  is  presented  by 
his  neighbour,  Bishop  Natalis,  of  QEa,  at  the  next  Council  *. 


That  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  Letters  are  missing  from  the 
Correspondence  with  Stephen. 

The  above  is  a  simple  and  sufficient  account  of  the  circumstances  of 
the  correspondence.  Rettberg  (pp.  i8i  sqq.)  admires  Mosheim's  'dis- 
covery' of  other  letters,  and  thus  arranges  the  extant  and  supposed 
documents,  i.  The  Synodal  Letter,  Cyprian  to  Stephen,  Epistle  72. 
2.  Stephen's  reply,  lost:  Cyprian  mentions  it  in  Ep.  74  to  Pompeius, 
'in  moderate  terms  as  a  moderate  paper';  and  'would  have  written  more 
'harshly  if  he  had  been  characterized  in  that  letter  as  he  was  in  the  one 
'seen  by  Firmilian' :  to  Pompeius  he  also  uses  metaphors  and  arguments 
not  used  in  the  Synodal  Letter,  but  quoted  by  Firmilian  as  occurring  in 
Cyprian's  letter  to  Stephen  ;  whence  is  inferred  3.  A  reply  from  Cyprian 
to  Stephen  lost,  moderate  of  tone,  and  resefnbling  that  to  Pompeius  in 
argument  and  illustration.  4-  Stephen's  second  reply  to  Cyprian,  lostj 
inhuman  in  character ;  the  one  described  by  Firmilian.  5.  The  Lega- 
tion-letter from  Cyprian  to  Stephen,  &c.,  lost. 

The  detection  of  lost  documents  is  a  diversion  for  critics.  But  I  see 
no  evidence  of  any  of  these  having  existed  except  of  course  the  Letter 
of  Stephen.  Evidently  that  which  Pompeius  saw  was  the  same  which 
Firmilian  saw,  even  if  not  the  same  that  was  sent  to  the  Oriental 
bishops ;  and  the  Legation  probably  presented  the  Synodal  Letter  only. 
For  (i)  Firmilian  nowhere  alludes  to  a  letter  from  Cyprian  to  Stephen 
as  enriched  with  those  metaphors,  &c.  The  Garden,  the  Fountain, 
the  Ark,  the  Apostolic  tradition  of  Rebaptism,  are  plainly  taken  from 
Cyprian's  letter  to  Firmilian  himself.  (2)  The  Synodal  Letter  was 
Cyprian's  ultimatum.  It  left  the  question  thenceforward  in  the  hands 
of  the  bishops.  Accordingly  the  next  declaration  is  'The  sentences  of 
the  bishops '  one  by  one.  The  force  of  that  declaration  is  thus  ac- 
counted for.  (3)  As  to  the  argument  that  Cyprian  would  in  writing  to 
Pompeius  have  been  stung  to  sharper  retaliation  on  Stephen  if  he  had 
seen  what  Stephen,  according  to  Firmilian,  said  of  him,  we  may  consider 
that  Augustine  was  impressed  by  the  '  moderation '  of  Cyprian ;  and  that 
there  is  surely  strength  enough   in  such   phrases  as  'everything  else, 

1  Sentt.  Epp.  84. 


VIII.  II.  2.  ACTS    AND   DOCUMENTS.  361 

'whether  haughty,  irrelevant,  or  self-contradictory,  which  Stephanus 
'  ignorantly  and  unadvisedly  wrote'  {Ep.  74.  i).  Then,  seeing  that  Stephen's 
supposed  ^moderate'  letter  is  described  as  evincing  'eagerness  for  pre- 
sumption and  contumacy,'  and  made  Cyprian  in  his  'moderate'  reply  ex- 
claim that,  if  such  principles  prevail,  'we  must  give  up  to  the  Devil  the 
'ordinance  of  the  Gospel,  the  dispensation  of  Christ,  the  majesty  of  God... 
'The  Church  must  give  place  to  heretics,  light  to  dark...,  hope  to  despair..., 
'reason  to  error...,  immortal  life  to  death...,  truth  to  fiction...,  Christ  to 
'Antichrist'  {Ep.  74.  8);  seeing  also  that  the  same  letter  of  Stephen's 
went  the  length  of  saying  that  dissentient  bishops  should  be  excommuni- 
cated {sacerdotes  abstinendi),  we  may  allow  that  it  was  probably  in  its 
personal  parts  strong  enough  to  have  been  the  one  which  Firmilian  saw. 


That  the  Epistle  to  Poinpey  {Ep.  74)  and  Stephen's  Epistle  quoted  therein 
are  earlier  than  the  Third  Council  on  Baptism. 

It  has  been  maintained  (O.  RitschI,  pp.  113  f.)  that  Cyprian's  opening 
address  to  the  Third  Council  on  Baptism,  leaving  liberty  of  action  to  all 
bishops,  is  a  kind  of  offered  compromise  or  conciliation  to  Stephen;  and 
that  therefore  the  letter  to  Pompey  (.£/.  74),  shewing  relations  with  Stephen 
to  be  at  an  end,  must  be  dated  after  that  Council ;  and  therefore  also  the 
letter  of  Stephen,  which  is  criticized  in  it,  must  be  a  rescript  of  Stephen's 
after  his  receiving  the  Report  of  that  Council  from  Cyprian. 

But  the  speech  of  Cyprian  is  no  olive-leaf.  It  states  the  position  of 
tolerance  which  he  takes  as  against  one  who  wants  to  make  himself  a 
bishop  of  bishops,  and  who  by  '  tyrannous  terror '  seeks  to  force  obedience 
on  colleagues.     {Sentt.  Epp.  Proerti.) 

Again  the  extracts  from  Stephen's  Letter,  contained  in  Ep.  74,  are 
mainly  argu7nents,  from  practice  of  heretics,  from  traditions,  backed  by  a 
threat  of  excommunication — the  very  point  touched  in  Cyprian's  speech — 
arguments  embodied  to  be  refuted  in  a  long  argumentative  letter  from 
Cyprian  to  a  neighbouring  suffragan  who  enquires  'what  reply  Stephen 
has  sent  him  to  our  document' — quid inihi ad litteras  nostras. ..rescripserit'^. 
They  belong  to  the  progress  of  the  discussion;  and  wear  no  semblance  of 
a  Roman  ultimatum  answering  the  ultimatum  of  a  Council  of  three  pro- 
vinces ;  and  the  letter  which  contains  them  makes  no  allusion  whatever 
to  a  Council  so  important,  as  settling  the  whole  question  for  all  Africa, 
that,  if  it  had  sate  and  reported  before  that  letter  was  written,  it  could  not 
but  have  been  mentioned. 

If  the  contents  of  one  letter  ever  established  its  place  in  a  series,  the 
74th  letter  to  Pompey  and  the  letter  of  Stephen  which  it  quotes  preceded 
the  Third  Council. 

1  Ep.  74.  I. 


362  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

That  Ep.  72  to  Stephen  is  rightly  put  down  to  the  Second  Council  on 
Baptism  not  the  Third. 

It  has  been  ingeniously  maintained  (O.  Ritschl,  pp.  114  ff.)  that  Epistle 
72  is  the  Synodal  Letter  not  of  the  Second  but  of  the  great  Third  Council : 
(i)  Because  it  takes  that  standpoint  as  to  the  liberty  of  bishops  which 
Cyprian  takes  in  his  address  to  the  Third  Council.  Answer.  It  is  the 
same  view  which  Cyprian  uniformly  takes.  Cf  Ep.  55.  21 ;  69. 17 ;  73.  26. 
(2)  Because,  if  the  Spring  (or  Easter)  Council  had  already  sent  so  decisive 
a  letter  to  Stephen  as  this  72nd  no  third  Council  need  have  been  specially 
convened,  as  this  was  for  September  the  same  year.  Answer.  Stephen's 
reply  to  the  Second  Council-letter  was  so  truculent,  as  its  relics  in  Ep.  74 
shew,  that  it  was  essential  to  present  to  him  the  strongest  African  front 
possible.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  convene  the  Mauretanians,  as 
well  as  the  Africans  and  Numidians  who  formed  the  Second  Council. 
And  Ritschl  himself  thinks  this  was  so  important  that  he  actually  believes 
(p.  1 17)  that  the  determining  to  convene  the  Mauretanians  was  a  solid  part 
of  the  business  of  the  Second  Council.  [He  believes  also  that  he  has 
shewn  that  Ep.  74  and  its  quotations  from  Stephen's  letter,  are  later  than 
this  Council ;  but  there  he  fails.     See  last  note.]  (3)  Because  the 

mention  of  the  Second  Council  in  Ep.  73.  i  does  not  imply  that  a  letter 
was  sent  to  Stephen.  Answer.  It  was  not  absolutely  necessary  to  say 
so  in  telling  Jubaian  what  the  resolution  was,  even  if  a  letter  went  to 
Stephen.  But  the  position  of  the  Third  Council  is  rather  that  of  a 
tremendous  demonstration,  by  an  utterance  obtained  from  every  single 
bishop,  upon  Stephen's  threat  of  excommunication.  Their  mere  opinion 
had  been  sent  to  Stephen  before,  more  than  once,  and  it  does  not  appear 
that  any  letter  was  sent  by  the  Third  Council.  The  Sententia  were 
enough.  (4)  Because  (p.  116)  letter  72  itself  states  that  the  Council  from 
which  it  emanated  was  a  specially  convened  one  *■  Ad  qucsdam  disponenda 
necesse  habuimus... eager e  et  celebrare  concilium^  whereas  the  Second 
Council  was  the  ordinary  Easter  (or  Spring)  Meeting  of  Bishops  at 
Carthage.  Answer.     Ritschl's  quotation  is  unconsciously  not  quite 

candid.  If  the  words  which  he  represents  (and  does  not  represent)  by 
dots  are  inserted  the  sentence  is  ^ Ad  qucedam  disponenda  et  consilii 
'communis  examinatione  limanda  necesse  habuimus,  frater  carissime,  con- 
'venientibus  in  unum  pluribus  sacerdotibus  cogere  et  celebrare  concilium : 
*in  quo  multa  quidem  prolata  adque  exacta  sunt.  Sed  de  eo  vel  maxime 
*tibi  scribendum,  &c.'  {Ep.  72.  i)  (viz.  the  baptismal  question).  Now 

here  Cyprian  plainly  seems  to  say  that  he  felt  obliged  to  take  the  oppor- 
tunity of 'many  bishops  meeting'  to  hold  'a  Council'  in  order  to  arrange, 
exatnine,  and  formulate  certain  things,  and  that  besides  the  one  subject 
on  which  he  wrote  to  Stephen,  there  were  '  many '  others  '  brought  for- 
ward and  disposed  of — It  seems  as  if  a  more  accurate  account  could 
scarcely  be  given  of  the  annual  episcopal  meeting  of  the  year  A.D.  256 


VIII.  II.  2.  ACTS   AND   DOCUMENTS.  363 

being  turned  into  the  Second  Council  of  Carthage  under  Cyprian  on 
Baptism.    The  letter  says  it  came  from  such  a  body^. 

To  this  I  must  add  that  the  description  of  Council  II,  in  Ep.  73.  r 
answers  almost  in  words  to  the  description  in  Ep.  72  of  the  Council  from 
which  itself  emanated.     Thus 

Ep.    72.    I    convenientibus    in  Ep.  73.   i  cum   in   unum  con- 

unum  pluribus  sacerdotibus..de  eo  venissemus...episcopi  numero  sep- 

vel  maxime  tibi  scribendum...quod  tuaginta  et  unus..hoc..firmavimus 

magis    pertineat...et    ad    ecclesise  statuentes    unum    baptisma    esse 

catholicae  unitatem..eos  qui  sunt..  quod     sit     in    ecclesia    catholica 

profanae  aquae  labe  maculati,  quan-  constitutum...non    rebaptizari    sed 

do  ad  nos...venennt,  baptizari  opor-  baptizari   a  nobis  quicunque  ab.. 

tere....Tunc    enim    demum    plene  profana    aqua  venientes   abluendi 

sanctificari...salutaris  fidei  veritate  sint  et  sanctificandi  salutaris  aqucC 

servatum.  veritate. 

(5)  Because  Ep.  -j^.  i  says  nothing  about  the  multa  which  Ep.  72.  i 
says  were  handled  in  its  Council.  Answer.  No.  For  Ep.  73  is  answering 
Jubaian's  question  as  to  what  had  been  done  on  one  point. 

(6)  I  add  that  it  is  a  very  strong  point  indeed  that  Ep.  72  mentions 
as  documents  issued  by  Cyprian  prior  to  its  own  Council  only  Epp.  70  and 
71  (to  the  Numidians  and  Quintus),  and  does  not  name  "j^i  (^^o  Jubaian) 
which  Cyprian,  after  it  was  written,  used  quite  as  a  manual  (as  it  is)  of 
arguments  on  his  side,  and  read  as  such  to  the  Third  Council,  li  Ep.  72 
had  emanated  from  the  Third  Council  it  must  have  mentioned  this  Ep.  j-^. 
Ritschl  tries  to  meet  this  by  saying  that  Ep.  73  was  too  rude  to  Stephen 
to  be  sent  to  him — which  is  feeble,  considering  the  language  which  was 
undoubtedly  sent.  Besides,  how  could  that  hold  when  the  Epistle  had 
been  already  read  to  the  whole  Council  ? 

I  know  how  troublesome  all  this  detail  of  restoring  the  documents  to 
their  right  order  is,  but  what  else  can  be  done  when  such  a  scholar  as 
Ritschl  takes  such  infinite  pains  to  dislocate  them  1 


That  Quiei7{s  of  Bio'uc  who  spoke  2jih  in  the  Seventh  Council  is  Quintus 
the  Mauretanian,  recipient  of  Ep.  71. 

Hartel  gives  the  name  of  the  bishop  of  Buruc  who  spoke  in  the 
Seventh  Council  {Sentt.  Epp.  27)  without  various  reading  as  '  Quietus.'' 
So  do  most  editions.  But  PamHe  in  his  text,  Morcelli,  and  Labbe,  I. 
810,  xxvii.,  and  Index,  have  '^ Quintus.'     Here  is  perhaps  an  indication 

^  For  younger  readers  may  I  observe  denuo  which  gives  that  sense ;  but  in 

that  firmare  consilium  does  not  by  itself  Ep.  71.  4  frmavit  is   the  word  used 

imply  an  affirmation  of  a  previous  de-  with  staiuit  of  Agrippinus  himself, 
cision?    In  Ep.    73.   i   it  is  the  word 


364  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

that  there  were  some  MSS.  which  read  'Quintus.'  But  however  that  may 
be,  observing  the  verbal  and  material  correspondences  between  this  short 
speech  and  Cyprian's  letter  to  Quintus  the  Mauretanian  Bishop  {Ep.  71), 
I  cannot  doubt  that  the  speaker  was  Quintus  himself.  There  are  these — 
(a)  The  passage  Qui  baptizatus  a  mortuo  in  Sirach  34.  30,  and  the  strange 
argument  about  baptism  by  the  dead  (p.  41 1  inf.),  are  nowhere  used  by 
Cyprian  except  in  his  letter  to  Quintus ;  and  in  the  Council  no  speaker 
except  this  (Quietus  or)  Quintus  employs  it.  {b)  Sent.  27  qui  ab  hsere- 
ticis  intinguuntur.  Ep.  71.  i  qui  apud  haereticos  tincti  sunt,  {c)  Sent.  27 
uno  vitali  baptismate  quod  in  ecclesia  catholica  est,  et  sanctificari  de- 
bere....£/.  71.  i  unum  baptisma  esse:  quod  unum  scilicet  in  ecclesia 
catholica  est...et  sanctificandi  hominis  potestatem.  {d)  Sent.  27  cur 
ad  ecclesiam  veniunt?...cognito  errore  pristino  ad  veritatem  cum  pceni- 
tentia  revertuntur.  Ep.  71.  2  ad  ecclesiam  revertentes  et  pcenitentiam 
agentes...peccato  suo  cognito  et  errore  digesto.  {e)  Sent.  27  si  enim 
qui  aput  illos  baptizantur  per  remissionem  peccatorum  vitam  aeternam 
consequuntur,  cur  ad  ecclesiam  veniunt.  Ep.  71.  3  sciamus  remissam 
peccatorum  non  nisi  in  ecclesia  dari  posse. 

Labbe  noticed  a  resemblance.  I  have  shewn  elsewhere  [Appendix 
on  Cities,  p.  607]  that  Buruc  was  more  likely  than  not  in  Mauretania.  I 
should  venture  to  read  Sentt.  Epp.  27  QuiNTUS  A  BuRUC. 


The  Seventh  Council  under  Cyprian  and  Third 
ON    Baptism   was   held    on    the    First^   of  September,   A.D. 

^  Mr  Shepherd,  Letter  ii.  p.  14,  com-  allusions?  Yet  doubtless  the  paucity  of 
ments :  '  This  Council  wonderful  to  say  dates  of  any  kind  is  remarkable.  It  is 
has  a  date.'  He  might  have  wondered  connected  with  that  intense  African 
also  that  the  Second  (his  own  Third)  hostility  to  even  civil  forms  that  had 
has  a  date  {Ep.  59.  10).  He  further  been  solemnly  used  by  heathenism, 
thinks  '  it  would  have  been  far  more  which  comes  out  in  Montanism,  Nova- 
natural  to  have  said  A.D.  180  or  some  tianism.Donatism.and  so  fiercely  in Ter- 
such  date,'  for  another  event.  This  cer-  tullian.  It  is  hard  to  impugn  a  council's 
tainly  would  have  been  an  interestingly  genuineness  for  wanting  a  date,  when 
early  use  of  the  Christian  era.  This  the  Council  of  Cirta  (a.  D.  305)  is  ques- 
was  introduced  by  his  favourite  Dio-  tioned  by  the  Donatists  (in  411A.D.), 
nysius  Exiguus,  '  whom  he  would  rather  who  must  have  known  something  of 
have  called  Magnus.'  He  may  be  ex-  African  Christianity,  solely  on  the 
cused  for  not  knowing  that  Baronius  had  ground  that  it  has  a  date.  The  Catho- 
used  up  that  minute  mot,  but  has  he  lies  had  to  reply  that,  though  Donatist 
noticed  how  far  it  was  usual  for  letters  councils  and  documents  were  undated, 
and  events  to  be  carefully  dated  in  those  Catholics  did  not  eschew  dates.  Yet 
times  and  countries?  For  instance,  Au-  it  may  be  that  Donatism  preserved  a 
gustine's  letters  or  TertuUian's  historical  Puritan  tradition  and  that  the  Catholics 


VIII.  II.  2.  ACTS,  ETC — COUNCIL  VII.  (III.),  THE  BISHOPS.    365 

256^ — an  assemblage  of  no  less  than  eighty-seven  bishops  Sep.  i, 
*  from  the  provinces  of  Africa*,  Numidia  and  Mauretania' — a   '  '   ^  ' 
proportionate  representation  of  course  they  could  not  be — 
with'  presbyters  and  deacons,  in  presence  of  a  vast  laity. 

A  great  vision  was  fulfilled.  It  was  given  to  Cyprian  to 
see  in  actual  presence  that  'copious  body  of  bishops'  in 
which  he  had  long  ago  declared  that  the  safety  and  purity 
of  the  Church  lay. 

The  bishops,  it  will  be  borne  in  mind,  were  the  elected 
judges,  overseers  and  teachers  of  the  Christian  section  of  as 
many  African  towns.  No  part  of  the  Empire  was  more  full 
than  Africa  of  intellectual,  civic  and  financial  life.  The 
Christian  section  was  the  army  of  advance  in  things  social, 
moral  and  religious.  It  was  the  section  which  at  present 
found  it  hardest  to  assert  its  rights,  whether  individual  or 
corporate,  in  the  Empire.  Yet  it  was  developing  new  insti- 
tutions theoretically  and  practically.  It  was  already  creating 
a  new  literature,  and  it  had  in  its  bosom  the  constitution  and 
legislation  of  the  future.  Brought  up  •  themselves  in  daily 
sight  of  justice  and  of  rule  the  bishops  had  been  elected 

had  come  to  use  them  more  freely  by  (p.    117)  view  that  Cyprian   found   it 

degrees.     On  the  whole  we  might  be  necessary  to  secure  the  help  of  Maure- 

content  to  admit  for  an  undated  Council  tania  before  venturing  his  step  against 

the  excuse  which  the  Catholics  allowed  Stephen; — twenty-eight  from  the  larger 

for  one  that  the  Donatists  relied  on.  '  It  region    of  Numidia  ;    Mauretania    can 

is  not  dated,  either  year  or  day.     But  have    sent    only   two   suffrages,    those 

we  do  not  mean  to  dispute  it  for  that.  namely  of  Nova  and  Buruc,  and  half 

It  is  more  likely  to  be  due  to  unbusiness  an  interest  in  the  see  of  Tucca.     See 

habits  than  to  fraud.'     See  Augustine,  Appendix  on  Cities,  p.  575,  and  Note  on 

Brev.  Collationis  cum  Donatistis,  tertii  p.  363,  'Quietus  or  Quintus.'    Ep.  "ji 

diei,   cc.   xiv,  xv.  §§  26  and  27.     Cf.  and  Sentt.  Epp.  27. 
Neander  (0/.  cit.),  vol.  III.  p.  263  note.  '  Dr  Pusey,  Councils  of  the  Church, 

^  Firmilian's  letter  was  not  received  p.  73,  lays  stress  on  those  presbyters  and 

until  the  Council  was  over.  deacons  being  stated  in  the  Acts  to  be 

2  Sententicz     Episcoporum,     Proem.  the  presbyters  and  deacons  of  the  re- 

Fifty-five    suffrages    were    from    Pro-  spective  bishops,  'their  presbyters  and 

consular  Africa  (twelve  of  them  from  deacons.'     But  the  word  is  not  in  the 

within  a  circle  of  45  Roman  miles  of  text.  The  laity  are  described  as  mojcima 

Carthage) — this  disposes  of  O.  Ritschl's  pars  plebis. 


366  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

to  their  presidencies  because  in  them  was  recognised  the  true 
spirit  of  rule,  of  instruction,  of  sensible  converse  with  men. 
The  special  saintliness  of  asceticism,  which  might  have  pro- 
cured election  later  on,  had  not  yet  come  into  vogue.  A 
new  spiritual  power  had  'come  into  the  world'  and  it  was 
committed  to  them  to  exercise  it  in  a  world  of  realities. 

The  towns  from  which  they  came,  and  through  which 
they  travelled,  presented  the  social  life  of  the  age  in  almost 
every  aspect — as  simple  '  municipia,'  as  '  free  and  exempt ' 
cities  or  '  republics,'  or  as  '  colonies '  loaded  with  titles  and 
privileges,  and  splendid  with  buildings  which,  like  the 
amphitheatre  of  Thysdrus,  rivalled  or  outdid  the  similar 
structures  of  Rome.  Their  elaborate  official  organizations 
and  their  administrations,  fiscal  and  agrarian,  are  as  well 
known  to  scholars  as  modern  finance  is  to  the  officials  of  our 
Treasury.  The  list  of  towns^  shews  how  immediately  the  early 
Christians  faced  their  problems  by  laying  hold  of  the  centres  of 
life  and  activity.  The  policy  of  the  Christian  Church  was  in 
all  respects  unlike  that  of  the  modern  Missionary  Society. 
It  handled  christianisation  as  the  state  handled  civilisation. 
It  began  with  strong  focal  centres.  It  threw  out  fresh 
centres  as  fast  as  it  could  make  them  strong  and  safe.  It  left 
no  new  focus  unsupported.  It  gave  each  bishop  the  utmost 
independence  consistent  with  unity. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  variety  of  the  social  situations. 
Some  of  these  cities  were  primaeval  settlements  of  Canaan- 
ites,  which  still  used  and  occupied  their  rock-cisterns  and 
half-solid  citadels  or  Bozrahs  of  gigantic  stones ;  which  with 
all  their  accretions  were  yet  governed  by  Sufetes,  the  'Judges' 
of  Palestine,  stamped  their  Phoenician  names  on  their  coinage 
until  late  in  the  Empire,  and  served  Baal  and  Ashtoreth  in 
Imperial  Temples. 

^  See  Appendix  on  the  Lists  of  the  Bishops  came  to  the  Seventh 
Bishops  attending  the  Councils  (p.  565),  Council  on  the  first  of  September  a.d. 
and  Appendix  on  the  Cities  from  which       356  (p.  575). 


VIII.  II.  2.  ACTS,  ETC. — COUNCIL  VII.  (ill.),  THE  BISHOPS.     367 

The  Homeric  Lotus-land,  the  large  low  Isle  of  Meninx, 
just  then  beginning  to  call  itself  Girba,  maintained,  as  it 
does  to-day,  a  pure  Berber  stock  which  had  learnt  of  these 
Canaanites  to  grow  the  best  dates  and  dye  the  brightest  and 
costliest  purples\  They  have  been  impartially  receptive  of 
all  the  successive  faiths  of  the  masters  of  the  mainland. 

The  island  rock  of  Thabraca,  whose  peak  rose  some  three 
or  four  hundred  feet  above  its  busy  little  port  and  the  forests 
of  the  mainland,  was  own  daughter  to  Tyre,  and  mother  of  all 
the  coral  fisheries  of  the  Western  Mediterranean.  And  while 
the  peculiar  Punic  fish-craft  was  then  the  wealth,  as  it  is  still  the 
subsistence,  of  Hippo  Diarrhytus  and  other  towns,  the  bishop 
of  Carpos  was  bishop  of  a  bright  and  fashionable  seaside  spa. 

Of  many  seaports  represented  some  were  still  the  insecure 
little  roadsteads  which  had  for  centuries  shipped  off  the  precious 
yield  of  Numidian  mines,  and  the  homely  produce  of  Kabylian 
farms.  Other  immense  elaborate  harbours  had  grown  up  as 
factories  of  Carthage  ;  others  enclosed  a  vast  precinct  for  the 
chief  corn-markets  of  the  world,  and  depots  for  the  grain  which 
fed  the  proletariat  of  Rome.  Of  these  some  had  once  saved 
their  commerce  by  offering  themselves  to  the  Romans,  as  their 
cousins  the  Gibeonites  offered  themselves  to  Joshua,  or  had 
risen  again  on  such  a  flood  of  exports  and  imports  that  they 
despised  even  the  cruel  impost  which  still  avenged  their 
resistance  to  Julius  Caesar  himself. 

Tripolis  and  the  Emporia  were  rich  and  luxurious  amid 
unceasing  wars  with  the  invading  tribes  and  the  advancing 
sands  of  the  Sahara. 

Other  cities  were  seated  among  illimitable  slopes  of  corn, 
or  overlooking  the  High  Plateaux,  or  among  the  forests 
through  which  ran  chains  of  villages  and  lines  of  road  still 

1  Their  bishop  Monnulus  is  interest-  that  in  a  form  nowhere  else  existing, 

ing,  not  only  for  his  sad  grammar,  but  (Sentt.    Epp.    10.)     See  Appendix   on 

as  using,  to  express  'the  stain  of  error,'  Cities,  p.  575. 
a  very  technical  term  of  Dyeing,  and 


368  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

marked  by  broken  oil-mills,  dry  fountains  and  post-stations. 
Crystal  rivers,  which  after  short  courses  now  plunge  in  sands, 
were  then  banked  and  quayed  and  at  last  led  off  into  a 
thousand  channels  of  irrigation. 

Cirta,  the  old  capital  of  Numidia,  on  earth's  most  perfect 
City-throne,  was  with  consummate  wisdom  long  allowed  to 
maintain  with  four  antient  surrounding  burghs  a  sort  of  unity 
or  republic  of  their  own. 

The  vast  region  of  Mount  Aures  with  its  rich  uplands  and 
inaccessible  lairs  of  restive  tribes  was  girdled  with  a  ring  of 
strong  and  brilliant  towns  and  was  held  chained,  as  it  were, 
to  Carthage  and  its  orderly  powers  by  Hadrian's  great  work, 
the  new  straight  road  of  near  two  hundred  miles  to  Theveste. 
To  that  ring  belonged  the  military  centre  of  Lambaesis,  the 
beautiful  Thamugadi,  the  most  antient  mart  of  commerce, 
and  Theveste,  the  centre  of  communication.  And  these  were 
model  cities  also,  each  a  miniature  Rome  with  every  ap- 
pliance of  domestic,  civic  and  luxurious  existence  that  could 
keep  legions  and  tribes  engaged.  Not  only  theatre  and 
amphitheatre  for  their  dissipated  and  ferocious  amusement, 
temples  to  the  gods  and  genii  of  Health  and  Commerce 
and  Fatherland,  whether  Tyre  or  Rome,  baths,  with  all  their 
amusements,  triumphal  arches  which  set  forth  the  conquests 
of  the  Emperors  and  the  motherliness  of  Empresses,  ample 
basilicas  ready  to  become  churches,  forums  and  mimic 
curiae  in  which  business  was  discussed  by  orators  with  all 
the  semblance  of  freedom.  Here  soldiers  had  unusual  privi- 
leges of  marriage,  and  their  children  were  enrolled  in  an 
honourable  tribe. 

Along  the  Theveste  Road  itself,  constructed  by  the  Third 
Legio  Augusta,  was  a  line  of  fresh  thriving  stations,  with 
here  and  there  an  antient  town  renewed,  so  populous  that 
before  long  there  was  a  Christian  See  every  thirteen  miles  or  so. 

Farther  off  huge  frontier  fortresses,  like  Capsa  'fenced 
with  sands  and  serpents,'  held  the  key  of  Sahara  for  the  whole 


VIII.  II.  2.   ACTS,  ETC.— COUNCIL  VII.  (III.),  THE  BISHOPS.    369 

Tell,  and  controlled  the  caravans  which  laboured  up  and 
down  and  across  the  enormous  basins  of  the  salt  lakes,  or 
like  Gemellae'  created  their  own  oasis  and  there  held  the  utmost 
bastion  of  civilisation  against  the  Spirit  of  the  Desert — who 
after  all  is  master. 

In  safer  districts  lay  what  were  simply  the  adorned  and 
noble  cities  of  Peace — Thuburbo,  Assuras,  Thelepte,  Mac- 
tharis,  and  many  others, — above  all,  Sufetula,  which  was  not 
even  walled. 

In  short,  the  material  spectacle  of  these  African  cities  was 
not  unworthy  of  their  setting  in  Nature.  And  what  more  can 
be  said  ?  There  is  no  measuring  them  by  our  small  and 
sombre  ideas  of  market  towns  and  appropriate  public  works. 

Yet  many  heathen  knew  that  all  the  brilliance  was  dark- 
ened by  a  reckless  using  up  of  life  and  hopelessness  in  death. 
The  Christian  Bishop  in  each  knew  that  he  and  his  were 
armed  with  a  message  of  reality.  To  the  delivery  of  it  it  was 
vital  that  they  should  be  of  one  mind  about  this  '  entering 
into  life.'     Therefore  they  met  at  Carthage  about  Baptism. 

For  the  present  we  regard  the  record  of  the  Council  simply 
as  '  a  Document.'  The  arguments  which  prevailed  in  it  will 
come  later  under  review.  Its  proceedings  were  opened 
by  the  reading  of  the  Jubaian  correspondence,  and  of  the 
letter  to  Stephen*,  with  a  very  few  words  from  the  President, 
which  Augustine  justly  eulogizes  for  their  large  pacific  spirit' 
and  indomitable  tolerance.  Diversity  in  diocesan  practices 
had  no  terrors  for  him,  although  the  responsibility  of  creating 
diversity  seemed  to  him  appalling.  Of  creating  it  himself 
he  was  all  unconscious.  '  Our  present  business,'  he  said, 
'  is  to  state  individually  our  views  of  the  particular  subject 

^  Its  desert  of  Mokran  is  all   inter-  >?//•  82). 
sected  with  channels,  cross  dykes  and  ^  Sentt.  Epp.  8. 

ditches.     Its  bishop,  Litteus,  proves  his  '  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  vi.  vi.  (9) ; 

case  by  a  metaphor  from  '  the  blind  perseverantissima  tolerantia,  ii.  5. 
leading  the  blind  into  the  ditch '  {Sentt. 

B.  24 


370 


THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 


'before  us,  judging  no   one,  nor  removing  from  his  rights 

*  of  communion  any  who  may  hold  different  views  from  our- 
'  selves.  For  there  is  none  of  us  who  constitutes  himself 
'  Bishop  of  Bishops,  or  pushes  his  colleagues  with  a  tyrannous 
'  terror  to  the  necessity  of  compliance ;   since  every  Bishop 

*  according  to  the  scope  of  the  liberty  and  office  which  belongs 
'  to  him  has  his  decision  in  his  own  hands,  and  can  no  more 

*  be  judged  by  another  than  he  can  himself  judge  his 
'  neighbour^  but  we  await  one  and  all  the  judgment  of 
'our  Lord  Jesu  Christ,  who  One  and  Alone  has  the  power 
'both  to  prefer  us  in  the  governing  of  His  Church,  and 
'to  judge  our  conduct  therein'^.'  Then  every  prelate  in  his 
seniority'  delivered  his  opinion.     We  cannot  doubt  that  we 


^  Mark  Cyprian's  studied  use  of  alio 
and  alterum.  In  the  next  clause  I  think 
the  punctuation  of  all  the  editions  is 
wrong.  The  expectemus  depends  on 
quando.     Sentt.  Epp.  Proem. 

2  The  old  papal  way  of  handling 
these  thorny  phrases  was  to  turn  them 
to  account  like  Baronius  by  saying  that 
Cyprian  'though  not  over-respectful' 
'alluded  of  course  to  the  Decree  pub- 
lished by  Stephen's  Supreme  Pontific 
authority  and  headed  as  usual  more  ma- 
jorum  with  the  said  title  of  Bishop  of 
Bishops.'  [Ann.  A.D.  258,  xlii.)  The 
middle  mode  was  that  of  the  Franciscans 
R.  Missori  (1733)  and  M.  Molkenbuhr 
(1790)  and  hapless  Archbishop  Tizzani 
(1862),  rent  by  those  who  fawn  on  him 
as  '  savant  prelat '  and  '  docte  critique  ' 
(Freppel,  p.  429  sqq.  Peters,  p.  504). 
According  to  this  mode  the  controversy 
is  a  romance  and  the  records  forgeries. 

The  third  or  modern  ultramontane 
mode  is  Mgr.  Freppel's.  He  declares 
with  truth,  '  It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
see  any  allusion  to  Stephen  in  these 
words.'  He  then  artlessly  remarks 
that  Cyprian's  'absolute  silence'  about 
Stephen  at  this   Council   'deserves  all 


our  attention'  and  is  a  'chose  eton- 
nante' — evidently  a  token  of  'dernier 
hommage'  (p.  425)  to  the  'Sovereign 
Pontiff.'  So  too  Dr  Peters  (pp.  515,516) 
can  see  no  allusion  at  all  to  Stephen.  He 
however  happily  elucidates  for  us  what 
Mgr.  Freppel  left  dark — viz.  'who  then 
is  the  object  of  Cyprian's  allusion  ?'  It 
is  Cyprian  himself.  He,  as  'the  bom 
President  of  the  Assembly  and  "  Ober- 
metropolit"  of  all  Africa,'  merely  dis- 
claims any  purpose  of  using  his  own 
position,  which  actually  was  that  of  a 
'Bishop  of  Bishops,'  to  check  freedom 
of  expression. 

He  further  remarks  that  the  Synod 
was  not  at  all  designed  to  reply  to 
Rome,  but  was  summoned  solely  to  stem 
the  growing  opposition  of  the  African 
bishops  to  Cyprian — an  opposition 
which  exhibited  itself  in  the  univer- 
sally and  individually  expressed  coin- 
cidence of  their  views  with  his. 

3  See  Routh,  R.  S.  vol.  in.  p.  X91. 

Erasmus  and  Manutius.  Corrupt  Mss. 
Cambron.  ap.  Pam^le.  In  the  editions 
of  Erasmus  (the  first  of  this  Council) 
and  Manutius,  and  in  the  much  inter- 
polated cod.  Cambronensis  (Pamele),  the 


VIII.  II.  2.    ACTS,  ETC.— COUNCIL  VII.  (III.),  THE  BISHOPS.    37 1 

have  the  very  words  of  each  of  those  eighty-seven  men*:  from 
some  a  telling  argument ;  from  some  a  Scripture ;  from  some 
an  antithesis,  an  analogy,  or  a  fancy*.  Here  a  rhetorical 
flourish,  there  a  soloecism,  or  an  unfinished  clause^  a  re- 
statement of  the  opinion  in  terms  of  an  argument*,  or  a 
personal  virulence  or  fanaticism  far  outshrieking  the  usual 
tone*.  Two  of  the  juniors  adopt  the  judgment  of  the 
majority*,  pleading  their  own  inexperience.  Such  weak- 
nesses (except  perhaps  the  last)  still  appear  occasionally  in 


title  of  'Confessor'  is  prefixed  to  the 
names  of  twelve  of  the  bishops,  viz., 
42,  47,  48,  49,  52,  54,  58,  61,  62,  68, 
79,  82  ;  that  of  '  Martyr'  to  72,  76,  80  ; 
and  'martyr  de  schismaticis'  to  70, 
Verulus;  that  of  'confessor  et  martyr' 
to  45  and  87.  These  titles  are  not  in 
our  manuscripts.  Baluze  omitted  them 
(Baluze,  p.  329  and  p.  601),  so  Morcelli 
(l.  pp.  151,  226),  as  not  belonging  to  the 
'gesta,'  as  of  course  they  could  not, 
and  as  not  given  by  Augustine.  But 
though  not  authentic,  they  perhaps  pre- 
serve an  independent  tradition.  For 
example,  only  four  appear  of  the  con- 
fessor-bishops named  in  Ep.  76,  and 
the  designation  of  Verulus  is  interesting. 

^  Shepherd  doubts.  But  Cornelius 
sent  in  Ep.  49  (2)  the  sentences  of  an 
episcopal  conference  to  Cyprian,  'quas 
subjectas  leges.'  In  Eus.  vii.  29  we  have 
the  discussion  between  Paul  of  Samo- 
sata  and  Malchion  taken  down  in  short- 
hand, iiri(Tr]fj.etovfjL€vojv  Taxvypi<p<^v. 

2  See  Polycarp  of  Hadrumetum, 
Sentt.  Epp.  3.  Nemesian,  the  martyr- 
bishop  of  Thubunse,  says,  'This  is  the 
Spirit  which  from  the  beginning  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  for  neither 
the  Spirit  can  operate  apart  from  water, 
nor  water  apart  from  the  Spirit. '  Sentt. 
Epp.  5. 

*  Sent.  73  *unum  habet  esse  et  bap- 
tisma,'  *  there  has  to  be  also  one  baptism.' 


Hartel  thinks  this  a  corruption,  but  it  is 
African  use,  and  even  with  passive  in- 
finitive. Ep.  52.  3  '...ejici  de  ecclesia 
et  excludi  habebat';  Ep.  63.  6  'laudari 
et  adorari  haberet. '  Testim.  i.  11  'quod 
...et  Novum  Testamentum  dari  haberet,' 
&c.  Mark  again  the  entirely  broken 
construction  of  the  end  of  Sent.  7, 
and  the  viva  voce  doubling  of  'illos' 
in  Sent.  25.  Sent.  4  'Debemus  ergo 
fidem  nostram  exprimere  ut  hseretirw  et 
schismatir^j'  ad  ecclesiam  venientes,  qui 
pseudo-baptizati  videntur,  deb^v  eos  in 
fonte  perenni  baptizari.'  [Cf.  Ep.  72.  2 
'addimus  ut...eos  suscipi.'  Ep.  70  fin. 
'et  m...dare  il/is.'] 

*  So  Pomponius  of  Dionysiana :  'It  is 
evident  that  heretics  are  not  able  to 
baptize  and  give  remission  of  sins,  who 
have  no  power  either  to  loose  or  to  bind 
anything  on  earth,'  Sent.  48.  The  pom- 
posity of  Felix  of  Uthina  again  is  un- 
mistakeably  genuine,  Sent.  16. 

^  Sent.  ^y.  Vincent  of  Thibaris ;' we 
know  Heretics  to  be  worse  than  Hea- 
thens.' Wherefore  he  recommends  that 
they  should  be  exorcised  before  being 
baptized ;  a  view  accepted  also  by  Cres- 
cens  of  Cirta.  Sent.  8.  Cf.  Sent.  10 
'  ut  cancer  quod  habebant  et  damnationis 
et  iram...sanctificetur' ;  on  this  remark- 
able speech  see  Appendix  on  Cities,  p. 

598- 

*  Sentt.  71  and  78. 

24 — 2 


372  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

debate.  On  the  whole  we  can  but  admire  the  Roman  pith 
and  terseness  of  epigram,  the  ability  and  even  more  the 
temper  of  so  great  a  number  of  speakers  to  a  conclusion 
which  we  dissent  from.  Augustine  points  out  the  quiet 
intention  to  adhere  to  unity  which  appears  not  only  in 
Cyprian's  own  words,  but  in  such  expressions  of  the  rest  as 
'so  far  as  in  us  lies,'  'with  all  our  powers  of  peacemaking 
we  must  strive.' 

Cyprian  in  a  sentence  of  six  simple  lines  closed  the  dis- 
cussion. *  My  own  opinion  is  quite  expressed  in  the  letter  to 
*  our  colleague  Jubaian — that  heretics  being  by  formal  declara- 
'tion^  of  apostles  and  evangelists  styled  adversaries  of  Christ 
'  and  antichrists,  must,  when  they  join  the  Church,  be  bap- 
'  tized  with  the  Church's  one  baptism,  in  order  to  become 
'  of  adversaries  friends.  Christians  of  antichrists.'  That 

was  the  unanimous  sense  of  his  Council. 

Firmilia?i  and  his  letter. 

Our  next  '  Document '  is  one  of  singular  interest,  '  The 
Letter  of  Saint  Firmilian  to  Cyprian.' 

It  would  be  in  contradiction  to  the  whole  of  his  policy 
if  we  supposed  that  Cyprian  condescended  to  bring  to  bear 
upon  the  Council  the  pressure  of  any  external  influence  what- 
soever. If  he  had  desired  to  do  so,  it  was  within  reach. 
After  the  Council  had  decided,  immense  weight  must  have 
been  added  to  its  resolutions  by  the  confirmation  which  they 
received  from  Asia  Minor.  Directly  after  the  meeting,  and 
so  not  early  enough  to  announce  an  answer,  Cyprian  had 
written  to  the  bishop  of  Caesarea,  metropolitan  (so  to  speak) 
of  Cappadocia,  a  very  copious  letter,  and  accompanied  it  with 
copies  of  two  others '.     These  he  had  sent  by  Rogatian,  one 

1  Contestatio.    Sentt.  Epp.  87.    Note  ^  The    copious    references   made    in 

the  old  jurisconsult's  natural  use  of  the  Firmilian's  letter  to  Cjqjrian's  argu- 
law-term.  ments  are  all  to  be  found  in  the  two 


VIII.  II.  2.      ACTS  AND   DOCUMENTS— FIRMILIAN. 


373 


of  his   deacons,  who    brought    back    the    reply   before  •  the 
winter\ 

Csesarea  was  a  memorable  place.  Its  four  hundred  thou- 
sand upland  people*  were  even  now  in  some  unconscious  way 
preparing  for  a  heroic  stand  within  three  years  from  this 
time^  against  foes  at  present  undreaded  and  undreamed  of. 


epistles  73  and  74.  Careful  examination 
will  convince  the  reader  that  nothing  is 
quoted  from  69  (as  Ritschl  p.  129  sup- 
poses), which  does  not  appear  in  73  or 
in  74. 

Of  these  Ep.  11,  addressed  to  Ju- 
baian,  was,  as  we  have  seen,  used  as 
a  full  manual  of  the  question,  contain- 
ing all  earlier  arguments  rearranged, 
with  others  added.  And  Ep.  74  was 
written  to  Pompey  immediately  after 
the  judgment  of  the  Council,  and 
contained  the  latest  view  of  the  whole 
question,  and  also  of  Stephen's  present 
position. 

These  two  letters  therefore  gave  the 
gist  of  all  questions  and  arguments  on 
which  his  judgment  was  required  and 
were  for  this  reason  sent  to  the  great 
Asian  authority. 

This  answers  Ritschl's  question,  Why, 
if  not  all,  yet  at  any  rate  the  simpler 
epistles  were  not  sent  to  Firmilian  in- 
stead of  the  later  most  elaborate  ones, 
in  order  to  obtain  his  judgment  which 
was  required  with  speed. 

^  i.e.  the  winter  of  a.d.  256,  for  be- 
fore the  next  Stephen  died  and  Cyprian 
was  in  exile  ;  and  the  report  sent 
from  this  Council  would  not  have  been 
kept  back  a  year. 

Here  this  difficulty  is  raised,  viz.  that 
Firmilian,  speaking  of  the  persecution 
of  Maximin  which  followed  the  earth- 
quakes in  Pontus  ^ post  Alexandrum 
imperatorem,^  who  was  killed  in  Feb- 
ruary, A.D.  235,  says  it  was  ^ante 
viginli  et  dtios  fere  attftos'  (Ep.  75.  10), 
which  if  literally  exact  would  date  the 


letter  at  the  beginning  of  a.d.  257.  But 
the  end  of  256  a.d.,  especially  -wiih/ere, 
and  considering  their  inclusive  mode  of 
reckoning,  is  sufficiently  near. 

Dr  Peters  (p.  516)  thinks  that  the 
delegation  rudely  repelled  by  Stephen 
was  that  which  took  similarly  to  him  the 
news  of  this  same  Third  Council.  Any- 
how Firmilian  has  had  the  account  of 
that  rejection  from  Cyprian.  Supposing 
the  delegates  to  have  left  Carthage  about 
the  end  of  the  first  week  of  September, 
there  were  eight  weeks  for  them  to  go 
to  Rome,  to  return  to  Carthage,  then 
for  Rogatian  to  make  his  way  to  Caesarea 
and  be  back  in  Carthage  ^before  winter,' 
which,  for  navigation  purposes,  began 
at  this  era  about  November  3.  This 
would  be  time  enough.  Pearson,  Rett- 
berg,  Lipsius  think  the  letter  to  Fir- 
milian went  off  before  the  Council,  but 
Ep.  74  is  after  the  Council  and  it  was 
enclosed. 

^  Zonaras,  xii.  23.  Caesarea  is  be- 
tween 3000  and  4000  feet  above  the  sea. 

3  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  260 
A.D.  is  the  real  date  of  the  capture 
of  Valerian  (see  Appendix  on  Chronology, 
Valerian,  p.  552).  Caesarea  fell  very 
near  to  that  time.  See  the  notes  of  Gib- 
bon's editors.  It  is  totally  impossible  that 
Firmilian's  letter  can  have  been  written 
soon  after  so  fearful  an  event  vnthout 
an  allusion  to  it,  considering  his  style ; 
and  if  it  were  after,  it  must  have  been 
immediately  after.  Consequently  we 
may  be  sure  that  the  sack  of  Caesarea 
was  between  257  and  261. 


374  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.  i . 

Their  walls,  like  those  of  most  inland  towns  remote  from 
frontiers,  had  long  since  decayed  or  been  removed  \  They 
fell  by  thousands,  choking  up  their  own  ravines  before  the 
Persian  Sapor.  By  thousands  they  were  driven  like  cattle  to 
watering*.  They  lost  all  things ;  and  then  they  recovered 
themselves  as  Paris  only  in  our  own  days  has  done. 

Their  present  native  bishop,  predecessor  of  their  native 
Basil,  was  a  memorable  man.  Firmilian,  conspicuous  by  his 
family,  had  already,  five-and-twenty  years  before  this,  become 
more  conspicuous  in  that  position  ^  His  eminent  character 
ennobled  a  race  so  noble  that  fifty  years  later  under  Diocle- 
tian, the  judge  entreated  a  Christian  martyr  not  to  tarnish 
its  record  by  a  criminal  death.  '  But  its  best  nobility,' 
Capitolina  replied,  *  is  that  Firmilian  was  a  scion  of  the 
house.'  'Him  will  I  follow:  after  him  I  fearlessly  confess 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  King  of  kings*.' 

He  had  paid  Origen  prolonged  visits  in  Palestine,  so  best 
to  deepen  his  intimacy  with  'things  Divine"' — no  common 
student  of  no  common  master.  To  one  of  these  times 
belongs  perhaps  his  introduction  of  the  awakened  pagan 
lawyer  Gregory,  afterwards  the  Thaumaturge,  to  Origen  for 
his  many  years  of  study  in  all  that  was  knowable.  He  had 
prevailed  on  Origen  to  come  and  lecture  from  church  to 
church  among  the  towns  which  hung  about  the  vigorous 
plateaus  of  Cappadocia^  And  there  later  on,  still  in  Fir- 
milian's  time,  sheltering  from  persecution,  Origen  apparently 
found    fresh    material    for    his    lifelong    study''.      Firmilian 

1  Niebuhr,  Lecit.  Rom.  Hist.  tr.  Jerome,  De  Virr.  III.  54,  says  all  Cappa- 
Schmitz,  vol.  ill.  p.  295.  docia  concurred  in  the  invitation. 

2  Zonaras  xii.  23.  ^  Euseb.  vi.   17.     But  we  must  take 

3  In  A.D.  231  'the  loth  year  of  Alex-  care  not  to  make  Eusebius  say  more 
ander.'  AUvpeirev  di  iv  to'jt(^,  Euseb.  than  he  meant,  for  he  too  seems  to 
H.  E.  vi.  26.  have  a  little  exceeded  his  authority. 

*  Tillemont,  vol.  iv.,  p.  309.  After  speaking  of  Symmachus  as  com- 
^  Twis  oi)T<f)  (TwdLOLTpl^eiv  xp^^°^^  ■'^s       bating  (dTroretyi/Aevoj  vpbs)  the  narrative 

eZsTA^ero/3e\Ttwo-ews?yeKO,Euseb.  vi.27.       of  S.  Matthew,  he  proceeds  'Origen  in- 

*  eis^K/cXijffiiDi'w^Aetaj',  Euseb.  vi.  27.       dicates  {(rrffiAlvei)  that  he  received  from 


VI 1 1.  II.  2.      ACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS — FIRMILIAN. 


375 


was  admired  'for  the  trained  exactitude  of  his  intellectual 
faculties  in  philosophy  and  theology  alike*'; — 'an  illustrious 
man/  says  Nicephorus.  But  so  Dionysius  the  Great'  had  ranked 
him  long  before  with  'the  more  illustrious  bishops  whom 
alone  I  name.'  The  great  historian  of  Armenia  speaks  of 
his  many  works,  among  them  a  '  History  of  the  Vexations  of 
the  Church '  under  Maximin  and  Decius'.  He  was  among 
the  earliest  thinkers  who  touched  with  precision  the  facts  of 
Original  Sin^,  and  S.  Basil  appeals  to  the  treatises'  of  'our 
Firmilian '  in  evidence  of  the  exactness  of  his  own  teaching 
concerning  the  Holy  Spirit. 


one  Juliana  these  notes  (viro/jLvrifiaTa) 
with  other  interpretations  (^p/irjveicu) 
of  Symmachus  on  the  Scriptures,  and 
he  says  also  that  she  received  the  books 
by  succession  from  Symmachus  him- 
self.' The  expressions  are  so  similar, 
and  the  (xrjfialvet.  is  so  cautious  that 
Eusebius  must  be  building  on  a  Note 
which  Palladius  also  saw  (Hist.  Lau- 
siaca  c.  147,  ed.  Ducoeus,  Bibl.  Vet. 
Pair.  Paris  1624,  t.  II.  p.  1049)  ^^ 
Origen's  own  handwriting  in  a  very  old 
book  which  was  written  in  sense-lines 
(TraXaiordTCf)  ^i^\i<j}  aTixr)p(^),  and  had 
thus  been  inscribed  by  Origen:  'This 
book  I  found  in  the  possession  of 
Juliana,  a  virgin  in  Csesarea,  when 
I  was  in  hiding  at  her  house.  And  she 
used  to  say  she  had  received  it  from 
Symmachus  himself,  the  interpreter  of 
the  Jews.'  There  is  mention  here 
only  of  one  book,  and  that  not  named. 
Origen's  word  was  el\7)<f>ivai,  not  5ia- 
di^affdai.  on  which  any  idea  of  relation- 
ship rests.  As  to  modern  observations — 
'Oirep  iy^y paiTTo  means  'which  book  had 
been  inscribed'  with  the  words  given, 
not  that  the  book  was  a  manuscript  by 
Origen.  "Ztlxvp^^  does  not  mean  'a 
poetical  book,'  but  a  book  written  in 
sense-lines.  Although  Eusebius  says  no- 
thing of  a  second  sojourn  in  Cappadocia, 


there  is  no  ground  to  question  the  truth 
of  Palladius'  quotation, but  the  contrary. 
Origen  then  was  probably  in  shelter 
there  during  the  two  years  (a.d.  235 — 7) 
of  Maximin's  persecution  of  Christian 
Teachers  (Doctores,  vel  praecipue  prop- 
ter Origenem,  says  Orosius,  Hist.  vii.  19 
rather  boldly) ;  or  else,  being  there  al- 
ready at  work,  he  may  have  been  forced 
into  hiding  by  the  measures  of  Serenian, 
proconsul.  Palladius  calls  Juliana 
XoyiurraTjj  Kal  VLaTOTirrj.  The  text 
followed  by  Meursius,  Lugd.  Bat.  16 1 6, 
and  the  translator  Hervetus  confuses 
the  story  by  hiding  the  Book  instead  of 
Origen. 

^  ir€pi<pavT]$  avijp  Kai  sKar^pa^  yvdia-ews 
rjKpi^wixivas  ^x^"  '"'^^  ^fe'J.  Nicephorus 
Callist.  Hist.  Eccl.  vi.  27  [valeat  quan- 
tum, but  his  word  is  from  Dionysius). 

2  Tov$  ykp  irepitpavea'T^povi,  fibvovi 
tCov  iiTLffKbTfiav  (l}v6/ia(Ta,  Dion.  ap. 
Euseb.  vii.  5. 

^  Moses  of  Khoren  (tc.  390 — c.  487) 
calls  him  doctrinarum  mirificestudiosus, 
but  desiderates  more  precise  detail 
of  persons  and  places  in  his  accounts 
of  Armenian  and  other  martyrdoms. 
Hist.  Armen.  1.  ii.  c.  72. 

*  Routh,  R.  S.  III.  p.  149. 

^  ol  \670t  oOs  /caraXAoiTre.  Basil,  de 
Spiritu  Sancto,  c.  xxix.  74. 


3/6  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

His  name  stands  first  in  Eusebius's  roll  of  the  great  con- 
temporary Church-rulers ; — before  Gregory  and  Athenodorus 
of  Pontus,  before  Helenus  of  Tarsus,  and  Nicomas  of  Iconium, 
Hymenaeus  of  Jerusalem,  Theotecnus  of  the  Palestinian 
Caesarea,  and  Maximus  of  Bostra\  This  was  after  the  death 
of  Dionysius,  who  may  have  been  greater  in  speculative 
power,  whilst  Cyprian  had  left  him  no  room  for  originality 
in  his  Baptismal  thesis, — the  only  document  of  his  that  we 
possess.  But  his  sense  of  the  need  of  action  was  the  wider; 
his  was  the  more  'choragic'  spirit,  so  to  speak. 

Dionysius  wrote  against  Novatian.  He  wrote  against  Paul 
of  Samosata.  Nay,  he  wrote  to  the  diocese  of  Antioch  itself 
in  a  tone  as  if  their  wild  prelate  had  already  been  deposed. 
But  Firmilian  was  in  both  instances  a  foremost  influence  in 
assembling  the  churches  for  fair  hearings  of  the  questions^  He 
was  President  of  the  Third  Council  of  Antioch  (Second  against 
Paul  of  Samosata)  and  there  determinedly  accepted,  against 
the  sentiments  of  the  Council,  the  apologies  and  promises  of 
Paul,  '  trusting  and  hoping,'  and  leaving  him  room  for  repent- 
ance. When  this  charity  of  his  proved  as  useless  as  it  was 
in  those  days  remarkable,  the  Fourth  Council  of  Antioch 
assembled,  and  whilst  they  tarried  for  him  as  necessary  to 
their  deliberations  Firmilian  died  at  Tarsus  on  the  journey. 

This  was  the  man  to  whom  Cyprian  wrote ;  not  because, 
as  Romanists  have  hoped,  the  cause  in  his  hand  was  pre- 
judged, but  because  he  was  the  foremost  church-ruler  of  the 
East. 

His  Letter,  extant  in  a  contemporary  Latin  version  of  his 
Greek,  is  the  most  enthusiastic  of  the  series.  It  has  many 
points  of  strong  interest.  Of  the  claims  of  the  great  See  of 
the  West  to  guide  the  Catholic  Church  he  does  not  write 
with  either  awe  or  scorn.     It  is  plain  he  had  never  heard  of 

^  Eus.  H.  E.  vii.  28.  Paul  of  Samosata  (i)  in  264,  (2)  at  an 

^  He    was    connected    with     Four  uncertain  date  between  264  and   269, 

Councils  of  Antioch,  the  first  in  A.D.  and  (3)  in  269.     Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  46, 

252,  against  Novatianisra,  and  three  on  vii.  30. 


VIII.  II.  2.      ACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS — FIRMILIAN.  377 

them*.  It  affirms  the  apostolic  antiquity  of  the  custom  of 
rebaptism  in  Asia;  it  touches  on  the  annual  synods  of  that 
region,  on  the  fixed  and  extempore  portions  of  the  Eucha- 
ristic  liturgy,  on  the  clerical  function  with  regard  to  'peni- 
tence '  being  not  to  bestow  remission  of  sin,  but  to  awaken 
conscience  and  promote  reparation ;  the  quasi-supremacy  of 
Jerusalem,  the  unity  subsisting  under  wide  division.  The 
conduct  of  the  Roman  towards  the  Carthaginian  Pope  he 
compares  without  a  misgiving  to  the  act  of  Judas.  For 
arguments  on  the  Baptismal  question  he  relies  on  Cyprian,  of 
two  of  whose  letters  this  is  to  a  great  extent  an  approving 
digest  with  illustrations.  It  is  in  fact  an  'open  letter,'  a 
restatement  of  the  case  from  the  beginning,  a  contribution 
to  the  controversy  on  Cyprian's  side,  the  very  force  of 
which  consisted  not  only  in  affirming  the  concurrence  of  East 
Asia  Minor  with  Africa,  but  in  showing  how  completely  the 
arguments  were  adopted  there,  which  were  urged  in  vain 
on  Italy.     He  says  himself  he  had  those  letters  by  heart. 

On  the  Genuineness  of  the  Epistle  of  Firmilian. 

Questionings  of  the  genuineness  of  Firmilian's  letter  are  so  mere  an 
episode  in  the  criticism  of  it  and  in  the  history  of  Cyprian  that  it  would 
be  waste  of  space  to  discuss  any  but  the  most  recent.  Others  shall  be 
just  enumerated  first. 

As  if  early  doubts  had  existed,  Rettberg  (p.  189,  note)  under  some 

^  It  is  almost  worth  while  to  direct  at-  milian  made  'insurrection  against'  the 

tention  to  Baronius  on  Firmilian  (Annal.  Church  of  Rome  in  judaizing  with  Mon- 

^iTi-Z.A.D.  258,  xliii. — 1.)  as  an  example  of  tanists   and  Quartodecimans,   but   was 

his  powers  in  statement  and  in  criticism.  'restored  to  Catholic  communion'  and 

Cyprian  (he  says)  tried  to  procure  the  'died  in  the  peace  of  the  Church';  For 

adherence  of  the  Oriental  bishops;  For  he  is  in  the  Greek  Kalendar — 28th  Oct. 

since  he  wrote  to  so  remote  a  region  as  '  Let  no  man  think  Firmilian  persevered 

Cappadocia  he  cannot  have  omitted  to  in  his  excommunicate  condition ' ;   For 

write  to  the  nearer  bishops :      Firmilian  with  others  he  sate  in  the  Council  of 

stands  convicted  of  a  'patens  menda-  Antioch:       Finally,   all    the    Oriental 

cium'  when  he  says  that  Stephen  styled  bishops  who  were  of  his  opinion  about 

Cyprian  a  '  pseudo-christ  and    pseudo-  baptism  recanted  next  year  and  gave  in 

prophet';  For  neither  Cyprian  nor  Au-  their  adhesion  to  Stephen, 
gustine  mention  those  epithets  :        Fir- 


378  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

strange  misconception,  writes  'Augustine  was  inclined  to  recognise  the 
'genuineness  of  the  letter  as  it  could  be  used  against  the  Donatists  ! 
•truly  a  fine  critical  canon.'  Augustine  seems  nowhere  to  make  any 
explicit  reference  to  the  letter. 

The  Epistle  did  not  appear  in  the  Editio  Princeps  of  Cyprian 
or  its  repetitions  (A.D.  1471 — 15 12)  because  it  was  not  in  the  poor 
manuscripts  employed,  although  before  1726  twenty-six  MSS.  were 
known  containing  it.  Again,  it  was  not  in  the  editions  of  Erasmus 
(a.D.  1520 — 1550)  because  not  in  the  Corbey  MS.  of  the  Epistles 
which  alone  he  employed  in  correcting  the  old  text.  But  Manutius 
had  the  epistle  in  two  of  his  manuscripts,  yet  did  not  print  it  at 
Rome  in  1563:  'the  authorities,'  says  Latino  Latini,  his  editor  {Bibl. 
Sacr.  et  Prof.  p.  1 74  b),  '  not  approving  of  that  hitherto  unpublished 
epistle  being  brought  out  of  its  darkness.'  Not  that  he  entertained  the 
slightest  doubt  of  its  genuineness.  For  Pam&le  having  observed  that 
prudence  would  have  dictated  its  continued  suppression,  '  on  account  0/ 
'  its  unepiscopal  vehemence  and  bitterness  which  had  led  Manutius  to  omit 
'it,'  Latini  comes  forward  (p.  177  b)  to  correct  him  :  '  It  was  I,  and  not 
'Manutius,  who  left  it  out,  following  my  predecessors^  and  because  I 
'detested  the  petulance  of  the  man  [Firmilian]^.'  He  did  not  know  that 
previous  editors  had  never  had  his  opportunities.  Morel  first  printed  it 
in  1564;  and  then  Pam^le  in  1568,  criticizing  Morel's  imprudence,  but 
thinking  the  letter  too  important  to  be  omitted,  and  administering  an 
antidote. 

The  first  person  supposed  to  have  questioned  its  authenticity  was 
Christian  Lupus  in  his  Scholia  on  TertuUian's  de  Prcescriptionibus 
(Bruxell.  1675),  on  the  ground  that  it  could  not  be  true,  as  stated  in  the 
letter,  that  Stephen  had  called  Cyprian  'a  False  Christ': — 'An  inane  sort 
of  conjecture,'  says  Baluze,  p.  513,  'against  which  no  monument  of 
antiquity  is  safe.'  Poor  Lupus  however  never  doubted  its  authenticity. 
Baluze  misunderstands  his  rather  clumsy  expression  "^  De  cujus  tamen 
veritate  hcEsito'' j  which  meant  only  that  he  questioned  whether  Stephen 
could  really  have  so  miscalled  Cyprian.  Lupus  elsewhere  also  uses  Fir- 
milian's  epistle  as  genuine.  (Chr.  Lupus,  0pp.  t.  ix.  Venet.  1727.  TertuU. 
de  Prcescriptionibus,  Scholia,  capp.  4,  5,  pp.  67,  93.) 

In  1733  Raimond  Missori,  a  Franciscan,  published  at  Venice  two 
dissertations  in  which  he  assigns  the  whole  of  the  Baptismal  Documents 
to  a  race  of  Donatist  forgers;  and  in  1734  R.  J.  Tournemine,  a  Jesuit, 
printed  some  '  Conjectures  sur  la  supposition  de  quelques  ouvrages  de 
S.  Cyprien  et  de  la  lettre  de  Firmilien,'  in  the  Memoires  de  Trhjoux  for 
1734,  p.  2246.      Rettberg  characterizes  both  by  saying  the  latter  is  '  etwas 

^  Majorumexe7npla^z.Xi\.\QXi\.zo6\ct.%'\.       to  break   off  his   transcript   (at  positis 
*  Hartal    thinks    the    same    feeling       c.  3). 
caused  the  scribe  of  codex  O,  saec.  xii., 


VIII.  II.  2.      ACTS   AND  DOCUMENTS — FIRMILIAN.  379 

besonnener  obgleich  eben  so  absprechend '  as  the  other.  Missori  was 
answered  by  G.  G.  Preu  in  an  academical  disputation,  Jena,  1738 ;  as 
well  as  by  Joh.  Hyac.  Sbaralea,  Bologna  1741^  Routh,  R.  S.  ill. 
p.  186,  inscribes  over  him  only  'quam  infeliciter,  quam  ridicule.'  To 

Tournemine  a  'sehr  griindlich'  refutation  was  given  by  D.  Cotta, 
Tubingen  1740^. 

Routh  {R.  S.  III.  186)  records  that  Matthias  Dannenmayr,  Institutiones, 
p.  115,  Vienna  1788,  mentions  authorities  repudiating  the  scepticism  as 
Romanists  ;  and  Weismann,  Introd.  Hist.  Eccl.  N.  T.  [Halae  Magd.  1745], 
vol.  I.  p.  249,  and  Koch,  De  Legationibus  Ecclesiast.  §  xviii.  p.  94,  others 
as  Protestants:  he  refers  also  to  T.  M.  Mamachi,  Origg.  et  Antiqq. 
Christian.  [Rom.  1749 — 55]  II.  p.  316.  In  1790  and  93  another  Fran- 
ciscan revived  the  attack,  viz.  Marcellinus  Molkenbuhr  in  two  Latin 
Dissertations ;  he  was  laboriously  refuted  by  Lumper  (Migne,  Cursus 
Patrolog.  Tertullian,  vol.  III. ;  P.  G.  Lumper,  Historia  Theologico-Criiica, 
vol.  XIII.  pp.  797  sqq.). 

In  1795  Giov.  Marchetti  in  his  '  Esercitazioni  Cyprianiche,'  Roma 
[1787,  Nouv.  Biogr.  Gen.],  also  attacks  the  genuineness. 

In  1817  Morcelli  in  his  great  Africa  Christiana  (v.  li.  p.  138)  strangely 
rejects  it,  only  because  he  cannot  think  that  so  saintly  a  person  can  have 
denounced  the  Pope,  and  on  the  same  grounds  he  denies  the  Epistle  of 
Cyprian  to  Pompey. 

In  18533  Mr  Shepherd  'added  to  and  moulded'  Molkenbuhr.  His 
idea  is  that  the  documents  which  the  Romanists  held  so  injurious  to 
their  cause  had  been  forged  in  the  Roman  interest. 

In  1862  V.  Tizzani,  Archbishop  of  Nisibi,  brought  out  'La  celebre  con- 
tesa  fra  s.  Stefano  e  s.  Cipriano'  (Roma,  Salvincci).  Him  we  leave  to 
the  very  tender  mercies  of  his  ashamed  Romanists  Dr  Peters  (p.  504), 
and  Mgr.  Freppel  (pp.  429  sqq.). 

Mr  Shepherd's  restatements  and  arguments,  disengaged  from  their 
liveliness,  are  these  : 

I.  That  Firmilian's  letter  is  not  spoken  of  by  antients  like  Eusebius, 
Augustine,  Jerome,  Optatus,  &c.,  though  it  might  have  been  expected  of 
them ;  especially  because  '  depraved  human  nature '  would  delight  in  its 
'  ridicule,  sarcasm  and  abuse.' 

Several  treatises  which  Mr  S.  says  ought  to  have  cited  Firmilian's 
letter  if  it  were  genuine,  are  themselves,  according  to  him,  not  genuine, 
so  that  he  can  scarcely  argue  from  their  omissions.  But  no  one  doubts 
Eusebius's  ignorance  of  the  West,  or  Augustine's  of  the  East.  Eusebius's 
knowledge  of  Cyprianic  transactions  comes  only  from  Dionysius'  letters, 
while  Augustine  is  as  ignorant  of  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  of  Dionysius 

^  Rettberg,  p.  190  n.  *  'R.&t'Co&xg,  ibid. 

'  Rev.  E.  J.  Shepherd's  Fifth  Letter  to  Dr  Maitland. 


380  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

himself,  of  Helenus  of  Tarsus,  and  all  the  great  prelates  whom  Eusebius 
ranks  with  Firmilian,  as  if  they  had  never  lived.  Shepherd  argues  as  if 
ignorance  of  an  author's  existence  was  knowledge  of  his  non-existence. 
Nevertheless  Augustine  seems  quite  aware  that  some  Orientals  had 
mingled  in  this  controversy — guorutidam  orientalium  litteris  (c.  Crescon. 
iii.  I,  2) — and  been  influenced  by  ^epistolare  colloquium''  {De  Bapt.  c. 
Don.  iii.  2),  although  the  accuracy  of  his  information  may  be  gauged 
by  his  doubts  as  to  whether  many  of  them  had  held  to  rebaptism, 
and  by  his  statement  that  they  had  recanted  {c.  Cresco?i.  I.e.).  Why 
Shepherd  thinks  that  '  Eusebius  records  none  of  the  facts  of  the  quarrel 
'  between  Stephen  and  the  Oriental  churches,  the  probable  convening 
'  of  one  or  more  large  Synods,  and  the  cutting  off  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
'  East  from  the  Roman  Communion'  (p.  18),  is  hard  to  say.  He  records 
them  all.  It  cannot  be  necessary  to  discuss  why  Jerome  or  Optatus  do 
not  name  Firmilian's  letter.  But  Basil  knew  and  used  it.  See  note, 
p.  388. 

2.  'Cyprian  can  only  have  written  to  Firmilian  because  Firmilian 
'  was,  like  himself,  under  the  Roman  ban,  and  yet  the  letter  shows  no 
'evidence  of  Cyprian's  knowing  this  (p.  20).'  Such  a  fact  would  have 
been  good  ground  for  a  forger's  selection  of  a  correspondent,  and  a 
forger  would  for  certain  have  brought  out  the  point.  The  silence 
then  favours  genuineness.  But  the  real  reason  for  Cyprian's  writing  to 
Firmilian  is  quite  different  and  fully  brought  out  in  the  text. 

3.  *  Cyprian  does  not  even  whisper  the  name  of  Firmilian  in  his 
great  Council  (p.  21).'  How  should  he?  on  his  own  responsibility  he 
wrote  to  him  explaining  his  own  position,  but  independently  of  and 
after  the  Council. 

4.  The  deacon  Rogatian  who  carried  the  letter  'would  not  have 
been  in  such  a  hurry  to  return  (p.  19).'  It  was  important  that  he  should 
not  only  convey  the  reply,  but  also  that  he  should  anticipate  the  winter 
at  sea,  beginning  as  we  have  seen  on  Nov.  3. 

5.  'The  journey  of  2000  miles  in  a  direct  line'  could  not  be  per- 
formed 'between  the  end  of  September  and  beginning  of  November'  even 
'if  at  that  season  there  was  a  vessel  sailing  at  all'  (p.  25).  About  1400 
miles  is  the  real  distance,  and  Mr  S.  has  not  realised  either  the  rate  of 
Roman  travelling,  or  the  number  of  Roman  vessels,  which  for  obvious 
reasons  covered  the  Mediterranean  more  numerously  than  those  which 
trade  to  the  port  of  London  itself,  and  especially  before  the  open  season 
ended.  He  talks  about  sailing  to  Ephesus  or  Antioch,  but  the  valley  of 
the  Sarus  readily  brought  the  people  from  the  port  of  Tarsus  to  Comana, 
within  fifty  miles  of  Caesarea. 

It  is  well  just  to  note  how  the  incidents  of  those  objections  3,  4, 
and  5  support  each  other, — the  speed  of  Rogatian's  journey  on  the  verge 
of  winter,  the  haste  of  Firmilian  to  reply,  and  the  silence  at  the  Council 
about  his  letter. 


VIII.  II.  2.      ACTS  AND   DOCUMENTS — FIRMILIAN.  38 1 

6.  Some  other  'arguments'  are  beneath  notice,  but  the  boldest  is 
that  "the  '  Hellenisms'  of  the  letter  are  not  Hellenisms,"  and  that  there 
is  *  no  trace  of  the  translator  in  the  rest  of  the  letter.'  Of  course  none 
if  the  'Hellenisms'  are  not  such.  As  to  this  however  judicent  periti. 
In  the  translation  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  touches  of  Cyprian's 
style.  Mr  Shepherd  admits  it  to  be  in  the  easy  natural  style  in  which 
the  author  of  the  rest  writes  his  own  letters. 

It  is  equally  impossible  not  to  see  the  Greek  : — 

A.  In  some  of  the  compound  phrases  and  coupled  epithets : 

I.  magnam  voluntatis  caritatem  in  unum  convenire  : — ttoXXiji/  roO 
QiKiw  irpodvulav  (cf.  2  Cor.  viii.  1 1)  els  ev  avvfXde'iv.  No  occasion  for 
alacritatem,  the  conjecture  of  Routh,  who  points  out  the  reference. 

3.  ...a  Domino  missi  sunt  unitatis  spiritu  velociter  currentes  {raxv- 
8pofjiovvTes). 

4.  quoniam  sermo  divinus...distribuatur,  the  whole  clause. 

B.  In  the  literal  and  sometimes  awkward  rendering  of  words  : 

3.  fratribus  tam  longe  positis  (Keifievots). 

4.  seniores  et  praepositi  for  npea-^vrepoi.  ol  npoeararfs,  Ritschl.  Cf. 
sup.  p.  330  n. 

Inc.  7,  praesident  majores  natu,  where  age  is  nothing  to  the  point,  but 
the  translator  could  not  have  used  presbyteri,  which  would  ascribe  to 
presbyters  the  power  of  confirming  and  ordaining. 

5.  inexcusabilem  sententiam  {avaTrokoyriTov). 

6.  eos  qui  Romse  sunt,.. .nee  observari  illic  omnia  cequaliter  quce 
Hierosolymis  observantur  {6p.oiciis  koi). 

7.  possident  potestatem  {KfKTijvTai). 
10.  nee  vexari  in  aliquo. 

II.  quamvis  ad  imaginem  veritatis  tamen  {kot  fiKova  ofias  t^s  0X7- 
deias). 

ib.  daemonum  fallacia  ipsa  est  (avrjj).  (Noticed  by  Hartel,  Praef, 
pp.  xl.,  xli.  n.) 

12.  dividunt  (the  true  reading  for  induit).  Q.i.  d7roxo>pi{^ovTfs  to  ayiov 
iTV(vp.a  dno  roii  irarpos  koi  tov  v'lov.  Theodoret,  I/.  E.  4.  9,  p.  314,  ed.  Gaisf. 
(Hartel  I.e.). 

17.  quid  aliud  quam  communicat  (ri  oKKo  r\).  (Hartel  I.e.;  cor- 
rectors inserted  agit.)     Cf.  23  quid  aliud  quam... hihxs. 

22.  nos  etiam  illos  quos  hi  qui  prius  in  Ecclesia  Catholica  Episcopi 
fuerant  cannot  be  an  original  Latin  clause.  (?  ocrour  ol  kot  'Ekk.  K.  eVt- 
(TKOTTOvt/Tes  irore  i^airrlcraino.)  Cf.  S.  Luc.  ii.  49  Vg.  'in  his  qucE  Patris  mei 
sunt,'  eV  TOif  TOV  Ilarpos. 

25.     ut  quid'^0%  haereticos...vocamus  (ii/a  t'C).     (Hartel  /.<:.) 


382  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Note  also 

3.    quod  totum  hoc  fit  divina  voluntate. 

23.  volentibus  vivere. 

24.  ...consilii  et  sermonis  OovX^s  xat  Xoyou,  should  be  rationis). 

25.  quae  ipse  ac  merito  audire  deberet  (kqi  a|ia)r). 

25.  bene  te  valere  omnibus  «^(Jw...optamus,  ut...habeamus  nobiscum 
etiam  de  longinquo  adunatos. 

C.  Instances  in  which  the  Greek  seems  scarcely  understood  : 

2.  sed  non  enhn  si  =  aXX*  oi  yap  tl,  where  Hartel  (p.  xli.  n.)  would 
after  Noltius  improve  the  Latin  at  the  expense  of  the  Greek  by  eh'am 
conjectural. 

8.     nisi  si  his  episcopis  qui  nunc  minor  fuit  Paulus  {rav  vvv). 

22.  ut  per  eos  qui  cum  ipsi :  cutn  unmeaning,  and  Hartel  would  omit 
■qui.     {?  0I0VS  read  as  01  ds.) 

There  is  room  for  differences  of  judgment,  but  the  above  instances 
to  which  many  might  be  added  are  fair,  and  together  evince  a  Greek 
original. 

In  c.  10  we  may  further  notice  the  applicability  to  the  conditions  of 
Asia  Minor,  and  of  no  other  region  perhaps,  of  the  use  of  such  words 
as  patrias  suas  about  local  persecutions. 

The  remarkable  translation  in  c.  24  of  Eph.  iv.  2,  3  'sustinentes 
invicem  in  dilectione,  satis  agentes  servare  unitatem  Spiritus  in  conjunc- 
tione  pacis'  is  in  the  same  words  as  in  three  places  of  Cyprian,  and 
differs  from  every  other  known  rendering.  Ep.  55.  24;  De  Unit.  8;  De 
Bono  Pat.  15  (wrongly  cited  by  Sabatier  as  from  De  Op.  et  El.).  This 
seems  to  indicate  the  use  of  a  version  which  Cyprian  used  or  made.  It 
is  worth  observing  that  even  the  African  Nemesian  [Sentt.  Epp.  5) 
quotes  the  passage  as  ^  cur  antes  servare.' 

The  other  quotations  in  the  Epistle  are  either  not  marked  enough  to 
be  conclusive,  or  may  have  been  borrowed  from  Cyprian's  own  Baptismal 
letters. 


Ritschl  has  undertaken  to  dissect  the  Epistle  with  a  view  to  shewing 
that  parts  of  it  have  been  added  in  Latin  by  Cyprian  or  his  party  to  the 
■original  letter  of  Firmilian.  Even  if  the  operation  had  been  performed 
with  success,  what  would  survive  of  the  Epistle  so  much  more  than 
suffices  for  the  utmost  support  of  Cyprian's  views,  that  any  motive  for 
forgery  is  latent.  But  the  destruction  of  literary  monuments  by  conceits 
is  so  much  to  be  deprecated  that  it  is  right  to  see  how  baseless  the 
allegations  are. 

Chapter  12.  Ritschl  decides  that  this  is  *von  anderer  Hand  ange- 
fugt'  (p.  132) 


VIII.  II.  2.      ACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS — FIRMILIAN.  383 

(i)  because  the  question  of  the  effect  of  un worthiness  is  deduced  in 
c.  1 1  from  the  story  of  the  demoniac  woman. 

(2)  because  the  last  words  of  12  merely  repeat  the  last  words  of  11. 
Now  this  parallel  form  belongs  to  the  stating  of  the  Three  Dilemmas 
pointed  out  below,  and  the  beginnings  also  are  parallel. 

c.  II.     Numquid  et  hoc  Stephanus quando  apud  illos  omnino  Spiritus 

Sanctus  non  est. 

c.  12.     lUud  etiam  quale  est  quod  vult  Stephanus non  sit  autem  illic 

Spiritus  Sanctus. 

c.  13.     Sequiturenim  illud  quod  interrogandi  sunt apud  quos  Spiritus 

Sanctus  non  est. 

(3)  because  (pp.  128,  9)  c.  12  is  closely  modelled  on  Ep.  74.  5  only 
(...sich  iibrigens  ganz  geschickt  zu  verstecken)  and  tincti  is  used  for  bap- 
tizati  in  order  to  vary  the  words.  (On  this  see  'Quotations,'  p.  387.) 
Again  for  the  same  reason  '  si  non  mentitur  apostolus '  is  used  instead  of 
'dicit  apostolus.'  But  'non  mentitur'  takes  S.  Paul's  words  (Gal.  i.  20) 
from  the  same  Epistle  here  quoted  (Gal.  iii.  27).  And  thirdly,  quasi possit 
...separari  is  varied  with  nisi  si . . .dividunt  and  expanded.  This 
varying  however  runs  through  nearly  the  whole  Epistle ;  only  the  words 
are  usually  more  varied.  The  phenomena  are  throughout  precisely  those 
of  a  retranslation  of  a  translation,  not  checked  by  comparison  with  the 
originals.  They  are  familiar  to  classical  tutors.  The  points  are  kept, 
the  emphasis  is  different,  the  wording  sometimes  very  near,  sometimes 
far  away.  In  this  last  instance  the  original  force  of  quasi  possit... a 
Christo  Spiritus  separari  is  increased  by  the  retranslation  nisi  si  a 
Christo  Spiritum  dividunt.  (May  I  here  observe  that  Nisi  si  with 
the  Indicative  is  used  in  a  reductio  ad  absurdum  when  it  is  meant  that 
the  opponent  is  logically  proved  to  be  actually  in  an  absurd  position, 
and  is  not  merely  warned  off  his  ground  by  a  sight  of  the  consequences  ? 
Compare  75.  11  nisi  si...contendunt,  75.  14  nisi  si...parit,  "j-^.  21  nisi 
si...praedicant.) 

To  pass  from  wording  to  substance.  In  cc.  11,  12  and  13  Firmilian 
puts  Three  Dilemmas  to  Stephen  against  his  principle  that  'baptism  in 
heresy  was  Christian  baptism': 

(i)  Would  Stephen  say  that  baptism  by  a  person  possessed  by  a 
demon  was  Christian  baptism,  if  administered  in  regular  form  .-*  (c.  11). 

(2)  The  baptized,  if  S.  Paul  is  true,  have  'put  on  Christ.'  According 
to  Stephen,  they  must  still  receive  imposition  of  hands  within  the  Church 
in  order  to  receive  the  Holy  Ghost ;  will  Stephen  then  say  that  Christ  is 
where  the  Holy  Ghost  is  not?  (c.  12). 

(3)  Will  Stephen  say  whether  the  baptism  of  heretics  is  'of  the 
flesh'  or  'of  the  Spirit'?  If  it  is  of  the  flesh,  how  does  Christian  baptism 
differ  from  Jewish  baptism?  If  'of  the  Spirit,'  how  is  it  that  they 
cannot  impart  the  Spirit?  (c.  13). 


384  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Or  briefly  (i)  Is  there  absolutely  no  limitation  to  efficacy  through 
unworthiness ?  (2)  If  heretics  impart  Christ,  why  not  the  Spirit? 
(3)    If  their  baptism  is  spiritual,  what  defect  in  their  spiritual  status? 

Of  these  Three  Dilemmas  Ritschl  proposes  to  drop  out  (2),  that  is 
ch.  12,  on  the  above  frivolous  grounds. 

Chapters  23 — 25  are  also  charged  as  a  fraudulent  addition  to  Fir- 
milian's  original.  They  form,  it  is  said,  'a  whole'  by  themselves;  the 
Epistle  ended  with  chapter  22,  and  chapter  23  begins  with  introducing 
a  text  of  Proverbs  that  has  no  connection  (unvermittelt)  (p.  133)  with  what 
precedes.  Further,  certain  words  in  the  end  of  22  are  echoed  in  the  end 
of  25  (I  suppose  to  create  a  deceitful  similarity,  but  am  not  sure  why). 
Now  these  are  the  passages  : 

c.  22. ...'And  Stephen  is  not  ashamed  to  maintain  this;  so  that 

he  says  remission  of  sins  can  be  given  through  them,  though  they 

are  involved  in  all  manner  of  sins,  as  if  the  Laver  of  Health  could 

be  in  the  House  of  Death,     c.  23,  What  place  then  will  there  be  for 

that  which  is  written  "  Keep  thee  from  the  strange  water,  and  from 

a  strange  fount  drink  thou  not^,"  if  leaving  the  "  sealed  fount  ^"  of  the 

Church  you  take^  'strange  water'  of  your  own  instead,  and  pollute 

the  Church  with  profane  founts  ?' 

Even   if   a  letter  could   have   ended   so   abruptly,   yet   a   complete 

'whole'  does  not  begin  as  c.  23  begins.     The  Proverb  certainly  has  a 

connection.     It  is  itself  the  link.     It  is  quoted  to  support  by  Scripture 

the  argument  that  the  Laver  or  Font  can  be  only  in  the  Church.     It  is 

quoted  by  Cyprian  in  the  same  connection  in  Ep.  70.  i  and  thence  (like 

so  many  other  texts)  adopted  by  Firmilian.     It  is  quoted  again  in  the 

same  connection  by  Nemesian,  Sentt.  Epp.  5. 

Again  the  end  of  25  is  no  repetition  of  the  first  words  of  the  above 
extract,  but  a  strong  advance  upon  them. 

c.  25. ..'it  is  manifest  that  neither  can  we  have  baptism  in  common 
with  heretics  with  whom  we  have  nothing  at  all  in  common.  (That 
is  the  point  reached  in  22  and  he  proceeds)  And  yet  Stephen  is 
not  ashamed  to  afford  to  such  his  patronage  against  the  Church, 
and  for  the  sake  of  maintaining  the  cause  of  heretics  to  cleave  the 
brotherhood  asunder,  and,  over  and  above  that,  to  say  Cyprian  is 
a  false  Christ  and  false  apostle  and  teacher  and  worker ;  and  con- 
scious that  all  these  flaws  are  in  himself,  forestalls  them  by  falsely 
laying  to  another's  charge  what  he  should  quite  deservedly  have  said 
of  himself.' 

^  The  strange  (African?)  addition  to  "^  Cant.  iv.  12. 

Prov.    ix.    1 8  which  appears  in    LXX.  ^  \  must  read  suscipis  with  the  early 

and   in  Ep.    70.    i,  in  Sentt.  Epp.   5,  corrector  of  Q.     There  is  no  v.  1.  as  to 

in  Aug.  and  in  Ambrose,  but  not  in  the  other  Presents, 
the  Vulgate. 


VIII.  II.  2.       ACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS — FIRMILIAN.  385 

The  objection  to  c.  24  (p.  133)  that  its  expositions  are  built  up  out  of 
Epp.  Ti.  15  ;  74.  4  and  73.  20  would  be  of  no  weight  if  true.  Firmilian's 
open  letter  uses  up  for  the  pui-pose  of  reaffirming  them  most,  if  not  all,  of 
the  arguments  contained  in  the  two  epistles  which  were  submitted  for  his 
confirmation.  But  it  does  not  happen  to  be  true  except  in  mere  verbal 
coincidence,  as  to  the  first  two  passages.  The  substance  of  Ep.  73.  15  is 
the  apostolic  definition  of  heresy.  That  of  Ep.  74.  4  is  the  handling  of 
Stephen's  argument  derived  from  the  practice  of  heretics.  Neither  of 
these  reappear  in  c.  24.  That  of  Ep.  j^.  20  is  that  Stephen  actually 
misleads  the  poor  heretic  who  would  fain  enter  the  Church  by  rightful 
steps.     This  is  repeated  (not  in  c.  24,  but)  in  c.  23  oi  Ep.  75. 

It  is  asserted  (Ritschl,  p.  134)  that  c.  25  contradicts  c.  6  as  to  the 
course  of  Stephen's  action  ;  and  as  c.  6  is  interesting  in  other  particulars 
it  may  be  given  so  far  in  full. 

c.  6.  'That  the  Roman  church  does  not  in  all  things  observe  the 
primitive  tradition,  and  alleges  the  authority  of  the  Apostles  to  no 
purpose,  anybody  may  know  from  seeing  that  about  the  celebration  of 
Easter,  and  many  other  "sacraments"  of  religion,  there  exist  with 
them  some  diversities,  and  all  things  are  not  observed  there  in  the  same 
way  {ceqxialiter  qua)  as  they  are  observed  at  Jerusalem,  just  as  in  the 
other  numerous  provinces  too  there  are  many  things  varied  to  suit  local 
and  tribal  differences  {loconim  atque  hominimi),  and  yet  on  this  account 
the  peace  and  unity  of  the  Catholic  Church  have  not  at  any  time  been 
departed  from.  Stephen  has  now  dared  to  do  this,  breaking  (that)  peace 
with  you  which  his  predecessors  have  ever  kept  with  you  in  love  and 
mutual  honour.' 

The  supposed  contradiction  to  this  is  found  in  the  opening  of  c.  25. 
'  How  diligently  hath  Stephen  fulfilled  these  the  Apostle's  commands 
'and  salutary  monitions  (those  namely  of  Eph.  iv.)  keeping  "lowliness 
'and  meekness"  in  the  first  rank  !  For  what  is  more  "lowly  and  meek" 
'than  to  have  differed  with  so  many  bishops  throughout  the  whole 
'world,  breaking  the  peace  with  each  in  various  kind  of  discord,  one 
'while  {viodd)  with  Eastern  bishops,  of  which  (fact)  we  are  confident  that 
'you  too  are  aware,  another  while  with  yourselves  who  are  in  the  south.' 

c.  6  then,  it  is  said,  makes  the  breach  with  Africa  the  first,  while 
c.  25  places  it  later  than  the  Eastern  quarrel,  c.  6  however  touches  no 
question  of  time  but  only  says  that  the  Africans  are  themselves  a  living 
instance  of  Stephen's  quarrelsome  pretensions;  and  c.  25  does  not  say 
that  his  Oriental  quarrel  preceded  in  point  of  time  his  African  quarrel. 
But  if  Dionysius  and  Eusebius  (Euseb.  H.  E.  vii.  5)  satisfy  the  reader 
that  the  Oriental  difficulty  was  the  earlier  he  will  scarcely  find  his  opinion 
contradicted  in  25,  and  in  that  case  the  error  would  be  in  Ritschl's 
genuine  chapter. 

B.  25 


386  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

The  linguistic  objection,  that  the  last  word  of  the  epistle  adunatos  is 
there  applied  to  the  union  of  Episcopal  equals  among  themselves,  whereas 
Cyprian  uses  it  only  of  the  union  of  inferiors  to  superiors,  as  of  the  people 
to  their  bishops,  or  of  the  Church  to  Christ,  absolutely  breaks  down. 
Adunatus  and  adunatio  are  used  by  Cyprian  of  the  unitedness  of  his 
own  action  with  that  of  the  Roman  presbytery,  and  specially  of  the  equal 
relation  and  union  among  themselves  of  the  congregation \  of  the  sons 
of  God^,  of  the  true  people  of  Christ.  Thrice  in  chapter  2,  which  the 
critic  himself  calls  genuine,  of  this  very  epistle,  it  is  used  in  the  same 
sense,  and  once  even  of  the  union  of  angels  with  the  Church.  Similar 
is  Cyprian's  application  of  the  word  adunatio  to  the  mutual  bond  of 
churches^,  and  to  the  'many  grains'  of  the  sacramental  loaf*. 

Lastly,  it  must  be  observed  that  the  marks  of  translation  from  the 
Greek  are  as  rife  in  Ritschl's  condemned  chapters  as  in  any  others. 


Conclusion.  These  then  are  the  fruits  of  (what  I  believe  to  be) 
thorough  examination  of  the  objections  pushed  against  the  genuineness 
of  Firmilian's  epistle.  The  more  general  questions  raised  either  prove 
pointless  or  lead  to  further  confirmations. 

The  diction  is  manifestly  that  of  a  translation  from  Greek ;  the  style 
rings  with  Cyprian  ;  the  arguments  are  Cyprian's  own.  All  fits  precisely 
the  conditions  of  a  letter  translated  under  Cyprian's  hand  or  eye  from 
the  original  of  a  Greek  writer  who  had  studied  Cyprian's  arguments. 

The  chapters  which  have  been  distinguished  by  a  superfine  acumen 
as  insertions  either  cannot  be  detached  from  the  context  without  violence 
to  the  argument,  or  are  provably  not  liable  to  the  special  charges  made, 
whether  historically  or  linguistically ;  and  they  have  the  same  marked 
character  as  the  rest. 

No  literary  document  bears  clearer  stamp  of  authenticity  and  genuine- 
ness than  this  interesting  translation  from  such  an  author  by  such  an 
author. 


Quotations  of  Scripture  in  Firmilian. 

Another  test   may  be  applied.     There  are  quoted  in  Ep.  75  (Fir- 
milian) some  21  passages  of  Scripture.     Twelve  of  these  are  also  quoted 


^  ...plebs  adunata,  De  Dca.  Or  at.  23.  ^  Ep.  62.  i. 

2  ...filii    Dei...respondeant    adunati,  *  Ep.  69.  5;  cf.  Ep.  60.  1. 

De  Zel.  et  Liv.  18. 


75-  H 

»5 

Lc.  xi.  23 

75-  '5 

» 

Cant.  iv.  12, 

75-  23 

)? 

Prov.  ix.  18 

VIII.  II.  2.       ACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS— FIRMILIAN.  387 

in  Cyprian's  writings.  If  the  renderings  of  them  in  Ep.  75  differed 
appreciably  in  form  or  words  from  Cyprian's  renderings,  we  might  doubt 
whether  the  translation  of  the  epistle  was  produced  by  Cyprian,  under 
Cyprian's  direction,  or  in  Africa  at  all.  If  on  the  other  hand  the  render- 
ings in  Ep.  75  corresponded  to  those  given  by  Cyprian,  this  resemblance 
would  confirm  the  other  indications  of  time,  place  and  authorship.  We 
will  examine  all  those  citations  in  Ep.  75  which  recur  in  Cyprian. 


A.  The  following  quotations  appear  in  the  Latin  version  of  Fir- 
milian's  letter  in  precisely  the  same  wording  in  which  they  occur  in 
Cyprian's  writings,  not  only  (as  two  of  them  do)  in  the  two  letters  which 
Firmilian  had  read,  but  in  his  other  writings. 

^P-  75-  9    quotes  Marc.  xiii.  6  verbatim  as  de  Unit.  14,  and  Ep.  73.  16. 

„         „  Ep.  69.  I  and  Ep.  70.  3. 
13    „        „  Ep.  69.  2  and  Ep.  74.  11. 

„         „  £■/.  70. 1  (Nemesiandififerently, 
Sentt.  Epp.  5). 
„    75.  24       „        Eph.  iv.  I — 6  (a  long  quotation). 

viz.  2,  3  Ep.  55.  24  and  de  B.  Pat.  15  ; 

de  Unit.  8. 
4,  5  de  Unit.  4  (except  that  de  Unit. 

consolidates  '  sicut  vocati  es- 
tisin  unaspe'  into  'unaspes' 
as  does  Caecilius,  Sentt.  Epp. 
I.  It  is  not  in  fact  a  ^read- 
ing'' :  our  Common  Prayer 
Book  does  the  same). 
3,  5  quoted  by  Nemesian,  Sentt. 

Epp.  5,  except  curantes. 


B.  In  the  following,  the  variations  are  such  as  might  occur  in 
different  MSS.  of  the  same  version.  The  reader  may  observe  that  in 
I  Cor.  xi.  27  the  Firmilian  form  is  nearer  to  each  of  two  differing  forms 
than  they  are  to  each  other :  Gal.  iii.  27,  tinguere  for  baptizare  is  common 
both  in  Cyprian  {e.g.  Epp.  73.  5 ;  71.  i ;  75.  13  which  last  Ritschl  thinks 
genuine), — and  therefore  could  not  serve  in  75.  12  as  Ritschl  says,  for  a 
disguise, — and  also  in  TertuUian.  The  two  passages  which  differ  sig- 
nificantly are  both  from  the  Testintonia,  which  generally  presents  most 
variety.  Nemesian,  Setitt.  Epp.  5,  quotes  two  passages  which  Ep.  75 
quotes  and  in  both  differs  alike  from  it  and  from  the  version  in 
Cyprian. 

25 — 2 


5S8  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Ep.  75.  12  quotes  Go/,  iii.  27  with  tincti,    Epp.  62.  3  and  74.  5  baptizati. 
„    75.  14       „       /"j.  xliv.  \\...populitui,quiadesideravit. —  Testim.xx.  if) 

...populumtuumet  domum  patris  quoniam 
concupivit. 
i>    75-  15      )>       I  -^^'-  "i-  21  sic  et  nos  (v. /.  vos).    Ep.  69.  2;  74.  ir 

quod  et  vos. 
„    75.  16       „       il//.  xvi.  19  quaecunque  (first).     Ep.  33.   i  ;  de  Unit.  4 

quae. 
„    75.  16      „      Jo.  XX.  33  et  SI  cujus.     Epp.  69.  11 ;  73.  7;  ^/^  ^'w/V.  4 

all  omit  *  et.' 
„     75.  20       „       /'/^//.  i.  18  adnuntiatur  {v.  I.  annuncietur).     Ep.  73.  14 

adnuntietur  {v.  I.  -atur). 
„     75.  21      .,        I  Co.  xi.  27  quicumque  ederit  panem  aut.     Epp.  15.  i ; 

16.  2  qui  ederit 
panem  aut. 
De  laps.  15  qui- 
cumque   ederit 
panem  et. 
Test.  iii.  94  qui- 
cumque    man- 
ducaverit      pa- 
nem et.... 
The  facts  are  alike  whether  the  passages  occur  in  Epp.  73  and  74,  or  in 
other  writings  of  Cyprian. 

It  seems  obvious  on  careful  consideration  of  all  the  facts  that  the 
quotations  are  not  rendered  anew  from  Firmilian's  Greek  text,  but  are 
simply  given  from  texts  then  in  use  in  Africa. 

This  independent  and  minute  test  then  again  supports  the  idea  of  the 
version  being  Cyprianic. 


Basil  and  the  Letter  of  Firjnilian. 


If  the  following  clauses  of  Basil,  £"^/.  Classis  II..,  Ep.  188  canonica 
Prima  {^Atnphilochio),  and  of  Firmilian  Ep.  75.  7,  8  are  read  side  by  side, 
as  suggested  to  me  by  M.  Larpent,  I  believe  it  will  be  felt  that  they  are 
not  independent.  The  resemblances  are  closer  and  more  parallel  than 
mere  treatment  from  the  same  point  of  view  could  create. 


VIII.  II.  2.    BASIL  AND  THE   LETTER  OF   FIRMILIAN.         389 


TlKvl' 

ets  yip  rb  Hveufjia  t4  ayiov  i^Xaff^fii]- 

ffav, 
MovTav(f  Kal  IlptaKtWri  rr]v  rod  Ilapa- 
k\-^ov  irpoiT-qyoplav  .  .  ivKprj/xlaavrei. .  . 
ol  Kadapol  Kal  airrol  ruv  avecrxi-O't'-^y'^v 
el(n  ...  *  oZ  W  rrji  'E/c/cXTjcrfos  iiro- 
ffTduTes  oi/R^ri  iaxov  T7)v  x^p"'  tov  ayiov 
HveO/Maroi  i<p^  eavrois '  4iri\nre  yap  i] 
fierdSoffii  rip  diaKoiriivai  ttjv  aKoKovdiav. 
01  (ibt  yap  irpCrroL  avax'^p'^o'avTei  vapk 
Tuv  iraT^puv  iaxov  rdj  x^'/"''''o«'^ay,  i^o-^ 
5id  TTj^  iiridiffeias  tQv  x^'P"^**  o-vtCjv  elxoi' 
rb  xapifffJia  rb  wvevfuxTiKbv  '  ol  5k  diro^pa- 
yivres,  \aiKol  yevbfuvoi.,  oOre  rov  ^airri- 
^£iv  oOre  Tov  xftporo^'eii'  elxov  rrjv  i^ov- 
fflav,  ovk4ti  dvvdpLevoi  X'^P"'  n«'ei//uaTos 
ayiov  eripoii  Trap^etj/,  171  airol  iKireirTib- 
Ka<n.  Alb  <I)5  irapa  XaiKQv  ^avTi^onivovs 
Toi)y  Trap'  avrwv  iKf\evaav...Tcp  dXrjdivtp 
jSairrlj/jLaTi  t<J>  rijy  'EKK\i](Tlai  dvaKaOal- 
pcadai. 

The  correspondences  are  the  more  striking  because  they  are  so  little 
verbal.  There  is  the  constructive  heresy  of  the  Montanists  ;  there  are 
the  two  classes  of  heretics  and  schismatics ;  the  loss  of  the  power  of 
imparting  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the  loss  of  the  Apostolic  Succession ; 
there  is  the  reference  in  Basil  to  some  earlier  canon,  in  Firmilian  to 
his  contemporary  Council  of  Iconium ;  and  there  is  the  marked  phrase 
'The  Baptism  of  the  Church.'  And  all  these  topics  are  in  the  same 
order. 

A.  Harnack,  Gesch.  d.  alt-Chr.  Litteratur  bis  Eiiseb.  I.  p.  409  refers 
to  this  passage,  but  does  not  notice  the  parallelism.  It  has  been  men- 
tioned above  (p.  375)  that  in  de  Spiritu  Sancto  xxix.  29.  74  Basil  appeals  to 
Firmilian's  doctrine  as  a  standard.  The  words  omitted  at  the  asterisk  * 
couple  Cyprian  and  '  our  Firmilian '  together  as  antient  authorities  who 
required  the  baptism  of  schismatics  equally  with  heretics.  IlXijj/  clXX" 
eSo^e  Toii  dpxaiots,  Toli  Tvepl  Kvnpiavov  Xtyw  Koi  ^ipfiikiavov  tov  ijixirepou 
TOVTovs  Travras  fiin  yl/'^<f>o)  vTTO^aXf If,   Kadapovs  . .  •  - 


...quod  etiam  ilH  qui  Cataphrygas  ap- 
pellantur  .  .  nee  patrem  possunt  habere 
nee  iilium 

quia  nee  spiritum  sanctum,  a  quibus  si 
quseramus  quem  Christum  praedicent, 
respondebunt  eum  se  pnedicare  qui 
miserit  spiritum  per  Montanum  et 
Priscam  locutum . . .  Sed  et  ceteri  qui- 
que  haeretici,  si  se  ab  ecclesia  Dei  scide- 
rint,  nihil  habere  potestatis  aut  gratise 
possunt  quando  omnis  potestas  et  gratia 
in  ecclesia  constituta  sit,  ubi  prcesident 
majores  natu  qui  et  baptizandi  et 
manum  imponendi  et  ordinandi  pos- 
sident  potestatem,  haereticum  enim  sicut 
ordinare  non  lieet  nee  manum  im- 
ponere,  ita  nee  baptizare  nee  quicquam 
sanete  et  spiritaliter  gerere,  .  .  .  quod 
totum  nos  jam  pridem  in  leonio . . .  col- 
leeti  ....  eonfirmavimus  tenendum  . . , 
8  Jim.  .  .  .  nisi  eos  prius  etiam  ecclesia 
baptismo  baptizasset. 


390  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 


The  Nameless  Author  'ON  RebapTISM.' 

The  interest  centering  on  the  champion  of  the  winning 
yet  lost  cause  must  not  make  us  forget  that  so  far  he  alone 
has  registered  what  of  record  there  is  against  himself.  There 
must  be  facts  a  champion  could  not  record.  His  councils 
cannot  have  been  so  unlike  all  others  as  not  to  have  been 
scenes  of  controversy ;  his  signataries  not  the  only  prelates 
who  had  opinions ;  his  bishops  not  more  docile  than  his 
presbyters \  He  regrets  himself  that  not  all,  though  so  many, 
were  with  him.  In  his  last  Council  he  seems  to  absolve  some 
dioceses  from  compliance.  In  his  opinion  worldliness 

accounted  for  the  disuse  of  Agrippinus'  rebaptismal  statute  ; 
but  we  are  well  able  to  see  that  that  effect  was  at  least 
also  producible  by  thought,  by  charity,  by  comprehension  of 
Apostolic  principle ;  and  if  a  contemporary  of  this  stamp, 
one  who  differed  'by  a  whole  sky'  from  Cyprian,  not  tradition- 
ally or  overbearingly  but  philosophically,  should  have  sur- 
vived, how  valuable  might  be  his  separate  illustration  of  the 
Christian  reason  and  spirit  in  that  age. 

Such  a  writer,  I  entertain  no  doubt,  exists  for  us  in  '  The 
Author  on  Rebaptism.' 

His  pamphlet  was  found  and  copied  by  the  Fere  Jacques  Sirmond 
from  a  'very  antient  manuscript '  of  Cyprian  in  the  library  of  S.  Remi 
at  Rheims, — where  it  exists  no  more.  It  there  followed  Cyprian's 
letter  to  Pompeius^  and  was  subscribed  Ccsctlii  Cypriani  finivit  de 
rebaptistnate.  Rigaut  first  printed  it  in  1648  seeing  its  value,  and 
from  its  diction  concluding  it  to  be  ab  cevo  Cyprianico  pariim  dis- 
tans.  Then  Labbe  in  1672  in  the  Cojicilia,  vol.  I.,  and,  after  making 
a  new  collation,  Baluze.  Hartal  has  no  other  materials  to  edit  from 
(Prsef.  p.  Ixii.). 

^  Ep.  71.  I  ^piarimi  coepiscopi...fut-  catores  veritatis.'    Compare  'episcopos 

dam.^    69.  10  'intus  in  ipsa  ecclesia.'  plurimos'  and  quidam  in  Ep.  (>7,.  i  and 

73.  26  'coUegis  et  coepiscopis.'    Sentt.  de  Mart,  j  'etsiaput  plurimos...  tamen... 

Epp.   59   ''qtiidam  de   collegis   nostris.'  quosdam.' 
Sentt.  Epp.  38  ^quidam  nostri  praevari-  ^  Ep.  74. 


VIII.  II.  2.        ACTS,  ETC. — THE   NAMELESS  AUTHOR.  39 1 

Labbe  says  {Synopsis  Cone.  Apparat.  torn.  i.  p.  83)  a  MS.  of  it  in 
the  Vatican  attributes  it  to  'Ursinus  the  Monk  an  African,'  and  so 
names  it  Pearson  accepts  this.  Baluze  also,  because  the  interval  be- 
tween its  writing  and  the  Apostles  is  called  (c.  vi.)  tot  sceculorum  tanta 
series^  a  phrase  inapplicable  in  the  age  of  Cyprian.  Oudin  {qui four- 
mille  d'erreurs,  as  Tillemont  says),  besides  Routh  {Rell.  Sac.  vol.  v. 
p.  283),  who  quotes  Labbe  as  saying  Three  manuscripts,  accept 
Ursinus.  Such  names  claim  an  otherwise  superfluous  answer.  What 
we  know  of  Ursinus  is  from  Gennadius,  presbyter  of  Marseilles  {ob. 
A.D.  496),  in  his  continuation  of  Jerome,  De  Viris  Illustribus,  c.  27. 
'Ursinus  (Ursicinus  Sirmond)  Monachus  scripsit  adversus  eos  qui 
'  rebaptizandos  haereticos  decemunt,  docens  nee  legitimum  esse  nee 
'  Deo  dignum  rebaptizari  illos  qui  in  nomine  simpliciter  Christi,  vel 
'in  nomine  Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti  quamvis  pravo  sensu 
'  baptizantur :  sed  post  Trinitatis  et  Christi  simpUcem  confessionem 
'sufficere  ad  salutem  manus  impositionem  catholici  sacerdotis.'  It 
is  hard  to  see  how  this  can  have  been  taken  for  an  account  of  our 
author.  He  is  plainly  not  a  monk  but  a  bishop.  The  words  legi- 
timum  and  Deo  dignum  point  to  express  reasonings  turning  on  (i) 
authority,  (2)  analogy,  which  are  not  touched  in  this  book :  nor  yet 
the  distinction  of  baptisms  in  the  name  of  Christ  and  of  the  Trinity, 
nor  the  possibility  of  the  latter  being  validly  bestowed  although  pravo 
sensu,  which  is  an  intelligible  ground  dealt  with  by  Cyprian  {Ep. 
73-  5)-  Neither  is  a  preliminary  confession  insisted  on.  Again, 
would  *  Catholicus  Sacerdos''  have  been  used  in  this  abstract  unless 
it  were  in  the  treatise  described.'  our  author  always  speaks  of 
Episcopi. 

Cave  {H.  L.  l.  p.  131)  suggests  that  the  Vatican  subscription  is  due 
to  some  reader  of  Gennadius,  and  Tillemont  that  it  would  be  well  to 
ascertain  that  the  MS.  is  one  of  this  treatise.  I  do  not  know  whence 
comes  Cave's  account  of  Ursinus  as  'gente  Afer'  except  from  the 
subscription,  or  his  date  440  A.D.,  but  at  any  rate  Ursinus  must 
have  written  (from  Gennadius'  statement)  at  a  much  later  period  of 
the  controversy,  and  probably  in  its  Donatist  stage. 

As  to  Baluze's  remark  on  the  'tot  saeculorum  tanta  series'  indi- 
cating a  later  date,  the  phrase  is  not  of  course  more  literally  accurate 
in  440  than  in  250.  It  belongs  to  their  general  leaning  to  large 
numbers:  the  expectation  of  the  end  of  the  world  had  something 
to  do  with  making  the  Christian  past  seem  long  ;  but  apart  from 
that,  this  very  treatise  calls  the  few  years  of  Peter  and  Paul's  mutual 
knowledge  'tanta  tempora';  Cyprian  speaks  of  'tot  haereticorum 
milia' having  entered  the  African  church  by  rebaptism  {Ep.  "j^.  3); 
Optatus,  B.  V.  c.  5,  speaks  of  John  as  baptizing  'infinita  milia  homi- 
num.' 

Fleury  was  absurd  enough  to  think  Stephanus  a  possible  author. 


392  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Tillemont  (in  his  clever  discussion  vol.  iv.  note  xl.,  see  also  note 
xxxix.),  Du  Pin,  Maran,  Galland,  Neander,  Hefele,  recognise  the  early 
date.  Cave  also,  partly  on  the  ground  of  references  to  contem- 
porary persecutions ;  but  of  these,  says  Oudin,  De  Scriptt.  Eccles. 
Ant.  V.  I.  p.  1006,  Lips.  1722,  truly,  there  is  ne  ypii  quidem.  The 
position  of  the  treatise  in  the  Rheims  manuscript  is  not  without 
its  bearing  on  the  date. 

As  literary  tokens  of  his  antiquity  we  may  mark  the 
genuine  reading  of  S.  John  vii.  39  '(The)  Holy  Ghost  was  not' 
before  Christ's  exaltation.  No  Latin  father  reads  this  un- 
corrupted.  Again,  'The  Holy  Ghost,'  he  says,  'came  down... 
not  of  His  own  will,'  a  paraphrase,  which  heresy  early  ren- 
dered impossible,  of  '...He  will  not  come  unto  you... I  will 
send  Him  unto  you,'  combined  perhaps  with  '  He  shall  not 
speak  from  Himself \...' 

From  a  doctrinal  point  the  higher  value  set  upon  the 
Imposition  of  Hands  than  on  the  Baptism  itself  is  a  mark 
of  early  and  not  far  from  TertuUianesque  age^  Again,  the 
familiar  use  of  '  Baptism  in  the  name  of  Christ '  as  equivalent 
to  perfect  baptism  would  have  been  impossible  when  the  dis- 
tinction had  once  been  thought  out  between  that  form  and 
the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  No  one  could  have 
used  the  terms  as  equivalent  after  Cyprian's  correspondence 
with  Stephanus  was  known. 

1  Jo.  vii.    39  (ap.  Auct.    de  Reb.  c.  (S^  s?ec.  vii.),  Lindisfarn.  (Y  szec.  vii., 

14)  and   xvi.   7,    13   (ap.  Auct.   c.   6).  viii.),    Harl.    (Z^  ssec.  vi.,  vii.).     Cod. 

Tillemont,  who  does  not  recognise  either  Bezte  (dssec.vi.),  though  it  has  v\^o\.datus, 

quotation,  says  (to  some  extent  rightly)  has  in  eos,  Brix.  (saec.  vi.)  not  daius  but 

(v.  IV.  note  xl.)  that  the  fourth  century  in  eis.     See  Bp.  Wordsworth  of  Sarum 

'would  not  have  tolerated  such  expres-  and  H.  J.  White,  Nov.    Test.   Latine, 

sions.'     It  had  in  fact  already  inserted  vol.  IV.  p.  559  (Oxon.  1895). 

Se8ofi4vov,  dod^u  or  datus.     No    Latin  Routh  remarks  on  the  second  passage 

fathers  omit  the  word  given  except  the  'dictum  illud  non  intelligo.'     His  *edi- 

translator  of  Origen,  if  he  may  be  treated  tion,'  R.  S.  vol.  V.  p.  291,  is  in  the  main 

as  independent.     The  true  reading  was  a  wretched  reprint  of  Fell's  wretched 

preserved    extensively   in    Latin    Mss.  copy,    reproducing    even     nonsensical 

Thus  it  is  found  in  Dunelm.  (A  [Bentl.  punctuations. 

K]  S3ec.  vii.,  viii.),  Fuld.  (F  541—546  ^  Auctor  c.  6  ad  fin.     Cf.  Tert.  de 

A.D.),  Sangerm.  (G  saec.  ix.),  Stonyhurst  Bapt.  6,  7,  8. 


VIII.  II.  2.        ACTS,  ETC. — THE   NAMELESS  AUTHOR.  393 

There  is  a  yet  nicer  indication.  We  shall  presently  see 
that  the  Author's  theory  of  the  visible  Church  was  in  itself 
adequate  to  solve  Cyprian's  difficulty.  Yet  the  Author  has 
no  more  than  an  instinctive  sense  of  its  truth  and  of  its 
applicability.  He  does  not  drive  it  home.  This  is  a  phe- 
nomenon which  can  only  occur  in  contemporary  arguments. 
Two  theories  exist  side  by  side ;  in  the  next  generation  one 
of  them  will  have  yielded.  At  first  the  discoverer  of  the 
true  one  has  rarely  learnt  its  full  speculative  value :  he 
applies  it  merely  as  a  test  to  points  of  practice. 

Again,  the  Author  does  not  meet  the  great  doctrine  of 
'  Unity '  on  which  every  argument  of  Cyprian's  is  based. 
When  once  a  theory  has  passed  out  of  the  essay-stage,  in 
which  others  as  yet  compete  with  it ;  when  once  it  has  pos- 
session of  the  field,  no  eye  can  stir  without  seeing  it.  No  one 
could  have  written  on  Cyprian's  subject  even  a  few  years  later 
without  knowing  of  this  key  to  his  whole  position.  The 
absence  of  any  allusion  to  the  doctrine  of  Unity  assigns  the 
Treatise  on  Rebaptism  to  the  first  years  of  the  controversy. 
How  could  it  have  been  excluded  ever  so  little  later  when 
the  forms  in  which  it  was  cast  and  the  Scriptural  symbols  in 
which  it  was  expressed  were  so  taking,  so  popular,  so  numerous, 
and  so  assailable' .'' 

Acute  in  disputation-  and  fresh  in  language  he  writes  as 
one  who  hopes  still  to  influence  the  controversy^     He  is  one 

1  It  must  be  remembered  that  they  and  not  imperfect  only  but  erroneous, 
occur  in  the  'Unity'  as  emphatically  as  at  the  very  time  when  they  were  not 
in  his  Letters.  only  baptized  but  baptizing  others. 

2  As  an  instance  of  his  ability  and  ^  '...et  turbulentis  hominibus  ut  vd 
desire  to  look  at  facts  as  they  are,  nunc  suum  negotium  agere  incipiant 
note  how,  anticipating  'your  usual'  perstrndere:  conseciauris-^\\\x\vsx\}im.^\\2,vci 
answer  (which  Cyprian  does  use  in  nobis  si  hoc  quoque  consilio  sano  tandem 
the  case  of  the  Samaritans,  Ep.  73.  9)  voluerint  acquiescere.'  'Ut  agendi  in 
viz.  that  'the  disciples  held  the  right  ecclesia  formam...2<«iwr^  fratribus /«- 
faith  when  they  were  baptized  long  simumus.^  \Agendi  conjecimus,  Har- 
before  receiving  the  Holy  Ghost,'  he  telius  et  multo  ante  egomet.  Accendi 
works  out  how  their  Messianic  beliefs  MS.,  alii  tacendi,  accedenti,  attendi. 
were  then  Judaic  as  to  cardinal  points,  Routh  accenseri.]     Auctor  c.  i.     In  c. 


394  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

of  the  bishops\  To  him  Cyprian's  proposal  is  in  effect  a 
new  question,  an  attempt  to  alter,  to  reform  very  widely  the 
usage  of  the  churches,  a  step  to  Novatianism*.  He  is  not  an 
Italian.  No  Italian  could  have  avoided  as  he  does  an  appeal 
to  Roman  tradition  and  the  Roman  pope.  His  speech  is 
African'.  His  adversaries  are  not  heretics  like  the  Donatists; 
they  are  churchmen  and  bishops.  There  is  no  other  date 
possible  for  him,  unless  it  can  be  shewn  that  there  was  some 
other  at  which  there  raged  a  second  tempest  like  ours  within 
the  Latin-speaking  church,  yet  one  in  which  there  was  no  re- 
currence to  either  the  arguments  or  the  refutations  of  Cyprian. 
It  would  indeed  be  necessary  to  create  a  second  Cyprian. 
For  no  one  else  can  be  represented  in  the  unkind  sketch 
which  the  Author  gives  of  his  antagonist,  as  he  sees  him 
abetted  by  his  bishops  in  imputing  their  own  faulty  in- 
ventions irreverently  to  the  Church  their  mother.  To  set 
against  all  the  heart-burnings  and  separations  that  will  arise, 
the  sole  fruit  of  the  new  question  is,  he  says*,  the  exaltation 
'of  one  single  person,  whoever  that  is,  so  that  he  may 
'  be  vaingloriously  proclaimed  among  the  thoughtless  as  a 
*  man    of   great    insight    and    consistency ;    and    that,   whilst 


19  he  calls  the  controxeray  prasetitem  have 'currebant' ;  existimarent  ut...per- 

altercationem.  severet  (c.  9),  think  that  he  would  con- 

^  He  contrasts  baptism  administered  tiniu   (cf.    Optat.  iii.  c.  4  expectantes 

'■per  nos '   and   confirmation   following  ut  venirent,  iii.  c.  8  dicebatur  ut  nega- 

immediately,    with    baptism    adminis-  retur  Christus,  it  was  ordered  that  he 

tered  '«  minore  clero  per  necessitatem^  should  be  denied).     As  peculiarities   of 

c.  10.  version   note    'absconsa   hominum'   (c. 

2  Super   hac   nova   quaestione  c.    i.  13),  Ro.  ii.  16  (not  noted  by  Hartel); 

Nunc  primum  lepente  ac  sine  ratione  propitius  sit  tibi  (c.  9),    Mt.   xvi.   22; 

insurgere  c.  6.     Hsereticorum...  c.  i.  neque  novi  te  (c.  9),  Mt.  xxvi.  70. 

^  A   few   of   these   idioms   may  be  May  I  here  suggest  an  emendation 

quoted.       Datives,   alio    (c.    4);    solo  of  c.  2,  viz.  iK  (= Joanne)  for  se?  'ait 

(c.   12); — prsestaturus  (c.  9);  devotans  enim   Dominus...baptizandos  esse  non 

(c.    9);    flumina    de   ventre    ejus    cur-  quemadmodum  a  se  in  aqua  ad  poeni- 

rebunt    (c.    14),    this    (African)    future  tentiam  sed  in  Spiritu  Sancto.' 
is    demanded  by  the   sense    and   the  ■•  Auct.  c.  i. 

citation    though    Routh    and    Hartel 


VIII.  II.  2.         ACTS,   ETC. — THE  NAMELESS  AUTHOR.  395 

*  enjoying  the  admiration  of  heretics^  whose  solitary  comfort 
*in  perdition  is  to  be  seen  sinning  in  company,  he  may  be 
'extolled  among  his  copyists  and  compeers,  for  having  set 
'  right  the  errors  and  defects  of  all  the  churches.'  This  pursuit 
of  logical  issues,  this  tendency  to  Puritanism,  lust  of  re- 
modelling, extended  ambition  are  contemporary  accusations, 
not  so  acrimonious  as  those  of  Puppian^,  but  as  surely  aimed 
at  Cyprian.  The  charge  of  imitating  Novatian  is  exactly 
what  angers  Cyprian  into  the  retort  that  '  Novatian  is  the 
Ape  of  the  Church,'  and  that  the  way  to  harden  heretics  is 
to  patronise  and  imitate  them^  The  Author's  sneer  that 
'  want  of  humanity '  is  what  makes  his  opponent  undervalue 
custom  is  familiar*.  In  the  frequent  interchange  of  singular 
And  plural  addresses  we  see  the  large  party,  and  the  leader 
who  is  himself  the  party.  Cyprian's  use  of  a  favourite 
text  is  sharply  touched.     'Whereto  perhaps  you,  with  your 

*  novelty,  may  forthwith  impatiently  answer,  as  you  are  wont, 
'that  the  Lord  said,  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  &c." 
Even  the  exquisite  writing  does  not  escape.  '  How,'  he  asks 
sarcastically,  '  must  the  line  of  disqualification  be  drawn } 
'  Why  should  it  be  drawn  at  heresy,  more  than  at  immorality  ^ 
'  and  then  why  not  at  erroneous  views — at  virtual  heresy  ? 
'  at  want  of  skill  in  imparting  these  rudiments  .'*  You  must 
'at  last  come  to  enforcing  your  ' denuo'  baptism  if  the 
'  catechising  bishop  has  been  imperfect  in  expression — not 
'  so  ornate  and  precise  as  you  arel' 

Finding  ourselves  then  so  close  to  Cyprian  in  this  treatise, 

^  Haereticorum     stupore     prseditus,  Nemesian,  Sentt.  Epp.  5,  Auctor  c.  3. 

Auct.  I.  *  ...sed  non  tarn  ornate  ut  tu  et  com- 

^  Ep.  (>^.  posite,  isti  quoque  simpliciores  homines 

'  Cyp.  Ep.  73. 1  'simiarum  more';  3  mysterium   fidei  tradant.     Dicturus  es 

'  nos  non  demus  stuporem  hsereticis  pa-  enim  utique  pro  tua  singulari  diligentia 

trocinii  et  consensus  nostri....'  hos    quoque    denuo    baptizandos   esse. 

^  Auct.  16.  Auct.  c.   10.     It  appears  to  me  as  cer- 

'  Quoted   four   times    in    Cyprian's  tain  that  Cyprian  is  here  meant  as  that 

Epistles,   but    of   course    the    remark  it  can  never  have  been  written  after  his 

cannot  be  limited  to  them  only.     Also  martyrdom. 


39^.  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

it  is  natural  to  ask,  Was  the  Author  acquainted  with  Cyprian's 
full  writings  on  the  subject  ?  or  Had  Cyprian  himself  read 
the  Author  ?  The  questions  seem  capable  of  answer.  And 
as  answers  are  deducible  from  facts  lying  aside  of  that  main 
stream  of  the  Argument  on  which  we  have  not  yet  embarked,, 
we  may  intelligibly  complete  our  review  of  the  Book  as  a 
document  by  producing  them  here, 

(i)  Did  then  the  Author  know  Cyprian's  later  writings 
on  the  subject  ? 

There   is  scarcely  a   semblance   of  this.  He    no- 

where attacks  his  very  assailable  typology.  For  example 
Cyprian  asks, '  If  heretic  baptism  be  so  safe,  why  any  church 
'  reception  }  If  that  baptism  is  a  reality,  heretics  may  be 
'  holy  martyrs.'  And  the  Author  meets  these  questions ; 
but  it  is  simply  as  floating  arguments  without  any  appear- 
ance of  setting  treatise  against  treatise.  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  Cyprian's  line  of  action,  with  his  treatment  of 
the  ordinary  texts,  and  with  certain  pamphlets  on  both  sides'. 
But  he  does  not  fasten  on  Cyprian's  specialities  as  we  know 
them.  His  treatise  must  therefore  come  quite  early  in  the 
movement'^  of  his  day. 

But  another  strong  personality,  besides  Cyprian's,  seems 
to  be  before  him,  when,  analysing  Christ's  prediction  of 
'false  prophets  with  miraculous  powers,'  the  Author  speaks 
of  *  certain  powers,'  and  of  '  the  false  prophesying',' — the  term 
for   Montanism — in   his   own    day,  and   then   goes   on   '  but 

*  certain  it  is  that,  because  they  are  not  Christ's,  they  have 
'  nothing  to  do  with  Christ :  just  as  if  any  one  draw  away  from 
'  Christ,  cleaving  only  to  the  Name  of  Him,  he  is  not  much 

*  helped  thereby,  nay  rather  is  actually  borne  down  by  this 
'  Name  ;  although  he  were  before  time  most  strong  in  the  faith, 

^  His  use  of  ^ut  soles,''  cc.  3,  8. —  is  an  answer  to  Cyp.  Ep.  73.  21  on  the 

^  Scripta  atque  rescripta,   Auctor  c.  i.  profitlessness  of  martyrdom  to  heretics. 

'^  I  am  unable  to  see  what  Fechtrup,  *  Falso proplutare—fidelissivius — clera 

p.  207,  n.  2,  sees:  that  de  Rebapt.   13  aliquo  honoratus.     Auctor  12. 


VIII.  II.  2.        ACTS,  ETC. — THE   NAMELESS  AUTHOR.  397 

*  or  most  upright,  or  held  some  rank  among  the  clergy,  or  had 
'  attained  the  dignity  of  confessorship.'  Can  there  be  much 
question  as  to  who  was  the  original  of  this  sketch }  And  if  it 
is  TertuUian  the  early  date  is  still  more  distinct. 

Our  impression  of  the  Author's  place  in  the  controversy 
is  supported  by  what  appears  to  be  the  answer  to  the  next 
question : — 

(2)  Had  Cyprian  read  the  Author  .'* 

When  the  Author  proposes  with  the  air  of  a  new  dilemma 
'  What  place  can  you  consistently  give  to  the  unbaptized 
confessor.'*'  and  when  Cyprian  describes  this  exact  question 
as  '  the  human  argumentation  of  certain  persons,'  his  reference 
seems  to  be  distinct'  and  express. 

When  Cyprian  says  that  the  apostolic  motto  '  unum 
baptisma'  must  not  be  construed  as  a  rubrical  direction  but 
is  a  declaration  of  the  oneness  of  the  Christian  bond,  he  seems 
to  assail  some  such  interpretation  as  the  Author  adopts, 
that  'to  repeat  baptism  was  contrary  to  a  decree  of  the 
Apostles.'  Stephen  himself  had  not  gone  beyond  saying 
'what  we  have  received  from  the  Apostles,'  meaning  by 
tradition  ■■'. 

Again,  the  specialness  of  Cyprian's  warning  against  the 
idea  that  heretics  will  be  kept  away  by  the  required  repetition, 
whereas  they  will  rather  be  attracted,  has  the  appearance  of 
a  reply  to  some  such  representation  as  that  in  which  the 
Author  paints  the  responsibility  of  a  church  which  would  by 

^  Auctor    1 1     '  Quid   autem    statues  licas  veritatem,  catechutninos  nobis  op- 

in  personam  ejus  verbum  audientis  qui  ponunt,    si  quis    ex    his   antequam    in 

forte    adprehensiis    in    nomine    Christi  ecclesia  baptizetur  in  confessione  nominis 

statim  confessiis  ac  priusquam  baptizari  adprehensiis  fuerit  et  occisus,  an  spem 

aqua  permitteretur  ei  fuerit  punitus,  &c.  salutis...amittat  eo  quod  ex  aqua  prius 

...quia  Dominus...eum...«^/(?//i«V«j  est  non  sit  renatus... Sanguine  autem  sue... 

exomet...martyrium   autem   nonnisi  in  consummari    et    divinse    pollicitationis 

ipso  et  per  ipsum  Dominum  possit  con-  ■  gratiam  consequi   decIarat...Dominus.' 

summari'    Compare  .&>.  73.  22 '...qui-  The  resemblance  is  verbal  as  well  as 

dam    quasi    evacuare  possint    humana  mental, 

argumentatione   praedicationis    evange-  -  Ep.  73.  13,  Auctor  10. 


398  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

needless  demands  deter  from  spiritual  baptism  those  for  whom 
she  holds  material  baptism  to  be  essentials 

If  then  these  are  fair  indications  that  Cyprian  knew  the 
Author's  work,  can  it  perhaps  be  the  actual  epistle  which 
Jubaian  enclosed  to  Cyprian'  ?  There  is  a  singular  touch 
here.  Cyprian,  scouting  the  idea  that  one  baptized  outside 
the  Church  need  not  be  baptized  into  it,  as  baptized  already 
in  Christ's  name,  says  to  Jubaian  that  he  will  not  pass  over 
'  a  mention  of  Marcion '  which  he  observes  in  that  enclosure'. 
*  Marcion  does  not  hold  the  same  Trinity  we  hold,  the  same 
'Creator-Father,  the  same  Son  in  true  flesh,  and  therefore 
'  Marcion's  baptism  is  not  in  the  true  Christ's  nameV  Now 
this  is  precisely  the  ground  which  the  Author  takes  in 
denying  to  the  (Marcionite)  heretic  the  possibility  of  martyr- 
dom. '  It  is  an  empty  appearance  of  martyrdom,  when  the 
'man  believes  in  a  different  God,  a  different  Christ;  not  the 
'  omnipotent  Creator  of  Scripture  nor  the  Son  of  Him^'  This 
seems  to  be  the  '  mention  of  Marcion '  which  Cyprian  takes 
up.  To  the  Author's  acceptance  of  heretical  baptism  he 
simply  opposes  his  rejection  of  Marcionite  martyrdom. 

If  it  be  thought  that,  supposing  this  to  have  been  Jubaian's 
enclosure,  Cyprian  would  not  have  passed  silently  over  its 
main  issue, — namely,  that  while  Baptism  proper  is  a  '  Water- 
Baptism,'  like  that  of  John,  accompanied  by  Invocation  which 
has  a  certain  power,  '  Spirit-Baptism '  accompanies  the  Lay- 
ing on  of  hands, — the  answer  is  simple.  It  is  because  this 
theory  in  no  way  entered  into  the  controversy  with  Rome. 

^  Ep.  73.  24  compared  with  Auctor  on  his  own  side  as  to  the  naked  solitary 

ID.      Not  to  accumulate  passages,  we  invocation  of  Jesus'  Name  sufficing  for 

may   add    Auct.    2,    John    'desciscens  salvation   with   Firmilian,   Ep.   75.   9, 

a  lege  id  est  Moysi  atitiquissimo  bap-  who  calls  the  invocation  of  the  name 

tismate'  compared   with  Ep.   73.    17,  of  God   or   of  Christ   alone   a    'men- 

the   Jews    ^legis  et  Moysi     antiquissi-  dacium.' 

mum  baptisma  fuerant   adepti.'     And  ^  So  Dr  Peters,  pp.  517  sqq. 

one  very  interesting  instance  is  the  com-  ^  Ep.  73.  4. 

parison  of  Auctor  c.  6  where  he  is  ap-  ^  Ep.  73.  5. 

parently  correcting  an  extreme  opinion  '  Auct.  13. 


VIII.  III.  THE  ARGUMENTS.  399 

The  view  is  as  remote  from  Stephen's  as  it  is  from  Cyprian's 
opinions. 

The  Treatise  then  seems  to  yield  these  interesting  facts 
about  itself;  that  Cyprian  was  acquainted  with  it ;  that  its 
Author,  while  certainly  acquainted  with  Cyprian's  action  and 
view,  was  not  acquainted  with  his  later  or  more  elaborate 
writings  on  the  controversy ;  that  consequently  he  handled 
it  in  its  early  stage ;  that  it  was  not  improbably  the  treatise 
which  Jubaian  submitted  to  Cyprian. 

Its  interest  lies  not  in  Cyprian's  being  careful  to  answer  it. 
It  is  a  fresh  specimen  of  the  life  in  which  he  lived.  Its  argu- 
ments although  they  lie  aside  of  the  thread  of  the  controversy 
yet  are  produced  in  defence  of  the  prevailing  practice.  In  its 
way  it  helped  to  widen  the  bond  of  Christendom  at  a  time 
when  the  greatest  Christian  man  living  was  for  contraction. 
Its  interpretation  of  isolated  texts  was  such  as  no  modern  could 
employ  or  be  affected  by.  The  forced  subtle  exegesis  evolved 
by  an  acute  mind  whilst  intent  on  the  letter  is  in  contrast 
with  the  large  anti-superstitious  view  which  the  same  mind, 
rich  with  Evangelic  teaching,  took  of  the  most  sacred  rite. 
His  letter  perished,  his  spirit  prevailed.  The  frequency  with 
which  this  phenomenon  repeats  itself  in  Theology  is  a  great 
witness  that  there  truly  abides  in  Theology  a  living  spirit, 
from  age  to  age  using,  and  then  dropping,  that  'letter'  which 
to  the  eyes  of  subsequent  generations  may  seem  to  have  been 
all  of  which  their  fathers  were  capable. 


III.      TJie  Arguments. 

We  may  open  our  review  of  the  Arguments  with  a  fuller 
statement  of  that  which,  at  the  time  when  Cyprian  began 
to  give  his  support  to  the  revival  of  the  old  discipline 
of  Agrippinus  by  requiring  a  Second  Baptism,  defended 
the  prevailing  practice  of  receiving  returned  schismatics  by 


400  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.  ' 

imposition  of  hands.  The  Author  on  Rebaptism,  though  his 
particular  arguments  faded,  yet  contributed  to  maintain  opinion 
on  the  side  which  finally  prevailed.  The  theory  he  alleged 
may  have  been  too  subtle  to  be  of  popular  service  at  any 
time,  too  fanciful  to  have  captivated  the  solid  reason  of  the 
Church  for  any  period,  and  yet  in  fragments,  in  scattered 
lights,  by  side-strokes,  such  theories  do  substantial  work.  In 
one  sense  nothing  really  dies  of  which  the  spirit  has  entered 
into  the  life  of  the  Church,  however  she  may  have  outgrown 
the  stage  at  which  the  form  was  accepted. 

This  is  the  line  of  reasoning  by  which  the  Author  main- 
tained the  status  quo  : — 

'  I.  The  preaching  of  John  distinguished  two  baptisms, 
the  one  of  Spirit,  the  other  of  Water.  These  two  are  separ- 
able. When  separated  they  are  still  integral ;  not  unmeaning 
fragments\  The  essence  of  Water-Baptism  is  the  Invocation 
of  the  Name  of  Christ ;  even  after  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  that 
Invocation  is  a  Power ;  prior  to  it,  a  Beginning  which  in  due 
time  may  be  completed ^  It  has  a  virtue'  which  intellectual 
error  cannot  destroy ;  which  may  revive  after  dormancy  ;  to 
which  mistaken  doctrines  cannot  in  its  ministrants  be  worse 
hindrances  than  immoral  lives.  It  remains  ineffective  until 
the  Imposition  of  Hands  gives  the  Baptism  of  the  Spirit ; 
although  for  such  as  never  attain  this  it  must  be  completed 
by  the  Divine  Goodness.  The  Baptism  of  Blood,  again,  can- 
not be  less  salutary  than  that  of  water,  although  to  the  heretic 
it  is  nothing,  because  he  suffers  not  in  Christ,  but  only  under 
Christ's  Name*. 

II.  Invocation  then,  or  Water-Baptism,  must  in  order  to 
become  effective  be  completed  for  the  heretically  baptized  by 
the  Spirit-Baptism  of  the  Laying  on  of  Hands^ 

1  Auctor  cc.  1 — 5,  with  illustrations  17  'Those  Gentiles  on  whom  Christ's 

from  Scripture  and  from  daily  life.  name  has  been  invoked ..  \iz.\&  still  to 

-  cc.  6,  7.  ^  c.  10.  "seek   the   Lord."     The   case  of  the 

■*  Auctor  c.  II.  heretically   baptized    is    here    contem- 

5  Thus  he  developes  Acts  xv.   13 —  plated.'    c  12. 


VIII.  III.     THE  ARGUMENTS — CYPRIAN'S  I.  OBJECTIVE.      4OI 

III.  Both  the  species  of  Baptism  were  represented  on  the 
Cross  in  their  Unity,  but  two  baptisms  of  one  species  would 
be  unendurable \ 

IV.  There  are  then  three  Baptisms — of  Water,  of  Blood,  I 
of  the  Spirit ;  and  these  three  are  recognized  by  S.  John*.  \ 
And  the  Holy  Spirit  willingly  imparts  Himself  even  to 
the  unworthy  for  certain  ends.  We  should  therefore  trust 
Him  so  to  do,  adhering  to  the  true  rite;  and  not  doing 
violence  by  a  second  Baptism  either  to  the  Invocation  of 
Christ  or  to  venerable  custom'.' — Such  is  his  thesis*.  ] 

In  examining  the  views  of  Cyprian,  we  have  to  avoid 
making  him  responsible  for  the  arguments  of  his  partisans, 
whose  handling  in  the  Seventh  Council  is  at  times  very 
discrepant  from  that  of  his  letters.  Firmilian,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  a  fair  representative  and  sensible  summariser. 

Cyprian's  arguments  are  of  remarkable  range  and  fulness. 
He  ignores  but  one  aspect  of  the  question.  And  that  one  is 
capital. 

The  objective  entity  of  the  Church,  the  objective  presence 
of  the  sanctifying  Spirit,  the  subjectivity  of  the  baptizer  and 
of  the  baptized  are  discussed  ;  historic  evidence,  biblical 
declarations,  casuistic  difficulties  are  tested. 

His  objective  grounds  may  be  arranged  thus  : — 

(i)  The  unity  of  the  Church  demands  (re)-Baptism.  The 
question  with  him  broadened  at  once,  as  we  have  seen,  from 
the  consideration  of  schism  to  the  consideration  of  heresy.  In 
the  critical  point  these  were  identical.     The  demarcation  of 

^  Auctor  c.  14.  invalidate  the  rite  and  make  it  deadly. 

-  I  Jo.  V.  6 — 8.  It  becomes  'another  Sacrament.'     The 

3  c.  15.  fire  mentioned   in    John's   Baptism   is 

■*  The  exception  which  follows  is  in-  metaphoric.     But   at  the   first  effusion 

teresting  in  illustration  of  what   some  of  Pentecost   fire    was    symbolic,   just 

sects  were.     'The  conjuring  fire' which  as   physical  '  salus  '    is  the   symbol  of 

is  shewn  upon  the  water  at  Simonian  spiritual  in  miracles  of  healing,     c.  16. 

Baptism  is  an  imposture  sufficient  to 

B.  26 


402  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Church  from  non-Church  was  distinct'.  The  representation  of 
sacred  acts  outside  the  Church  was  no  equivalent  for  the 
reality  of  sacred  acts  within  it.  The  inviolate  oneness  had  no 
outlying  dependencies.  Although  the  schismatic"  might  own 
'  One  Lord '  and  claim  '  One  Faith,'  yet  the  '  One  Baptism ' 
was  not  his,  for  the  One  Baptism  implied  the  One  Church, 
which  he  renounced. 

(2)  He  could  not  however  claim  even  Unity  of  Belief/ OnQ 
Faith,'  whilst  the  Apostles'  creed  stood  in  its  African  form. 
'  Dost  thou  believe  the  Forgiveness  of  Sins  and  the  Life 
Everlasting  through  Holy  Church  V  was  on  his  lips  null  in 
the  very  hour  of  baptism^ 

(3)  The  remissory  virtue  of  the  rite  in  respect  of  sin 
shewed  it  to  be  a  function  of  the  Holy  Orders  which  had  no 
being  outside  the  Church*.  So  that  from  the  ecclesiastical 
side  it  might  be  said  that  the  whole  episcopal  authority  as  the 
bond  of  unity,  and  the  whole  dignity  of  the  Divine  economy 
and  organisation  were  involved  in  the  question  whether  the 
baptism  of  heretics  was  to  be  recognised  ^  If  it  were,  then 
the  Church  had  many  centres,  and  rested  not  upon  one  Foun- 
dation-rock but  upon  several®.  And  if  that  baptism  were 
recognised,  untruly  and  untruthfully,  then  the  unforgiven  sins 
of  these  strangers  must  be  shared  by  those  who  received  them^ 
into  a  communion  which  behind  the  earthly  scene  knew  them 
not. 

1  Ep.  69.  3.  «  Ep.  75.  17. 

-  Ep.  75.  14,  15,  24,  25.  ^  Ep.    73.    19    '...se    alienis   immo 

'  Ep.  69.  7;  Ep.  70.  ^.  Kternis  peccatis  communicare.'  Augus- 

^  Ep.  73.  7,  a  view  which  the  mind  tine  properly  observes   that  Victor  of 

of  Fortunatus  of  Thuccaboris  developes  Gorduba  {Smtt.  Epp.  40)  goes  far  be- 

into  'Jesus  Christus...potestatem  bapti-  yond  Cyprian  in  alleging  that  such  sins 

zandi  episcopis  dedit,'  Sentt.  Epp.   17.  must  permeate  the  whole  communion 

Tertullian  held  the  authority  to  baptize  with  defilement  [Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt. 

to  be  derivable  from  bishops,  but  as  a  vii.  iv.  (6,  7)],  but  it  is  scarcely  an  ille- 

matter  of  order  not  of  essence ;  Tertull.  gitimate  extension  of  Cyprian's   view, 

de  Bapt.  1 7.  though  inconsistent  with  other  principles 

*  Ep.  72.  I.  of  his. 


VIII.  III.      THE  ARGUMENTS — CYPRIAN'S  I.  OBJECTIVE.      403 

The  separatist  teacher  has  surrendered^  the  animating, 
unifying  Spirit,  and  no  personal  earnestness  of  his  own  could 
convey  that  Spirit  to  his  followers  by  baptizing  them*.  He 
illustrates  his  principle  by  the  ingenious  remark  that  in  order 
to  the  exercise  of  this  function  John  Baptist  received  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  his  mother's  womb^;  but  since  John  did  not  impart 
the  Holy  Ghost  to  his  baptized  crowds,  he  has  to  limit  the 
application  to  his  baptism  of  our  Lord ;  and  similarly  he  says 
that  the  Apostles  received  the  Spirit  by  the  breathing  of 
Christ,  that  they  might  be  enabled  to  baptize  and  give  remis- 
sion of  sins, 

(4)  The  admission  of  reconciled  separatists  to  the  Church 
by  imparting  to  them  the  Holy  Ghost  by  imposition  of  hajids, 
which  is  the  usage  of  even  those  who  recognised  their  baptism, 
was  a  practical  declaration  that  they  had  not  received,  but  still  j 
needed  to  receive,  that  Holy  Ghost.  For  the  usage  can  never 
be  defended  from  the  Apostles  laying  their  hands  on  the  bap- 
tized Samaritans,  since  that  was  a  confirming  of  work  initiated 
by  their  own  Deacon*.  But  if  the  schismatic  admittedly  had 
not  as  yet  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  how  should  he  sanctify 
the  very  water  for  baptism  ?  or  the  unction  of  confirmation ^ 

^  ...amiserit  Spiritum  Sanctum,  Ep.  mundus  est  et  apud  quern  sanctus  spiritus 

70.  2.  non  est?...ungi  quoque  necesse  est  eum 

2  Ep.  6g.  II.     'Qui  non  habet  quo-  qui  baptizatus  est  ut  accepto  chrismate, 

modo  dat?'  became  a  catchword  of  the  id  est  unctione,  esseuncius  Deiet  habere 

Donatists.     The  reply  of  the  Catholics  in   se  gratiam    Christi   possit.     Porro 

was   '  Deum  esse  datorem ' :    see   Op-  autem   eucharistia    est    unde    baptizati 

tatus,   who    solves    the   question   with  unguntur  oleum  in  altari  sanctificatum. 

laughter.  Sanctificare  autem  non  potuit  olei  crea- 

'  ^/.  69.  II  ^...adhuc  esset... in  \x\.tro  turam   qui   nee   altare  habuit   nee   ec- 

matris  constitutus.'  Cf.  Luc.  i.  156-4  4k  clesiam,  Ep.  70.  i,  2.  Cf.  Sedatus,  Sentt. 

xotXlas  tJiT]Tp6s. — Jo.  XX.  21 — 23.  ■^/'P-   18  'in  quantum  aqua   sacerdotis 

*  Ep.  73.  9,  in  connection  with  Ep.  prece  in  Ecclesia  sanctificata  abluit  de- 

69.  6.  licta,  in  tantum  hseretico  sermone  velut 

'    Oportet    mundari    et    sanctificari  cancer   infecta   cumulat    peccata.'     In 

aquam  prius  a  sacerdote  ut  possit  bap-  Tertullian    (a'l?   Bapt.    7)    the    unction 

tismo  suo  peccata  hominis  qui  baptizatur  gives  the  Christian  his  priesthood.     On 

abluere...quomodo   autem   mundare  et  Aug.  de  Civ.  Dei  xx.  10,  Enarr.  II.  (2) 

sanctificare  aquam  potest  qui  ipse  im-  in  Ps.  xxvi.,  Enarr.  in  Ps.  xliv.  19,  and 

26 — 2 


404 


THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 


which   is  the  sig^  of  the  Royalty  and  Priesthood  of  every 

Christian  man  ?    Above  all,  how   should   he  give  the  New 

Birth\  which  as  the  essence  of  the  sacrament  is  essentially  the 

act  of  the  Spirit  ? 

/         (5)  Nor  yet  could  their  Baptism  be  regarded  as  an  inchoate 

I    Sacrament,  begun  without  the  Spirit,  but  completed  in  Him'. 

'     The   washing  of  water  without  the  Spirit  is  a  mere  carnal 

Judaizing^  rite.     Nay,  applied  as  a  deceiving  semblance,  it 

must  be  worse.     It  is  a  material  pollution*.     Under  sentence, 

and  void   of  merit,  the  pretenders  can  neither  'justify  nor 

sanctify'   their   bapt^zed^     Who  but  the  holy  can  hallow'.'' 

Who  but  the  living  give  life\'* 


Jerome,  Comnt.  in  Joel  ii.  28  sqq., 
making  it  confer  our  Kingship  and 
Priesthood,  see  Dr  A  .J.  Mason,  Relation 
of  Confirmation  to  Baptism,  1893,  pp. 
87,  171.  And  popularly  Prudentius, 
Psychotnachia,  v.  361,  'unguentum  re- 
gale.^ See  Bunsen:  'to  the  (catechu- 
men's) vow  for  life  and  death  corre- 
sponded the  unction  as  Priest  and 
King... The  seal  of  a  free  pledge,  of  a 
responsible  act,'  Hippolytus  and  his 
age,  vol.  II.  pp.  120,  I  (1854).  Ob- 
serve however  that  in  the  Apostolic  Con- 
stitutions, bk.  vii.  c.  23,  it  is  said  that  if 
there  is  no  oil  for  the  anointing  before 
the  baptism,  nor  chrism  (fwpov)  for  the 
subsequent  anointing,  water  suffices 
for  both ;  apxeZ  C5wp  koL  wpbs  x/'^o'"'  k°-^ 
irpbs  <T<ppayi8a.  It  is  with  Water  that 
the  English  Church  seals  the  baptized 
with  the  Signaculum  Crucis,  although 
the  Royal  Priesthood  of  the  Laity  would 
be  more  plainly  expressed  and  taught 
if  we  used  the  primitive  anointing. 

As  to  the  account  of  Theodoret, 
Hceret.  Fab.  iii.  5,  that  the  Novatian- 
ists  used  no  unction,  it  is  possibly  due 
to  the  fact  that  Novatian  himself  had 
not  received  it  in  his  'clinical'  baptism 
(Routh,  R.  S.  vol. III.  pp.  69,  70),  for  we 


must  include  this  among  rd  \onrh.  't3r 
X/wj  p-eToKan^aveiv '  which  were  omitted 
on  that  occasion,  and  which  are  dis- 
tinguished from  his  neglect  of  confirma- 
tion by  Cornel.  Ep.  ad  Fab.  Euseb. 
H.  E.  vi.  43.  If  it  were  true  the 
argument  of  Cyprian  would  have  been 
futile. 

1  Ep.  74.  5.  6. 

*  Ep.  74.  5. 

'^  Ep.  75.  13.    Cf.  Tert.  de  Bapt.  18. 

*  Profanae  aqure  labes,  Ep.  72.  i ; 
adultera  et  profana  aqua,  Ep.  73. i ,  cf.  2 1 ; 
profana  aqua  polluuntur,  Ep.  69.  16.  In 
words  this  becomes  more  revolting  in 
the  Vote  of  Sedatus  {Setttt.  Epp.  18, 
above  p.  403,  note  5),  but  the  sense  is 
nowhere  stronger  than  in  Cyprian's 
earliest  declaration  on  the  subject 
'  men  are  not  cleansed  in  that  baptism 
but  rather  are  defiled;  nor  are  their 
sins  purged  away  but  indeed  are  heaped 
higher.'     De  Unit.  11. 

*  Ep.6^.  10,  sandificareishtrtxaXhtr 
to  consecrate  than  technically  to  sanctify. 
The  effect  of  it  is  to  make  a  man  a 
temple  of  God.     Ep.  T^.  12. 

«  Ep.  69.  2. 
^  Ep.  71.  I. 


VIII.  III.    THE  ARGUMENTS — CYPRIAN'S  2.  SUBJECTIVE.     405 

(6)  Is  it  maintained  that  for  an  earnest  though  misin- 
formed convert  the  Presence  and  Sanctity  of  Christ  Himself 
countervail  the  unworthiness  of  the  ministrant  ?  Then,  if 
Christ  be  there,  how  should  His  Spirit  be  wanting }  And  if 
the  Spirit  be  absent,  as  our  Imposition  of  Hands  affirms,  how 
can  we  affirm  that  Christ  is  present*.-* 

We  have  thus  approached  the  subjective  basis  of  the 
Cyprianic  argument. 

(i)  \{  Faith  of  the  Recipient^  is  urged  as  the  ground  of  the 
blessing,  a  mere  faith  in  his  own  faith  cannot  be  adequate. 
To  be  effective  a  faith  must  be  a  true  faith.  But  while  the 
faith  of  the  schismatic  is  deficient  in  a  cardinal  point,  namely, 
the  remission  of  sins  through  the  Church,  the  faith  of  the 
heretic  is  false  and  often  blasphemousl 

(2)  But  must  not  the  Invocation  of  God  in  the  Lord's  own 
words  be  effective  ?  There  seem  to  have  been  in  Africa  some 
who  understood  baptism  'in  the  Name  of  Christ'  to  be 
sufficient  without  the  Trinal  Invocation.  This  was  evidently 
very  rare,  if  ever  it  was  more  than  an  exception.  Augustine* 
says  that  although  still  in  his  day  many  honest  clergy  prayed 
ignorantly,  and  many  erroneously,  through  their  having  pos- 
sessed themselves  unwittingly  of  copies  of  heretical  devotions, 
yet  that  it  would  probably  be  easier  to  find  some  non- 
baptizing  sect,  than  people  baptizing  with  a  mutilated 
formula. 

Stephen  bestows  no  consideration,  still  less  any  approval, 
upon  such  a  form.  When  he  defends  baptism  '  in  the  Name 
of  Christ'  he  is  using  the  words  in  a  Scriptural  sense,  of 
persons  who  at  least  intended  to  be  baptized  into  the  Faith  of 
Christ.  He  assumes  the  ordinary  correctness  of  baptisms  in 
such  respects.  Cyprian  it  is  true  argues  against  the  validity 
of  some^  kind  of  baptizing  '  in  the  Name  of  Christ,'  but  only 

^  E'P-  75'  12-  *  ^^S-  '^^  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  vi.  xxv. 

^  Epp.  n- V,  U' 9-  (47)- 

3  Epp.  73.4,  S;  74-  2.  «  Ep.  73.  18. 


406  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.     • 

just  as  he  argues  against  the  validity  of  some  baptizing  in  the 
Name  of  the  Trinity,  namely  because  another  Christ  and 
another  Trinity  are  understood  by  the  baptizers. 


Baptism  in  the  Naine  of  Christ  alone. 

It  is  necessary  to  look  into  this  question  with  some  care  on  account 
of  A.  Neander's  bold  assertion  {General  Hist,  of  the  Christian  Religion 
and  Church,  sect,  iii.,  vol.  I.  pp.  446,  7,  and  notes,  Bohn)  that  from 
Cyprian's  letters  and  from  the  (contemporary)  book  De  Rebaptismate  it 
is  undeniably  clear  that  the  Roman  party  maintained,  *  in  a  more  liberal 
Christian  spirit'  than  his,  the  objective  validity  of  baptizing  in  Christ's 
name  alone,  without  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

It  is  in  the  first  place  unfair  to  attribute  to  Rome  the  views  of  the 
Author  on  Re-baptism  who  is  certainly  an  African.  But  there  is  no  sign 
of  his  having  held  such  a  view. 

1.  What  the  Author  on  Rebaptism  says  is  (c.  7)  that,  while  the 
Trinal  Invocation  was  not  only  verum  et  recticm  et  omnibus  7nodis  in 
ecclesia  observandum  but  was  observari  quoqne  soli  turn,  'we  should  con- 
'  sider  that  Invocation  of  the  Name  of  Jesus  ought  not  to  be  looked  on 
'by  us  2l.s  futile''  (a  nobis  futilis  videri):  'it  might  have  a  sort  of  initial 
virtue  capable  of  subsequent  completion.'  debet  invocatio  haec  nominis 
Jesu  quasi  initium  quoddam  mysterii  Dominici  comtnune  nobis  et  ceteris 
omnibus  accipi,  quod  possit  postmodum  residuis  rebus  impleri. — He  does 
not  say  what  the  residues  res  are,  but  since  the  'Name  of  Jesus'  is  the 
only  thing  as  yet  'common'  to  the  Church  and  these  persons,  the  residue 
of  the  Invocation,  the  communion  of  the  Father  and  the  Spirit,  cannot 
be  excluded  from  them. 

In  the  title  and  first  chapter  of  the  book  the  expression  'semel  in 
nomine  Domini  fesu  Christi  tincti'  is  equivalent  to  'Christian  baptism,' 
and  does  not  mean  one  class  of  baptisms  only,  for  it  comprehends  those 
who  already  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity. 

2.  What  the 'Roman  party'  maintained  can  be  gathered  from  the 
arguments  against  them,  but  especially  from  certain  clauses  imbedded  in 
those  which  are  recognisable  as  fragmentary  quotations  from  Stephen. 
Such  passages  are  these.  Stephen,  Ep.  73.  16,  is  represented  as 
saying,  'In  nomine  Jesu  Christi  ubicumque  et  quomodocumque  baptizati 
gratiam  baptismi  sunt  consecuti,'  and  Ep.  73.  18  'extra  ecclesiam  immo 
'et  contra  ecclesiam  modo  {i.e.  provided  that  it  be)  in  nomine  Jesu  Christi 
*  cujuscumque  et  quomodocumque  gentilem  baptizatum  remissionem  pec- 
'  catorum  consequi  posse' :  which  is  a  version  of  the  same  citation, '  cicjus- 
cumque'  {sic  lege)  being  Cyprian's  paraphrase  of  Stephen's  own  word 
ubicumque,  and  meaning  '  whatever  doctrine  of  the  Person  of  Christ  be 


VIII.  Ill,     THE  ARGUMENTS — CYPRIAN'S  2.  SUBJECTIVE.     407 

entertained  by  the  sect.'  The  same  passage  Firmilian-Cyprian  {^Ep.  75. 
18)  quotes  thus:  'sed  in  muUum'  inquit  'proficit  nomen  Christi  ad  fidem 
*et  baptismi  sanctificationem,  ut  quicumque  et  ubicumque  in  nomine 
'Christi  baptizatus  fuerit  consequatur  statim  gratiam  Christi.'  And 
again  the  same  passage  is  quoted  Ep.  74.  5  'qui  in  nomine  Jesu  Christi 
ubicumque  et  quomodocumque  baptizantur.'  Now  this  one  harped-on 
quotation  (for  it  is  only  one)  would  have  carried  Meander's  sense,  had 
the  question  been  one  oi  comparing  the  value  of  two  forms.  But  there  is 
no  such  question  stirring.  The  question  is  whether  a  schismatic  person  can 
baptize,  all  else  being  equal.  Stephen  uses  'baptized  in  the  Name  of 
Chrisf  in  the  New  Testament  sense  as  equivalent  to  Christian  baptism 
— as  Origen  explains  Rom.  vi.  3,  'baptized  into  Christy  by  reference 
to  the  context  to  mean  ordinary  Christian  baptism,  'cum  utique  non 
habeatur  legitimum  baptisma  nisi  sub  nomine  Tri7iitatis^^  And  that  it 
was  only  in  this  form  that  Stephen  considered  the  '  Name  of  Christ '  to 
be  applied  in  baptism  is  plain  from  Firmilian's  other  quotation  from  him, 
Ep.  75.  9  'non  quaerendum  esse  quis  sit  ille  qui  baptizaverit  eo  quod  qui 
'  baptizatus  sit  gratiam  consequi  potuerit  invocata  Trinitate  nominum 
'  Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti.'  Firmilian  indeed  expressly  assumes, 
Ep.  75.  II,  that  Stephen  would  require  the  syTnbolum  Trinitatis,  even 
though  his  principles  would  (as  he  supposes)  allow,  if  it  were  correct  in 
that  point  and  in  the  interrogations,  a  baptism  by  a  demoniac  or  a 
demon. 

Looking  then  even  to  the  letter  of  what  Stephen  wrote  (though  so 
little  remains  to  us),  Neander's  account  of  it  is  not  justified.  If  we 
consider  how  strong  Cyprian  {Ep.  73.  18)  was  on  this  point, — Ipse 
Christus  jubet  baptizari  gentes  in  plena  et  adunata  Trinitate,  following 
his  Master  who  says  Lex  tinguendi  itnposita  est  et  forma  prcBScripta 
(Tert.  de  Bapt.  13) — we  shall  see  that  had  he  conceived  'Baptism  in 
Christ's  Name'  to  imply  the  disregard  of  Christ's  'form,'  he  would  have 
been  armed  with  an  argument  against  Stephen  which  he  could  not  have 
failed  to  use.  We  shall  also  observe,  with  Tillemont  (Tom.  iv.,  Note  39 
sur  S.  Cyprien),  that  neither  Eusebius,  Augustine,  Vincent  of  Lerins  or 
Facundus  ever  perceived  in  Stephen  such  false  'liberality'  as  Neander 
would  fain  discover  in  him. 

In  this  view  of  Stephen,  Fechtrup  agrees,  pp.  221 — 224.  Tillemont, 
attaching  impossible  force  to  the  title  of  the  pamphlet,  thinks  the  Author's 
position  was  that  which  Neander  takes.  On  the  ground  of  the  passage 
of  Augustine,  quoted  in  the  text,  it  has  been  doubted  whether  all  the 
sects  named  by  Gennadius  {de  Ecclesiast.  dogmat.  cap.  lii.)  really  did 
disuse  the  form. 

While  therefore  Cyprian    regards  this  Form  of  Christ's 

^  Origen,  Comment,  in  Epist.  ad  Rom.,  lib.  v.  c.  8. 


408  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Institution  *in  the  full  and  united  Trinity'  to  be  essential*, 
he  appeals  beyond  this  to  common  reason  to  decide  whether 
one  can  be  truly  baptized  into  the  Son,  who  denies  the  truth 
of  the  Son's  humanity,  or  one  who  is  taught  to  believe  the 
God  of  Creation  and  the  God  of  Israel  to  be  an  evil  deity*. 

Granting  then  that  the  true  formula  has  been  uttered  by 
people  of  such  tenets^  he  argues  with  force  and  dignity  that 
the  rite  is  not  a  question  of  words  :  that  the  absent  Christ,  the 
absent  Spirit  are  not  bound  by  them,  as  by  a  spell,  to  bless 
untruth,  unfaith,  broken  charity.  Thus  then  an  effective 

faith  ori  the  part  of  the  recipient  ca7inot  be  secureJ^y  the 
formula.  ~~~" 

I  (3)  Again,  what  may  be  effective  faith  outside  the  Church 
is  incapable  of  definition.  It  is  no  part  of  the  Church's  duty 
or  prerogative  to  graduate  degrees  of  departure  from  the 
truth.  Since  a  death  suffered  in  persecution  for  a  spurious 
creed  ought  clearly  not  to  rank  as  martyrdom  for  the  truth, 
how  can  there  be  ascribed  to  erroneous  baptism  a  virtue  that 
is  denied  even  to  the  Baptism  of  Blood*.'' 

But  it  is  when  he  comes  to  the  handling  of  the  Historical 
Proof  that  for  a  time  Cyprian  seems  to  have  his  adversary 
in  his  grasp. 

(i)  He  had  pleaded  'Usage,'   and    Cyprian,  with  a   fire 


^  Ep.  73.  18.  The  Author  on  Rebaptism  follows  the 

-  Ep.   73.    5   and  Ep.  74.  i.     The  same  line  of  thought,     c.  13. 

first  appearance  of  his  argument  is  in  ^  Ep.  75.  9. 

his 'Master' (Tert.a'^^a/^.  c.  15),  who  *  Ep.  73.  21.  De  Dca.  Orat.  24. 
in  his  Greek  treatise  had  drawn  it  out  De  Unit.  14,  19.  The  universality 
more  fully  still.  'Our  God  and  theirs  of  this  judgment  can  scarcely  be  il- 
ls not  the  same ;  nor  is  our  Christ  oncy  lustrated  better  than  by  the  fact  that 
that  is  to  say,  not  the  same :  accordingly  the  broad  churchman  who  wrote  the 
their  baptism  and  ours  is  not  one,  "110.01  De /?edapiismate  in  cc.  11,  i^dis- 
because  not  the  same ;  for  as  they  have  claims  any  doubt  on  the  subject :  '  as  the 
it  not  duly  and  properly,  they  have  it  sufferer  believed  on  another  God  and 
not  at  all;  and  that  cannot  be  taken  on  another  Christ,  he  is  a  confessor 
account  of  which  is  not  had;  and  as  not  of  Christ,  but  in  an  unsubstantial 
they   have   not    they   cannot   receive.'  {solitario)  nanle  of  Christ.' 


VI 1 1.  III.    THE  ARGUMENTS — CYPRIAN'S  3.  HISTORICAL.    409 

caught  from  Tertullian\  argues  that  no  lapse  of  time,  no 
extent  of  use  can  countervail  Truth.  Newest  found  Truth  is 
more  precious  than  the  most  venerable  error'.  Usage  may  be 
an  apology  for  ignorance  while  ignorance  lasts,  but  it  cannot 
be  a  reason  against  Reason'. 

(2)  Moreover  the  argument  is  two-edged.  The  use  of 
Rome  was  not  the  universal  use*. 

(3)  Again,  it  was  argued  that  seceders  from  the  Church 
were  not  rebaptized  upon  their  return  to  it,  why  then  should 
they  in  whose  fellowship  they  had  lived  meantime  be  differ- 
enced from  them  ?  He  replies  that  they  had  once  received 
that  one  Baptism  which  was  ever-availing  to  them  as  peni- 
tents for  any  sin.  Their  case  was  not  parallel  to  that  of  a 
heathen  who  had  been  made  not  a  churchman  at  first  but  a 
Tieretic^ 

(4)  It  was  argued  that  the  original  practice  of  the  Church 
was  attested  by  the  fact  that  the  most  divergent  heretical 
bodies  recognised  each  the  baptism  of  the  others,  and  required 
no  renewal  of  the  sacrament  upon  transitions  :  and  so  still  (it 
was  said)  the  Church  when  they  came  home  to  her,  had 
nothing  to  require  but  a  true  confession*.  Cyprian  replied 
that  the  Church  had  nothing  to  learn  from  heresy ;  and  to  the 
■objection  that  his  own  theory  was  in  fact  Novatian's,  who  re- 
baptized  even  his  Catholic  adherents,  he  answered'  on  a  sound 
principle*  that  accidental  coincidence  with  heresy  invalidated 

^  Tert.  de  Vel.  Virgg.  i.  Catholic  Baptism  as  null.     The  former 

2  This  meets  the  plea  of  Dr  Peters  appealed  to  churchmen  with  such  ex- 
(p.  538)  that  Stephanus  relied  not  on  pressions  as  'Estote  Christiani,'  'Cai 
Usage  but  on  Tradition.  Cyprian  re-  Sei,  Caia  Seia,  adhuc  paganus  es, 
quired  that  Usage  should  be  verified  by  aut  pagana.'  (Optatus  iii.  11.)  Op- 
Reason  and  by  Scripture  before  he  tatus  speaks  of  the  horror  which  affected 
would  allow  it  to  be  Tradition  at.all.  him  at  the  re-exorcism  of  Christians,  'vos 

3  Ep.  71.  3.     Ep.  73.  13.  ...dicitis  Deo  habitanti  Maledicte,  exi 
*  Ep.  71.  4,  which  was  also  true,  as       foras  !'    iv.  6. 

Firmilian  remarks,  in  other  matters,  e.g.  ®  Ep.  74.  4. 

in  the  celebration  of  Easter,  Ep.  75.  6.  ^  Ep.  73.  2. 

"  The  Novatianists  and  the  Donatists,  ^  So  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  iii. 

an  the  spirit  of  true   Puritans,  treated  xi.  (16). 


410  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

no  Church  usage,  and  that  indeed  the  Puritanic  mimicry^  was 
good  as  evidence  of  what  Novatian  had  learnt  in  the  Church. 

(5)  Casuistic  difficulties  are  met  by  him  with  genuine 
breadth.  For  example,  he  is  asked,  '  If  regeneration  within 
'  t/ie  Church  is  thus  essential,  what  is  the  position  of  those  for 
*  whom  either  term  has  failed  ? — of  catechumens  martyred 
'before  baptism*?  of  heretics  received  in  time  past  without 
'baptism  and  so  deceased^?' 

His  theory,  like  his  Master's,  was  in  this  one  point  less 
narrow  than  the  more  liberal  party  might  have  fairly  expected. 
Things  essential  to  earthly  order  would  not  (he  knew)  bar  the 
goodness  of  God  ;  the  most  glorious  of  baptisms  sanctified 
such  as  having  lived  by  the  light  they  had  fell  asleep  in  the 
Church,  though  unbaptized  ;  no  man  should  fear  their  being 
parted  from  her  eternally.  '  Simplicity  like  this  is  enough 
for  me,'  says  Augustine  at  this,  in  the  midst  of  his  refutations*. 

Ready  with  an  answer  like  this,  Cyprian  could  yet  more 
effectively  press  the  abandonment  of  error  when  detected, 
and  despise  mere  scruples  of  conscience  as  to  the  unknown 
consequences"  of  Rebaptism  'should  the  first  baptism  have 
been  perchance  valid  in  the  sight  of  God.'  As  for  casuistic 
difficulties,  such  could  be  propounded  on  either  side.  What 
for  instance  could  even  now  be  said  as  to  the  validity  of 
baptisms  performed  by  a  demoniac  woman  with  every  Chris- 
tian solemnity  } — a  professed  prophetess  who  foretold  and 
claimed  to  have  caused  the  earthquakes  which  led  to  the 
persecutions  of  A.D.  235,  who  traversed  frozen  snows  bare- 
footed and  unhurt,  who  had  trains  of  followers  for  whom  she 
celebrated  the  eucharist  with  a  form  of  '  invocation  not  to  be 
discredited*,'  and  seduced  a  deacon  and  a  country  presbyter.^ 
Were  her  unexceptionable  rites  valid  or  no } 

^  'Simiarum  more,' .£/.  73.  ?.  '  'Invidia  quadam.'     Ep.  73.  25. 

-  Ep.  73.  22.  ^  Ep.  75.  10.     A  Cappadocian  case 

^  Ep.  73.  23.  given   by  Firmilian.     Cp.   the  liberty 

^  Contra  Crescott.  ii.  33.  (41).  given  to  the  wandering  Prophets,  roir 


VIII.  III.      THE  ARGUMENTS — CYPRIAN'S  4.  BIBLICAL.        4II 

The  liberal  Author  on  Rebaptism,  though  he  calls  a 
certain  Simonian  Baptism,  in  which  fire  was  exhibited  upon 
the  surface  of  the  water,  '  an  adulterine,  nay  internecine '  rite, 
does  not  absolutely  declare  rebaptism  necessary  even  then*. 

Of  Cyprian's  Biblical  arguments  the  more  familiar  need 
scarcely  more  than  simple  mention.  There  is  the  '  One 
Loaf,'  '  One  Cup,'  '  One  Ark,' — to  which  the  Donatists  added 
*  One  Circumcision,'  '  One  Deluge.'  There  is  the  schis- 

matical  (note,  not  heretical)  gainsaying  of  Korah.  There 

is  the  inference  that  if  the  Apostle  baptized  the  household 
on  whom  the  Spirit  had  fallen*,  how  much  more  should  those 
be  baptized  on  whom  it  was  confessed  by  the  imposition  of 
hands  at  their  reception  that  He  had  never  fallen. 

A  neat  ingenuity  appears  in  his  dealing  with  some  of  the 
passages  ; — as  when  he  explains^  the  omission  of  the  Father's 
Name  from  S.  Peter's  injunction  of  Baptism  (Acts  ii.  38)  by 
observing  that  these  neophytes  were  Jews  who  needed  but  the 
Son's  Name  to  supplement  their  antient  Baptism  :  or  when, 
on  Philippians  i.  18,  which  was  quoted*  as  shewing  that  even 
an  Apostle  recognised  the  evangelizing  work  of  his  opponents, 
he  points  out  that  their  work  was  within  the  Church  and  their 
enmity  personal  not  doctrinal. 

Some  of  his  most  constant  and  conclusive  quotations  are 
strangely  erroneous.  He  perhaps  started  the  interpretation  of 
Qui  baptizatur  a  mortuo  quidproficit  lavatione  ejus^f  '  He  that  is 
'  washed  after  touching  a  dead  body  and  toucheth  it  again,  what 
'profiteth  he  by  his  washing.'*'  as  if  it  meant  'He  that  is  baptized 
by  one  that  is  dead,'  i.e.  by  a  heretic.  This  is  quoted  in  his 
sense  by  Quintus  (Quietus)  in  the  Council®;  and  constantly  by 
Petilianus,  Cresconius,  and  other  Donatists,  against  Augustine, 


hk  •irpo(prjTai^  iniTphrere  evxcpiffretv  oaa  -  £^.  72.  i. 

d^XovffLv.     Aidaxv  T.  tj3' 'Att.  10.  ^  Ep.  73.  17. 

Unum  de  Presbyteris  rusticum  ^  sic  •*  Ep.  73.  14. 

/.).  »  Sir.  31  (34).  30.    Ep.  71,  I. 

^  Auctor  c.  17.  8  Sentt.  Epp.  27. 


412  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

who  at  first  was  only  able  to  reply  that  *  the  Dead '  baptizer  is 
a  heathen  priest,  or  a  deified  hero,  rather  than  a  heretic \  not 
observing  the  omission  of  '  and  toucheth  it  again.'  When  lie 
saw  it  he  thought  Donatus  a  '  Fur  divini  eloquii,'  and  yet 
again  discovered  that  in  most  of  the  older  African  manu- 
scripts these  words  were  wanting,  and  retracted  his  strong 
language". 

A  spurious  passage  as  well  as  a  genuine  one  may  have  a 
spurious  sense  assigned  to  it,  and  run  as  mischievous  a  course. 
Cyprian  in  the  First  Council  on  Baptism,  quotes  the  Alex- 
andrine addition  to  Proverbs  ix.  i8.  Keep  thee  from  alien 
water,  and  of  the  alien  font  drink  thou  not.  Since  the  Alex- 
andrine Clement  had  already  applied  the  further  spurious 
context  So  shalt  thou  cross  alien  water  to  '  heretical  baptism,' 
and  pass  beyond  an  alien  river  to  'the  ethnic  and  disordered 
waves  to  which  their  pervert  would  be  hurried,'  it  is  possible 
that  Cyprian  or  one  of  his  bishops  (Tertullian  does  not  quote 
it)  thence  learnt  the  application.  Firmilian  adopts  it  from 
them,  and  in  the  Third  Council  Nemesian  of  Thubunae  (whose 
unusually  long  speech  shews  that  he  read  Tertullian  as  well  as 
Cyprian)  makes  the  passage  his  own.  Augustine's  common 
sense  is  not  misled  as  to  the  meaning,  but  its  authenticity  he 
does  not  question'. 

Then  again  favourite  passages  are  Jeremiah  xv.  i8  and  ii. 
13.     Deceiving  water  and  Broken  cisterns  are  to  Cyprian  plain 

^  c.   Hit.  Pdiliani  i.  ix.    (10),  cf.  c.  15.    They  are  not  in  the  Vulgate.    Cy- 

Crescon.  n.  xxv.  (30).    Retractt.  i.  21,  3.  prian  and  Firmilian  of  course  give  them 

-  They  are  in  some  editions  wrongly  in  the  same  form  '  ab  aqua  aliena  abstine 

inserted  in  the  citation  by  Quietus  Sentt.  te  et  a  fonte,  alieno  ne  biberis';  Nerae- 

Epp.  27.    LXX.  pairTi^d/ievos  airb  veKpov  sian  'ab  aqua  atitem  aliena  abstine  nee 

KoX  irdXiv  airTd/j-evoi  avroO.  de  fonte  extraneo  biberis ' ;    Augustine 

*  Ep.  70.  I.  Clem.  Alex.  .S"/r<7w.  B.  I.  '  ab  aqua  aliena  abstine  te  et  de  fonte 

c.  xix.  ;  his  second  clause  not  even  in  alieno    ne    biberis.'    The  varieties  of 

LXX.   Ep.  75.  23.    Sentt.  Epp.  5.   Aug.  early    Latin    Versions    are    illustrated 

c.  Donatt.  Ep.  de  Unit.  EccL,  c.  xxiii.  here.     Compare    Tables  in  Bp.  West- 

(65).    The  Benedictine  editors  have  not  cott's  article  '  Vulgata'  in  Smith's  Diet. 

observed  that  the  forgery  is  quoted,  but  of  the  Bible. 
treat  the  words  as  a  version  of  Prov.  v. 


VIII.   III.  THE  ARGUMENTS — STEPHEN'S.  413 

prophecies  of  heretical  baptism.  We  may  apply  to  him  almost 
literally  the  address  of  Optatus  to  Parmenian,  when  after  re- 
futing his  Cyprianic  use  of  the  '  broken  cisterns '  he  proceeds 

*  You  batter  the  Law  to  such  purpose  that  wherever  you 
'find  the  word    Water  you  conjure  out  of  it  some  sense  to 

*  our  disadvantageV  By  the  same  verbal  handling  Cyprian 
furnished  the  Donatists  with  their  pet  absurdity,  '  Let  not  the 
sinner's  oil  anoint  my  head,'  as  being  David's  denunciation  of 
heretical  unction*. 

There  is  no  denying  the  poetic  aptness  of  his  favourite 
application  of 'The  Garden  enclosed.. the  Fountain  sealed., 
the  Paradise  with  its  pomegranates  V  from  the  Canticles,  nor 
of  his  bold  pressure  of  the  New  Birth*  and  Sonship  of  the 
Christian — who  in  Heresy  can  no  more  find  a  Mother,  than 
Christ  can  find  in  her  the  spotless  spouse^ 
a  The  Answer  of  Stephanus  to  this  last  was  noble ;  that 
Heresy  was  indeed  an  unnatural  mother,  who  exposed  her 
children  as  soon  as  they  were  born,  but  that  the  Church's  part 
was  to  find  and  bring  them  home  and  rear  them  for  her 
Lord^ 

Still  the  argument  was  on  neither  side  a  matter  of  simile. 
Whilst  a  glance  through  the  references  above  given  will  shew 
that  Cyprian's  scheme  is  not  fully  developed  in  any  one  place, 
but  has  to  be  worked  out  from  his  correspondence,  it  did  not 
lie  in  fragments  in  his  mind,  but  was  to  him  intelligible, 
coherent,  logical — and  was  revealed. 

Against  such  a  piece  of  Christian  philosophy,  held  and 
promulgated   by   one    of   Cyprian's    powers    and    Cyprian's 

^  Optatus  iv.  9.  iron   mark   in   Felix  bishop   of  Bam- 

*  Ps.    cxl.    (cxli.)    5.      Ep.    70.    2.       accora    {^Sentt.     Epp.     33)    who    says 
Optatus  iv.  7.  that  '  Christ  has  given  us  his  security 

'  Cant.  iv.  12,  13;  Epp.  69.  2;   74.  {cautum)  that  ours  is  a /rrVa/'i?  fountain 

II  i  75-  IS-  (privatus).'     Cyprian  at  least  kept  st^- 

*  Ep.  75.  14.  natus.     Hartel    (small   blame   to   him) 
^  Ep.6g.2;  74.  ii ;  75.  15,  answered  has    not    even    noticed    that    Felix    is 

by   Aug.    c.    Crescon.    i.    xxxiv.    (40).       quoting. 

How  poetry  may  be  turned  into  cast-  *  Ep.  75.  14. 


414  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

character,  backed  by  an  army  of  prelates  whom  he  rather  re- 
strained than  stimulated*,  moving  as  one  man  to  his  direction 
yet  with  an  independence  which  threw  each  upon  himself  for 
his  argument,  how  great  was  the  triumph  of  Stephen  ! 

No  council  assembled  to  support  him.  Alexandria  remon- 
strated :  Cappadocia  denounced*.  His  good  cause  was  marred 
by  uncharity,  passion,  pretentiousness.  Yet  he  triumphed, 
and  in  him  the  Church  of  Rome  triumphed,  as  she  deserved. 
For  she  was  not  the  Church  of  Rome  as  modern  Europe 
has  known  her.  She  was  the  liberal  church  then ;  the 
church  whom  the  Truth  made  free ;  the  representative  of 
secure  latitude,  charitable  comprehensiveness,  considerate 
regulation. 

This  question  she  decided  on  one  grand  principle, — rather 
a  grand  instinct  as  yet,  to  be  informed  later  into  a  principle. 
For  Stephen's  theology  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  to  define 
it.  Nor  was  it  formulated  until  Augustine's  time.  It  was  the 
principle  which  all  the  four  western  doctors  contributed  to 
establish  in  the  analogous  case  of  ordination.  It  was  the 
same  for  which  the  Church  must  ever  be  content  to  set  aside 
her  ever-recurring  temptations  to  discountenance  error  by 
denying  the  grace  of  those  who  err,  to  assert  her  dignity  by 
increasing  severity,  and  to  attract  mankind,  as  Cyprian  said 
she  would^ — and  this  is  hardest  to  forego, — by  her  very 
exclusiveness. 

'As  there  was  much  for  a  learned  Cyprian  to  teach,  so 
there  was  something  too  for  a  teachable  Cyprian  to  learn,' 

^  This   must   be  our  inference  from  immo  tu  hsereticis  omnibus  pejor  as... 

his  opening  speech;   they  would  have  audacia,  insolentia,  imperitia.'         'His 

liked  well  to  'pass  judgment'  on  the  inhumanity  was  welcome ;  it  had  brought 

Bishop  of  Rome  :  some  would  not  only  out  the  faith  and  wisdom  of  Cyprian, 

have  baptized  but  exorcized  returning  even    as    the    perfidy    of    Judas    had 

heretics:    Vincent  of  Thibaris  [Sentt.  brought — !'  'A   budding  title    of 

Epp.  37)  exclaimed  '  we  know  heretics  Episcopus  episcoporum  [it  had  already 

to  be  worse  than  the  heathen.'  provoked   the  sarcasm    of   Tertullian] 

-  Firmilian  sprinkles  over  him  such  protrudes  itself.' 
flowers  as  'Animosus,  iracundus...quin  ^  Ep.  73.  24. 


VIII.  IIL  THE  ARGUMENTS — STEPHEN'S.  415 

says  Augustine S  criticizing  his  reproof  of  Stephen's  indocile 
temper.  The  fallacy  which  underlay  Cyprian's  convictions 
was  really  that  which  had  deceived  Tertullian ;  which  later 
moved  and  maintained*  the  Donatists  in  extending  to  what 
they  held  to  be  '  Treason  '  in  an  orthodox  cleric  the  grace- 
debarring  power  which  their  fathers  had  attributed  to  schism  ; 
which  made  Wyclif  deny  the  validity  of  Sacraments  or 
Orders  given  by  a  Bishop  or  Presbyter  whilst  in  sin  ;  which 
led  Calvin  and  Knox  to  refuse  baptism  to  the  infant  children 
of  'papists,'  or  the  divines  of  Geneva  to  allow  it  upon  a 
charitable  hope  that  the  'grace  which  had  adopted... the 
great-grandfathers  might  not  yet  be  so  wholly  extinct '  as  that 
the  infants  should  have  'lost  their  right  to  the  common 
seal*.' 

Although  in  Cyprian*,  and  even  as  it  would  seem  in  the 
Donatists,  there  is  no  trace  of  such  teaching  as  that  the  moral 
character  of  the  priest  affects  the  efficacy  of  the  Sacrament,  yet 
the  Puritan  dogma  (compared  with  which  any  other  sacerdo- 
talism is  but  shadowy)  That  the  minister  is  of  the  substance 
of  the    sacrament®    may    be    considered    to    lie    implicitly 

^  De  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  V.  xxvi.  (37).  for  Erasmus  continues  'But  he  means, 

2  'To    confront    us    with   Cyprian's  I    think,  in   the  case   of  a  bishop  ap- 

writings  as  if  they  were  bases  of  canoni-  pointed  by  heretics^   who  is  not  a   real 

cal  authority.'  Aug.  ^.  Cr^jf^«.  II.  xxxii.  bishop:    his   rites  do   not    profit   those 

(40);  cf.  Aug.  ^/.  93.C.  10(38),  ad  Vin-  who  support  his  impiety.'     Erasm.  afi? 

cent.;  Aug.  Ep.  108.  c.  3  (9),  ad  Macrob.  loc.  Cypr. — The  Donatist  limitation  of 

*  '^ ...Si  episcopus  vel  sacerdos  existat  disqualification  to  the  Traditores  setms 

in  peccato  viortali  non  ordinate  conjicit,  arbitrary,  but  apparently  existed  in  an 

nee  baptizat '  is  a  Wyclifite  proposition  unthought  out  fashion.     For  Augustine 

which  some  of  his  disciples  renounced  seems  always  able  to  reduce  them  to  a 

at  the  Council  of  London,  a.d.  1382,  dilemma    by    asking    whether    'secret 

and  which  was  condemned  at  Constance ;  murders  and   adulteries   were   not    an 

see  Labbe  (Mansi),  vol.  xxvi.  col.  696 —  equal  disqualification. '    They  therefore 

vol.  XXVli.  col.  1207.     Venet.  1784.  had  not  so  stated  it.     There  is  a  special 

•*  Hooker,  B.  III.  i.  12.  case    too   in   his  c.    litt.  Petiliani   III. 

5  Routh  (vol.  III.  p.   151)  strangely  xxxv.  (40)  '  You  {j:>on^\\?X.^)  do  not  deny 

accuses  Erasmus  of  having  written  that  that  the  people  (whom  a  criminal  priest 

'Cyprian  seems  (in  Ep.  67)  to  feel  that  baptized)  really  were  baptized.' 

the  sacrifice  of  a  wicked  priest  avails  *  Hooker,  v.  Ixi.  4  n. 
nothing  but  rather  defiles  the  people,' 


4l6  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

in  that  one  proposition  in  which  Cyprian  diflfered  from  the 
rest  of  the  West.  It  was  not  until  Augustine's  time  that  a 
categorical  answer  was  developed  soundly  to  each  separate 
argument  of  Cyprian  and  his  bishops :  so  long  did  they 
retain  their  seeming  convincingness  almost  unbroken,  nay  had 
become  'like  Scripture'^  to  their  maintainers. 

Yet  the  true  solvent  had  evidently  been  perceived  at  once 
by  his  opponents,  although  the  minute  fragments  of  Stephen's 
own  language  which  Cyprian  gives  us  do  not  contain  the 
exact  statement.  '  The  grace  of  Baptism '  they  said  was 
'of  Christ,  not  of  the  human  baptizer.'  He  who  baptized  did 
*  not  give  being  or  add  force '  to  the  Sacrament.  This  had 
been  almost  on  the  lips  of  the  Numidians  when  they  first  told 
Cyprian  of  their  difficulty  as  to  rebaptizing,  '  because,'  said 
they,  '  Baptism  is  One'.  That  oneness  is  of  the  One  Lord  : 
but  they  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  put  off  with  the  super- 
ficial reply  that  its  oneness  was  of  the  one  Church,  and  that 
to  admit  non-Church  baptism  was  to  admit  two  baptisms  or 
to  recognise  more^ 

The  Author  on  Rebaptism  states  it  with  even  scornful 
force,  so  that  it  is  surprising  that  he  should  have  let  slip 
for  so  many  subtleties  this  real  answer^     '  Let  us,  excellent 

1  P.  415,  note  •2.  majestatis  concedamus  operationes  pro- 

"  Fechtrup,  p.  201,  n.  2,  in  trying  to  prias,   et   intellegentes  quantum   in  ea 

answer    Peters    is    misled    by    Peters'  sit  emolumentum  libenter  ei  adquies- 

wrong  reference  (p.  512)  for  his  perfectly  camus.' 

right    statement.     Peters   should   have  This  is  well  expressed  by  Optatus, 

cited  Ep.  70.  I  and  Ep.  71.  i.     On  the  lib.  v.   c.   i  ;   'Has  res  unicuique  non 

other  hand  Peters  is  wrong  in  thinking  ejusdem  rei  operarius  sed  credentis  fides 

that  Cyprian  himself  has  this  key  to  his  et  Trinitas  praestat.'    c.  4  '  ...omnes  qui 

own  error   in  Ep.   69.   14.     There   he  baptizant  operarios  esse,  non  dominos, 

does  not  speak  of  Christ  simply,  but  of  et  sacramenta  perse  esse  sancta,  non  per 

'Christ  in  his  Church'  as  giving  equal  homines....'    Optatus  answers  by  impli- 

grace  to  every  member  of  it  in  Baptism.  cation   many   of  Cyprian's  arguments. 

See  also  13  of  the  same  Epistle.     He  But  it  is  visible  how  the  power  of  his 

guards  himself  carefully.  great  name  forbade  direct  attack.    Au- 

^  Auctor    10  '  virorum  optime,  red-  gustine  first  both  meets  him  full  and 

damus  et   permittamus  virtutibus  cae-  reads  the  true  lesson  of  his  life,  Con- 

lestibus  vires  suas,  et  dignationi  divinze  formity  amid  Differences. 


VIII.  III.  THE  ARGUMENTS— STEPHEN'S.  417 

'sir,'  he  writes  (as  I  believe  against  Cyprian  himself),  'render 
'and  allow  to  the  Powers  of  Heaven  a  might  of  their  own, 
'  and  suffer  the  condescension  of  the  Divine  Majesty  to  have 
'  its  independent  operations.' 

His  conception  of  the  visible  Church  is  indeed  higher  than 
Cyprian's,  and  had  he  learnt  how  to  apply  it,  would  have 
been  of  more  value  than  all  his  arguments  besides.  '  What,' 
he  asks, — '  unless  some  higher  principle  modify  the  rigidity  of 
'  your  strict  formula — What  is  the  portion  reserved  for  the 
'  Christian  multitude^  which  dies  without  the  imposition  of 
'  hands .-'' — 'What  for  those  bishops  themselves,'  his  irony 
adds,  'who  fail  to  visit  and  confirm  such  as  sicken  and  die  in 
'the  outlying  districts  of  their  dioceses^?' 

Thus  on  every  side,  he  infers,  even  within  the  acknow- 
ledged pale,  even  within  the  entrenched  lines  of  saints  and 
martyrs,  there  lies  a  vast  verge  beyond  the  operation  in  full 
measure  of  that  simple  sacerdotal  unity,  which  is  nevertheless 
essential  to  the  general  effectuation  of  the  gospel. 

And  what  lies  beyond  the  pale  }^  It  is  in  the  solemn  con- 
sensus which  exists  as  to  the  adequate  and  complete  sanctifi- 
cation  of  that  admitted  verge  or  margin  that  we  are  to  look 
for  analogies  which  shall  solve  the  new-rising  problems  sug- 
gested by  the  existence  of  heresy.  We  cannot  subject  all 
truth  to  the  conclusions  of  a  theory  which  is  true  up  to  its 
limits,  but  which  has  limits  beyond  which  nothing  is  clear  save 
the  Love  and  the  Power*. 

Cyprian's  demand  for  a  sanctity  in  the  baptizer  in  order 
to  'justify  and  to  sanctify'  the  baptized^  may  well  have 
revolted  the  Church  of  Rome  as  it  does  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land.   Doubtless  he  took  the  terms  in  a  weaker  sense  than  we. 

1  Auctor,  c.  4  plerique.  flow  out  beyond  it?' 

2  Dispersis  regionibus,  c.  5.  *  'Salvation  is  of  the  Church':  True. 
'  Compare  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.       '  Nulla  salus  extra  ecclesiam ' :  True,  if 

IV.  c.  vii.  (10)    'If  within  the  closed       the  definition  of  Ecclesia  be  so  wide  as 
garden  of  God  there  are  thorns  of  the       to  have  no  constitutional  value. 
Devil,  why  may  not  the  Spring  of  Christ  ^  Ep.  69.  10. 

B.  27 


41 8  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

But  they  at  least  make  Stephen's  invective  intelligible.  The 
structure  of  the  Church,  the  apostolic  teaching,  the  personal 
work  of  Christ  seemed  to  him  endangered*.  And  they  were 
so ;  had  not  theological  science  arisen  to  refrain  such  careless 
modes  of  speech. 

Stephen  taught  that  as  one  who  separates  from  the 
Church  does  not  forfeit  his  own  church  baptism  by  his 
wandering,  but  when  he  returns  will  return  in  its  validity, 
so  neither  in  the  meanwhile  does  he  lose  the  'power'  which 
as  a  baptized  man  he  possessed  of  imparting  Baptism  ^o 
others  I 

And  he  taught  that  the  child  or  the  heathen  who  learns 
Christ  through  the  teaching  of  the  heretic  cannot  be  charged 
with  '  defect  or  disorder '  in  the  reception  of  that  sacrament 
to  which  he  comes  with  fullest  faith*,  and  which  it  is  the  will 
of  God  to  impart  to  every  creature.  Though  he  is  excluded 
from  '  fellowship  in  holy  duties  with  the  visible  Church,' — 
the  beata  vita  as  Augustine  truly  calls  it — yet  of  that  visible 
Church  he  is  still  a  member.  Its  true  image  is  the  great  House 
with  all  its  variety  of  vessels,  and  the  Cornfield,  capable  of 
including  for  awhile,  nay  even  of  producing,  not  misbe- 
lievers only,  but  misdoers  *.  These  teachings  of  Stephen  on 
the  lasting  virtue  of  Baptism  were  reaffirmed  by  Augustine 
with  overflowing  illustration,  but  there  is  no  thought  in  either 
that  Baptism  has  in  it  any  spell  to  countervail  separation. 
That  would  be  not  liberality  but  superstition. 

Whatever  evil  is  in  heresy  or  schism,  or  in  any  form  or 
origin   of  them,  is  no  more  purged    by   Baptism    than    any 


^  Ep.  75.  25  '...pseudochristum,  pseu-  very  wording  to  have  softened  Cyprian, 

doapostolum,  dolosum  operarium....'  Ep.  70.  2. 

2  Usurpare  eum  potestatem  bapti-  *  Although  these  illustrations  are  not 
zandi  posse,  Ep.  69.  7.  quoted  among  the  fragments  of  Stephen 

3  '...homo  ad  Deum  veniens,  dum  yet  they  were  already  in  use.  Cyprian 
sacerdotem  quaerit,  in  sacrilegum  fraude  had  perceived  their  bearing  on  the  case 
erroris  incurrit.'  A  quotation  (from  of  the  Lapsed,  though  he  now  failed  to 
Stephen  probably)  which  ought  by  its  apply  them  more  widely.    Ep.  55.  «i- 


VIII.  III.  THE  ARGUMENTS — STEPHEN'S.  419 

unrenounced  sin.  As  it  is  no  step  to  salvation,  but  away  from 
it,  if  one  obtains  baptism  by  a  feigned  or  inconsistent  repent- 
anceS  so  if  another  is  baptized  a  foe"  to  Unity,  to  the  Peace 
of  Christ,  to  Charity  with  His  Church,  these  are  not  conditions 
for  realising  the  Remission  of  Sins.  The  innermost  power 
of  baptism  is  in  both  men  let  and  hindered,  until  it  matures  in 
fellowship  and  unity  regained.  Both  need  a  change'.  Both 
alike  must  make  a  more  truthful  confession*.  But  both  alike 
have  received  a  consecration,  and  a  'Stamp  of  the  Lord*,'  which 
protests  to  them,  which  makes  for  reconciliation.  The  change 
they  need  is  not  another  Consecration,  but  a  fulfilment  of  the 
former.  With  that  it  begins  not  to  be  present,  but  to  be 
profitable,  to  minister  to  salvation®;  their  sins  melt  away  as 
they  enter  within  the  bond  of  love^ 

If  policy,  convenience,  interest,  taste,  jealousy,  self-will, 
carelessness  or  the  like  take  a  man  who  knows  there  is  but 
'  One  Baptism '  to  seek  it  from  a  separatist  or  to  continue 
with  him  in  his  separation,  those  errors  of  the  soul  will  work 
their  proper  effect;  his  knowledge  will  not  excuse  his  in- 
difference to  unity.  His  Baptism  is  not  for  his  soul's 
healths 

But  the  faithful  believer  who  receives  Baptism  from  the 
outside  teacher  when  his  only  other  choice  is  to  die  unbap- 
tized  against  Christ's  word,  has  remission  of  his  sins  and 
all  other  benefits.     He  loses  nothing. 

The  symbols  are  lucid.  The  flood  which  upbears  the  ark 
is  deathful  to  the  despisers.  Heaven's  rain  feeds  thorns  and 
tares  for  destruction  as  well  as  wheat  for  the  garner'.     Yet 

^  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.Donatt.  vii.  v.  (8)  haereticum...habentem  dominicum  cha- 

'  verbis  non  factis  renuntiantes.'     i.  xii.  racterem.' 

(18)  'quid,  si  ad  ipsum  Baptismum  fictus  *  De  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  vii.  liv.  (103) 

accessit?'  'non   incipit   adesse  quod  deerat,   sed 

'  Ibid.  I.  xiii.  (21).  prodesse  quod  inerat.'    I.  xii.  (18)  'ad 

^  Ibid.  VI.  xiv.  (23).  salutem.' 

<  Ibid.  I.  xii.  (18)  'verax  confessio.'  "^  Ibid.  vi.  v.  (7). 

^  Aug.  Ep.   98.   5   (ad   Bonifacium)  ^  /j^^,  yil.  iii.  (5). 

*quse   consecratio   reum   quidem   facit  ®  /Wt/.  vi.  xl.  (78). 

27 — 2 


420  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

Euphrates   was  not  hedged  in   by  Paradise.    The  river  of 
Eden  flowed  out  into  the  worlds 

The  Church  has  within  every  separated  communion  a 
something  which  is  all  her  own'.  By  that  something  she 
bears  sons  in  them  to  herself.  They  are  not  born  to  others. 
When  they  turn  homeward  they  are  wholly  hers. 

The  only  real  blot  which  Cyprian  struck  was  the  vulgar, 
perhaps  we  ought  to  say  the  African,  explanation  of  the 
laying  on  of  hands  in  the  act  of  restoration  to  the  Church. 
If  it  had  meant  a  first  imparting  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which 
'J  schismatics  could  not  impart  by  their  own  imposition  of 
hands  (for  unquestionably  they  too  used  this  rite),  then  it 
might  be  fairly  reasoned  that  their  Baptism  equally  needed 
renewal.  But  in  reality  it  had  no  such  meaning.  Stephen 
explains  it  clearly  as  a  rite  'unto  penitence":  even  Crescens 
of  Cirta  as  'a  reconciliation  in  penitence*.'  It  was  not  the 
,y  imparting  of  the  Spirit  for  the  first  time ;  it  was  a  renovation 
by  the  Spirit,  an  introduction  to  Communion  of  a  repentant 
and  enlightened  '  Child  of  God.'  For  '  a  Son  of  God ' 
throughout,  in  spite  of  his  theological  errors,  Stephen  de- 
clares such  an  one  to  have  been  in  the  full  sense^  And  it  is 
this  very  expression  which  was  most  offensive  at  Carthage, 
and  which  is  cavilled  at  even  in  the  synodic  letter  of  their 
second  Council®  on  baptism. 

There  were  three  intentions  (besides  that  of  ordination) 

with  which  the  imposition  of  hands  was  used.     It  was  used 

I.    for    what    we   call    Confirmation.     2.    for   the    Reception 

^     of  Penitents'^.     3.    for   Exorcism.     The   second   of  these   is 

what  Stephen  clearly  brings  out  as  its  true  meaning  in  the 

^  De  Bapt.  c.  Dottatt.  vi.  xxi.  (37).  utroque   nascantur,   Ep.    i^.    i:    '  filii 

■^  Ibid.  I.  X.  (14).  Dei'   is   evidently   a    quotation.     The 

^  In  poenitentiam,  Ep.  74.  i.  two  sacraments  are  baptism  and  laying 

•*  Sentt.  Epp.  8.  on  of  hands. 

'  Ep.  74.  6.     Compare  75.  17.  ^  In  which  sense  it  is  used   in   the 

"  Tunc  enim  demum  plene  sanctificari  Apostolical  Constitutions  viii.  c.  9  tit. 

et  esse  ^ filii  Dei'  possunt  si  sacramento  x"/'*'^*'^^*  '^^^  f^X^  {>iripTui>  iv  nfxavol^. 


VIII.  III.  THE  ARGUMENTS— STEPHEN'S.  42I 

reception  of  schismatics,  while  Cyprian  maintained  that  it 
meant  the  first,  and  thereon  built  a  logical  claim  to  have 
Baptism  repeated  as  Confirmation  was  repeated.  Of  his 
extreme  partisans,  some  would  even  have  made  it  mean  the 
third*,  and  so  treated  the  schismatic  as  a  demoniac. 

To  some  it  has  seemed  not  clear  that  Stephen  meant  to 
exclude  '  Confirmation '  from  the  idea.  Still  he  shews  no 
intention  whatever  to  include  it;  and  he  uses  terms  which 
give  to  it  the  other  sense.  The  doubt  arises  only  from  the 
fact  that  Cyprian*  endeavours  to  fasten  that  sense  upon  him, 
and  that  we  have  no  reply  from  his  side.  Similarly  Firmilian 
infers  unfairly,  and  quite  contrarily  to  Stephen's  actual  prin- 
ciple, that  if  Baptism  with  its  gracious  gifts  were  communi- 
cable by  heretics,  no  imposition  of  hands  need  be  used,  but 
that  we  might  unite  with  them  in  their  prayer-meetings  and 
at  the  altar  and  its  sacrificel 

Note  on  force  0/  Stephen's  ^  Nihil  innoT.>etur  nisi^ 

Questions  have  arisen  upon  the  phrase  of  Stephen  'Si  qui  ergo  a 
'quacunque  hseresi  venient  ad  vos  nihil  in?tovetur  nisi  quod  traditum  est, 
'ut  manus  illi  imponatur  in  poenitentiam....'  Ep-.  74.  i.  Does  Stephen 
here  (i)  contemplate  a  '  Renewal'  (innovetur)  of  something  for  the  convert, 
but  only  such  a  renewal  or  repetition  as  Tradition  warrants.''  or  (2)  does 
he  forbid  'Innovation'  in  the  rites,  and  require  Tradition  to  be  main- 
tained against  it.'' — Does  the  inttovari xvi^^.w  'renovation'  or  'innovation'.'' 
Mattes  ( Tubing.  Quartalschrift,  1 849,  p.  636,  ap.  Peters,  Fechtrup  and 
Hefele)  adopts  the  first,  and  argues  that  as  Petiance\i2L.%  not  occurred  before, 
the  thing  to  be  renewed  is  Confirmation.  So  Hefele  declares  (B.  i.  c.  i., 
§  6)   that   the   second  could   not   have   been   expressed  grammatically 

^  Sentt.  Epp.  7,  8,  3f,  37.  others  prove  nothing.    TheMS.  author- 

"  Ep.  73.  6,  and  so  Nemesian,  Sentt.  ity   in  Cyprian   offers  Carpos,  and  an 

Epp.  5,  and  Secundinus  Bp.  of  Carpos,  inscription  a.d.  350 — 361  has  kar  •  pes 

Sentt.  Epp.  24.  which  Wilmanns  would  wrongly  correct. 

I  may  remark  that  Tissot  t.  I.  p.  164  C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.  n.  994.    See  Appendix 

would  correct  the  name  of  this  place  on    Cities,   p.    575   infra.     Greek   geo- 

(which  was  nearly  opposite  to  Carthage  graphers    Kd/sTTTj    and    KdpTriy.      Adj. 

on  the  gulf)  to  Carpi :  but  one  of  his  Carpitanus,  Morcelli,  I.  p.  121. 

citations  from  the   maritime    Itinerary  '  Ep.  75.  17, 

has  a  Carpos  Carthaginem...  and  the 


422  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

except  by  'Nihil  innovetur,  sed  quod  traditum  est  observe tur:  Peters 
takes  innovetur  to  mean  renewal  in  the  convert,  answering  to  what 
is  implied  in  laying  hands  on  the  sick,  in  exorcism,  and  in  penance,  and 
holds  that  it  is  called  'innovari'  because  of  the  imposition  of  hands  used 
already  in  Baptism.  This  he  says  is  '  Grammatical'  Fechtrup  (p.  225), 
who  sees  that  the  clause  'ut  manus  imponatur  in  poenitentiam''  is  the 
expansion  of  ^quod  traditum  est,'  and  yet  the  act  cannot  be  said  *to  be 
renewed,'  having  never  been  done  before,  feels  obliged  to  say  that  in  the 
*«/«■  quod  traditum  est  *  there  is  an  incorrectness  of  expression,  and  that 
even  the  best  authors  often  write  incorrectly.  Fortunately  it  is  only 

the  commentators  who  fail  in  grammar.  Both  in  Latin  and  Greek,  par- 
ticles denoting  exception  introduce  not  merely  what  is  an  exception  under 
some  rule  laid  down,  but  also  any  contradiction  of  it,  even  the  most 
positive.  Thus  in  Vulg.  Matt.  v.  13,  'ad  nihilum  valet  ultra  nisi  ut 
mittatur  foras'  does  not  mean  that  vapid  salt  has  a  value  for  the  one 
purpose  of  being  thrown  away,  but  that  'it  is  of  no  value  and  can  only  be 
treated  so.' — *Et  multi  leprosi  erant  in  Israel  suh  Elisaeo  propheta :  et  nemo 
eorum  mundatus  est  nisi  Naaman  Syrus'  (Luc.  iv.  27),  ';w  Israelite  was 
cleansed,  but  a  non-Israelite  was.'  So  Cyprian  .£]^.  63.  13  '...Sic  vero 
'  calix  Domini  non  est  aqua  sola  aut  vinum  solum  nisi  utrumque  sibi 
'  misceatur,  quo  modo  nee  Corpus  Domini  potest  esse  farina  sola  aut  aqua 
'•sola  nisi  utrumque  adunatum  fuerit.'  'Each  element  is  not  one  substance 
but  a  compound.'  Hence  the  passage  before  us  'nihil  innovetur  nisi  quod 
traditum  est'  means,  in  accordance  with  usage,  'No  innovation  is  to  be 
made,  only  tradition  must  be  kept  to.'  Eusebius  {H.  E.  vii.  3)  also  had 
these  very  words  before  him  when  he  described  Stephen  as  \jli)  8e1v  n 
vedrepov  napa  ttjv  Kpartjaaaav  apx^jBev  irapadocriv  (iriKaivoTOHflv 
olofifvos;  and  Cyprian  thus  sets  them  aside,  'quasi  is  innovet  qui  unum 
'baptismauni  ecclesiae  vindicat,  et  non  ille  utique  qui...mendacia  profanae 
'tinctionis  usurpat.'  Vincent  of  Lerins  [Conutionit.  i.  6),  who  gives  the 
phrase  as  'nihil  novandum  nisi  quod  traditum  est,'  explains  it  ^non  sua 
posteris  tradere  sed  a  majoribus  accepta  servare.'  We  conclude  therefore 
with  certainty  that  innovetur  does  not  refer  to  the  renewal  of  anything, 
but  to  innovations  in  the  rite,  and  that  the  Imposition  of  Hands  which 
'tradition'  required  was  that  which  appertained  to  the  Reception  of  a 
Penitent  alone. 

Hefele,  in  spite  of  his  view  of 'grammar,'  admits  (in  a  footnote)  that 
this  is  the  interpretation  of  Christian  Antiquity  and  that  the  words  so 
understood  became  a  dictum  classicum. 


VIII.  IV.  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESULTS.   L  UNBROKEN  UNITY.  423 

IV.     Ecclesiastical  Results.     I.     The  Unbroken  Unity. 

Of  all  the  legacy  of  lessons  which  this  remarkable  story 
leaves  us,  none  more  strike  home  than  those  which  spring  from 
the  observation  that  Cyprian  had  a  real  point  of  contact  with 
Novatianism.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  Novatianists 
perceived  it. 

The  central  idea  with  both  was  that  the  Church  must  be 
attainted  by,  and  therefore  cannot  tolerate,  the  admixture  of 
elements  foreign  to  her  spirit.  Such  inadmissible  element  the 
Novatianists  found  in  those  who,  having  tasted  all  her  gifts, 
forsook  her  and  forswore  them.  In  the  case  of  the  Lapsed, 
however,  Cyprian  detected  the  fallacy.  He  would  not,  like 
Novatian,  leave  them  to  be  reconciled  in  some  unpenetrated 
region.  To  him  they  were  still  the  Church's  reconcilable  chil- 
dren ;  not  really  such  aliens  as  many  wilful  offenders  within  her\ 

To  himself  however  the  bounds  of  the  visible  Church  were 
marked  by  historic  lines — lines  divinely  drawn  with  perfect 
definiteness  and  unfailingly  preserved  for  the  guidance  and 
security  of  all.  Without  the  action  of  the  Catholic  ministry 
of  the  one  episcopate  there  could  be  no  effective  Communion, 
and  no  admission  within  even  her  outer  courts.  For  who  was 
to  admit  .-*  The  moral  qualities  or  the  correct  beliefs  of  the 
individual  were  irrelevant  to  the  solely  constitutional  question, 
Has  he  been  made  a  member  of  the  visible  Church .-' 

According  to  Novatian,  Renouncement  of  Communion 
annulled  membership  for  ever.  According  to  Cyprian,  un- 
catholic  Baptism  never  conferred  it.  We  are  not  required  to 
appraise  the  two  errors.  But  the  grand  difference  is  here. 
Cyprian's  historic  lines,  which  misunderstood  had  baffled  him, 
when  rightly  interpreted  corrected  him.  Novatian  with  his 
unsoftened  character  broke  from  them  without  remorse,  laid 
new  ones  down,  and  made  all  converge  upon  himself.     The 

1  Ep.  55.  21. 


424  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.  ECCLESIASTICAL 

Divine  idea  which  Cyprian  saw  in  History,  the  Unity  and  Love 
which  underlay  the  scheme  of  it,  would  not  suffer  him,  though 
opposing  the  claims  of  heretics,  to  dissolve  the  ties  with  one 
single  diocese,  much  less  with  all.  However  erroneously  any 
see  and  its  prelate  might  decide,  it  was  inconceivable  that  he 
should  break  with  the  brethren.  The  heart  of  Love  kept  him 
straight  where  the  logical  mind  went  astray. 

So  Novatian  became  a  sect ;  not  untruthful,  but  hard  and 
barren  :  died  after  a  while  and  left  no  seed. 

The  great  Church  held  her  way,  and  every  generation  as 
it  swept  its  sands  over  Cyprian's  error  bore  stronger  witness  to 
the  power  of  Cyprian's  passion  for  unity.  Whilst  he  seems 
almost  dearer  because  he  could  not  be  perfect,  the  perfectness 
of  that  passion  of  his  is  still  unrealised,  and  too  often  unfelt. 

Although  the  Roman  Church  took  wider  views  than 
Cyprian  of  so  great  a  matter  as  Man's  Sonship  to  God,  yet,  as 
to  the  possibility  and  duty  of  union  in  diversity,  he  held  a 
practical  theory  which  Rome  never  mastered. 

Augustine,  who  says  he  never  wearied  of  re-reading  the 
'peace-bestowing  utterances"  of  the  end  of  the  Epistle  to 
Jubaian^  draws  out  the  noble  independence  of  thought  and 
action  which  Cyprian  willed  to  maintain  without  bigotry  or 
exclusion — Every  bishop  free  to  judge  for  himself;  none  to 
suffer  separation  for  their  thoughts  ;  therefore  everyone  to  be 
tender  of  the  bond  of  peace.  Salvo  jure  communionis  diversa 
sentirc. 


2.     The  Baptismal  Councils  failed  doctrinally — and  why  ? 

Unity  then  was  not  broken.  Yet  what  is  the  conclusion 
to  be  drawn  from  the  spectacle  of  these  Carthaginian  assem- 
blies }     To  some  it  might  seem  discouraging. 

Can  it  be  accounted  for  by  the  incidents  of  these 
assemblies  ? 

1  De  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  v.  xvii.  (ii).  -  Ep.  73.  26. 


VIII.  IV.  2.      RESULTS.     THE  COUNCILS  FAILED. — WHY?     425 

A  Province  may  be  too  large  to  form  a  real  Synod. 
There  are  Provinces  of  to-day  whose  very  extent,  forbidding^ 
even  attendances,  throws  decisions  into  the  hands  of  a  metro- 
political  party. 

Bishops  may  be  too  numerous  for  the  area.  There  may 
be  more  positions  of  influence  than  there  are  men  born  or 
drawn  to  fill  them.  In  such  cases  the  numbers  outweigh  the 
able  men,  or  they  fall  under  the  power  of  politic  men.  A 
leader  who  combines  fervour  with  policy  sweeps  them  head- 
long. 

But  the  degree  in  which  these  causes  as  yet  existed  at 
Carthage  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  doctrinal  failure. 
They  were  exceptionally  modified  by  the  independence  ex- 
pected of  the  bishops  and  by  the  earnestness  of  the  times. 

The  Councils  were  neither  deficient  nor  excessive  numeri- 
cally, nor  were  they  created  for  the  sake  of  their  suffrages, 
nor  were  they  packed.  They  were  under  no  State  pressure. 
They  were  not  recalcitrating  at  any  state  tribunal.  The 
question  was  a  broad  one.  They  were  not  trying  a  teacher  or 
judging  a  leader.  They  were  looking  for  principles.  Seldom 
could  personal  elements  be  so  nearly  eliminated.  Again,  they 
were  really  representative.  Each  bishop  was  the  elect  of 
his  flock.  None  of  the  Councils  was  senile  or  too  youthful. 
The  members  were  not  drawn  from  seminary  or  cloister. 
They  were  men  of  the  world,  who  in  a  world  of  freest 
discussion  had  become  penetrated  with  Christian  ideas : 
seldom  ordained,  sometimes  not  Christianised  till  late  in  life. 
Their  chief  was  one  in  whom  mental  and  political  ability  were 
rarely  blended ;  rarely  tempered  with  holiness,  self-discipline 
and  sweetness. 

Such  was  that  house  of  bishops.  The  result  it  reached 
was  uncharitable,  anti-scriptural,  uncatholic — and  it  was 
unanimous. 

A  painful  issue.  Yet  in  another  respect,  the  moral  is  for 
us  encouraging.     The  mischief  was  silently  healed  and  per- 


426  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.  ECCLESIASTICAL 

fectly.  And  how  ?  By  no  counter-council — for  later  decrees 
merely  register  the  reversal — but  by  the  simple  working  of 
the  Christian  Society.     Life  corrected  the  error  of  thought. 

Is  there  then  no  need  of  Christian  assemblies }  no  hope  in 
them,  or  of  them }  Is  the  Church  a  polity  unique  in  this 
sense,  that  without  counsel  it  can  govern  itself,  without  de- 
liberation meet  the  changing  needs  of  successive  centuries  ? 
To  how  great  an  extent  even  this  may  hold  true  we  read  in 
the  disappearance  of  the  Cyprianic  judgments.  Nor  can  any- 
thing be  more  consonant  with  our  belief  in  the  indwelling 
Spirit  of  the  Church  ;  nothing  more  full  of  comfort  as  we  look 
on  bonds  still  seemingly  inextricable,  and  on  steps  as  yet 
irretraceable. 

But  nevertheless  if  no  reasonable  mind  questions  the  neces- 
sity of  Councils,  in  spite  of  the  gloomy  moral  and  doctrinal 
history  of  whole  centuries  of  them,  may  it  be  the  case  that 
their  constitution  has  been  incomplete,  and  that  the  so  early 
ill  success  of  Cyprian's  Councils  in  particular  was  a  primaeval 
warning  of  the  defect  ? 

The  Laity  were  silent.  Yet  we  cannot  but  deem  that  it 
was  among  them  principally  that  there  were  in  existence  and 
at  work  those  very  principles  which  so  soon  not  only  rose  to 
the  surface  but  overruled  for  the  general  good  the  voices 
of  those  councillors.  Each  Council  was  a  parliament  of  head 
officials;  a  governing  body  composed  of  provincial  governors, 
whose  irresponsibility,  save  in  the  forum  of  their  own  con- 
science, had  more  and  more  become  Cyprian's  axiom  and 
theirs. 

Were  these  bodies  divinely  constituted  for  the  great  object 
of  'guidance  into  truth'.''  were  they  the  very  Church  in  its 
*  doctrinal  capacity,'  the  living  Church  to  which  The  Presence 
was  promised  ?  It  has  been  held  that  they  were  and  ever  are. 
Yet  whatever  false  strands  have  been  inwoven  with  Catholic 
doctrine  have  been  introduced  by  such  bodies  alone.  These 
particular  judgments  were,  according  to   the  whole  Church 


VIII.  IV.  2.      RESULTS.    THE  COUNCILS  FAILED. — WHY?     427 

Catholic,  greatly  perverse.  They  were  even  then  contrariant 
to  the  Church  opinion  which  surrounded  them  and  quietly 
prevailed  over  them.  That  this  was  so  may  be  inferred  from 
several  considerations:  i.  from  the  determined  unanimity  of 
the  Council :  the  eighty-seven  sentences  voiced  only  one 
oracle.  2.  from  the  avowal  of  two  among  the  number  that 
they  were  incompetent  to  form  an  opinion,  yet  they  did  not 
abstain  from  voting,  but  voted  with  the  majority.  3.  from 
the  evidence  which  the  Book  on  Rebaptism  gives  of  a  power- 
ful and  informed  opinion  existing  yet  unrepresented.  4.  from 
the  silent  reversal  of  the  decision. 

It  is  true  that  in  and  from  the  second  century  Synods  of 
Bishops  were  the  rule.  But  all  that  we  know  tends  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  no  '  derogation  of  antient  custom  to 
admit  others  than  bishops  to  be  members  of  a  synod \'  The 
custom  of  admitting  laity  was  dying  out  under  Cyprianl  It 
had  been  no  new  experiment  of  his.  The  second  and  even 
the  third  centuries  preserved  traces  of  their  old  admission. 
The  intrusion  of  the  words  '  and  the  '  into  the  text  of  the  Con- 
ciliar  letter  of  Jerusalem,  *  The  apostles  and  the  presbyters 
and  the  brethren  greeting...,'  shews  that  at  the  time  when  they 
were  added ^  it  did  not  seem  so  impossible  that  the  laity  should 
have  consulted  even  with  apostles ;  that  they  had  in  reality 
been  consulted  appears  from  the  narrative,  '  It  was  determined 
by  the  apostles  and  the  elders  together  with  the  whole  Church^ 
unless  this  is  thought  to  be  rhetoric.  Irenaeus  writes  a  very 
^rave  decision  on  the  keeping  of  Easter  '  in  the  name  of  the 

^  Hefele's  assertion.     Introd.  §4,  5.  Cann.  Eccl.  Afr.c.  100,  cf.  c.  91.    Acta 

^  It  seems  that  in  later  African  Coun-  Purgationis  Felicis  ap.  Optat.  ed.  Ziwsa 

cils  seniores  plebis  were  at  times  con-  (Vienn.  1893),  Appendix  t^.  198. 

suited.     This   may   be  a   relic    of  the  ^  Acts  xv.  23.    Tischendorf  although 

early  usage,  but  the  shadowy  character  he  retained  koX  01.  in  Ed.  7,  omits  it  in 

of  the  facts  only  illustrates  its  practical  Ed.  8,  and  it  is  omitted  by  Lachmann, 

disappearance,   and   does   not   support  Tregelles,  Westcott  and  Hort,  and  Re- 

Miinter's  view  of  the  democratic  aspect  vised  Vers.,  with  ABX*CD,  Vulg.  all. 

■of  that  church.     Primordia  Eccl.  Afr.  ISo^e  =  Decretum  est,  Placuit,  Acts  xv. 

(Hafhise,  1829),  pp.  41,  51.     See  Cod.  22. 


428  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.  ECCLESIASTICAL 

brethren  whom  he  presided  over  throughout  Gaul\'  Is  it 
supposed  that  he  had  not  obtained  their  judgment?  A 
very  early  writer'  speaks  of  the  formal  condemnation  of 
Montanism  by  Councils,  '  The  faithful  throughout  Asia 
*  having  met  for  this  purpose,  many  times,  and  in  many  places 
'  in  Asia,  and  having  examined  the  novel  arguments,  'and 
'demonstrated  their  profanity,  and  having  rejected  the 
'  heresy.'  It  seems  impossible  that  '  the  faithful '  should  not 
include  the  laity,  and  the  question  is  of  doctrine,  subtle  doc- 
trine. Origen,  in  a  passage  which  would  not  be  conclusive 
if  it  stood  alone,  uses  an  expression  which,  side  by  side  with 
others,  hints  that  the  consultation  of  the  laity  by  the  bishops,, 
though  disused  in  his  day,  had  its  place  in  the  traditions 
of  the  past  as  well  as  in  reason.  *  Moses  sought  the  counsel 
'of  Jethro,  though  an  alien  to  the  Jewish  race.  But  wJiat 
'  bishop  in  the  present  day . .  condescends  to  take  the  counsel 
'of  an  inferior  priest  even,  much  more  of  a  layman,  or  a 
'Gentile^?'  He  has  been  showing  that  the  'counsel  of  the 
Gentiles'  was  to  be  learnt  from  their  great  authors,  and 
apparently  some  practical  way  of  consulting  presbyters  and 
laity  was  not  unknown  to  him. 

But  the  earlier  Cyprianic  letters  themselves  are  distinct  as 
to  the  propriety  and  duty  of  recognising  and  including  a  not 
silent  laity  in  the  Councils  of  the  Church. 

It  cannot  be  admitted  that  Cyprian  meant  to  consult  the 
laity  on  only  personal,  individual  questions,  such  as  enquiries 
into  the  fitness  of  private  persons  to  be  restored  to  com- 
munion ^     That  is  very  far   from   what   he   says  when,  for 

^  Euseb.  H.  E.  v.  24  U  Trpoffunov  wv  Euseb.  v.  16  made  this  clear. 
i)ye'iT0KaTa.Ti]vTa\\iat>a.5e\tpwviin<rT€l-  ^  Orig.    /fom.    xi.    in    Exod.    c.    6 

\aj,  vapLffrarat  rb  deiv  k.t.X.     aSeXcpol  'Quis  autem  hodie  eorum  qui  populis 

throughout  the  context  means  the  Chris-  praesunt...'  The  version  no   doubt   re- 

tian  body  not  the  bishops.  presents    irpoeffrdiTuv.      Cp.    note    on 

'■^  Cited  by  Dr  Pusey  {Councils  of  the  p.   310. 
Church,  c.    II.    p.    53)    mistakenly   as  *  Dr  Pusey,  Councils  of  the  Church,. 

Apollinarius  of  Hierapolis.  Valesius  on  c.  ill.  pp.  74sqq. 


VIII.  IV.  2.     RESULTS.    THE  COUNCILS  FAILED, — WHY?     429 

instance,  he  thus  addresses  the  presbyters  and  deacons  of 
Carthage :  '  I  could  give  you  no  reply  at  all  by  myself,  for 

*  from  the  first  outset  of  my  episcopate  I  resolved  to  transact 
'nothing  on  my  own  private  judgment  without  your  counsel, 

*  and  without  the  consent  of  the  laity.     But  when  by  God's 

*  grace  I  am  come  to  you  we  will  treat  in  common  of  things 
'either  transacted  or  to  be  transacted,  as  the  honour  due 
'  from  each  to  other  requires\'  At  the  commencement  of 
his  episcopate  the  question  of  restoration  had  not  arisen. 

Again,  when  he  asks  the  laity  to  persuade  the  Lapsed  to 
patience  until,  'convening  our  fellow-bishops,  we  may  in  good 
'numbers — deferring  to  the  discipline  of  the  Lord  and  the 
'Confessors'  presence  and  your  own  opinion  also — be  able  to 
'examine  the  letters  and  express  desires  of  the  blessed 
'  martyrs^'  it  is  the  determination  of  the  broad  principle,  not 
the  application  to  particular  cases,  in  which  the  Laity  are 
called  to  assist.  Yet  if  we  narrowed  to  the  utmost  the 
questions  proposed,  it  would  be  little  to  the  purpose ;  we 
should  still  have  to  ask  where  even  this  measure  of  consulta- 
tion with  the  veritable  laity  appeared  in  the  later  Councils^? 

It  was  no  mere  question  of  the  application  of  rules,  no 
investigation  of  individual  cases,  which  was  in  view.  That 
function  is  not  necessarily  conciliar.  It  is  judicial.  That 
function  may  be  committed  to  delegates,  it  may  be  concen- 
trated in  a  metropolitan,  according  to  the  constitution  or  the 
use  of  the  several  churches.  It  was  not  this  which  Cyprian 
had  in  the  early  days  of  his  episcopate,  and  seconded  as  yet 

^  Ep.  14.  4.  sensi etsubscripsUX'dh'bQ,  torn,  v.c.%1^). 
^  Ep.  17.  3.  Note  also  the  just  complaint  made 

'  Hefele, /«i!rot/.  4.  i2,givesathin  list  in  January  1436  to  Sigismund  that  at 

of  Councils  in  which  laity  have  a  serious  the  Council  of  Basle  the   decrees  are 

place,  and   he  attaches  quite  as  much  being  made   by  the  lower  clergy  and 

weight  to  them  against  his  own  opinion  the  laity,  there  being  scarce  20  bishops 

as  they  deserve.     The  most  notable  is  present   among  500  or   600  members. 

Orange  [Arausicanum  II.]  a.d.  529   in  [Cp.   Eugenius   IV.   Ep.   ad  Nuncios, 

which  14 bishops  and  8  illustres  viri  sign  Baronius  (Raynald),June  1436,  i. — xvi.] 

with  the  same  formula  consentiens  or  con-  Ambr.  Traversari,  Ep.  ad  Sigismund. 


430  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.  ECCLESIASTICAL 

by  the  Roman  clergy,  set  out  as  the  conciliar  office  of  the 
laity. 

'  In  so  vast  a  business '  writes  the  Roman  Presbytery  to 
him,  '  we  approve  what  you  also  have  yourself  recommended, 
'  first  to  await  the  restoration  of  peace  to  the  Church,  and  so 
'after  that,  by  united  counsel  with  the  bishops,  presbyters, 
'  deacons,  confessors  as  well  as  the  faithful  laity,  to  consider 
'  the  treatment  of  the  Lapsed ^'  It  is  not  the  treatment  of  the 
individuals  which  is  in  question  here,  but  the  greatest  question 
of  discipline  which  had  ever  arisen,  the  terms  of  the  restoration 
of  apostates  to  the  communion  of  the  Church.  The  Roman 
Confessors  state  in  precisely  the  same  way  the  views  of  Cyprian 
and  of  themselves  as  to  the  body  which  has  power  to  deter- 
mine principles  so  great.  It  is  because  '  the  offence  is  so  great ' 
because  it  '  affects  almost  the  whole  world  '  that  '  it  ought  not 
'to  be,  as  you  yourself  write,  handled  except  with  caution  and 
'  moderation  after  counsel  taken  with  all  the  bishops,  presby- 
'  ters,  deacons,  confessors,  and  the  faithful  laity  themselves,  as 
'  in  your  letters  you  yourself  too  testify,  lest  through  our  ill- 
'  timed  wish  to  patch  up  ruins  we  may  prove  to  be  preparing 
'  other  and  greater  ruins^' 

It  cannot  be  argued  with  these  passages  before  us  that  the 
laity,  though  present,  were  originally  meant  to  be  present 
only,  and  not  to  be  consulted^     It  was  Cyprian's  purpose  to 

Cecconi,  Stud.    Storichi  sul   Cone,   di  we  bishops  assembling  with  clergy,  the 

Firenze,    Part   l.   docum.   76,  p.  cxcv.  faithful  laity  also  being   present,   who 

(Firenze,   1869).  themselves  too  are  to  be  had  in  honour 

'  ...quanquam  nobis  in  tarn  ingenti  in  proportion  to  their  faith  and  fear, 

negotio  placeat  quod  et  tu  ipse  tractasti,  may  be  able  to  arrange  all  things  with 

prius  ecclesise  pacem  sustinendam,  de-  strict   regard   to  common   deliberation 

inde  sic  conlatione  consiliorum  cum  epi-  {communis    consilii    religione)^       The 

scopis  presbyteris  diaconis  confessoribus  Bishops  will  decree  but  not  without  com- 

pariter  ac  stantibus  laicis  facta  lapsorum  mon  determination.    To  interpret  'pra- 

tractare  rationem.     Ep.  30.  5.  sente  etiam  stantium  phbe''   as   of   by- 

2  Ep.  31.  6.  standers  only  is  to  contradict  the  other 

"^  Ep.    19.    2    'This   is   what    befits  passages  and  this  also.    Yet  Hefele  can 

both  the  modesty  (verecundia)  and  dis-  write  'Thelaicswerescarcely  more  than 

cipline  and  the  very  life  of  us  all,  that  spectators.'   {Introd.  §  4.  5.)    But  if  so. 


VIII.  IV.  2.     RESULTS.     THE  COUNCILS  FAILED. — WHY.!*     431 

consult  them  and  a  purpose  which  the  Roman  clergy  strongly 
supported,  not  upon  the  administration  of  principles  in  indi- 
vidual cases,  but  on  the  formation  and  enunciation  of  those 
principles.  The  question  was  '  the  terms  of  communion '  for 
those  who  had  lapsed  from  Christianity  to  heathenism  :  a 
question  as  great  in  itself  as  the  *  terms  of  communion  '  for 
those  who  had  been  schismatically  baptized. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  first  question  was  '  the  restoration 
of  those  who  had  denied  the  faith,' — a  practical  matter ;  and 
the  second  question,  '  that  of  heretical  Baptism, — a  matter  of 
doctrine*.'  But  it  is  not  fair  thus  to  formulate  one  of  the 
topics  in  the  abstract  and  the  other  in  the  concrete.  It  would 
be  equally  correct  to  reverse  the  phrases  and  to  say  the  latter 
was  a  practical  matter,  namely  '  the  admission  of  schismatic 
penitents,'  and  the  former  a  more  awful  doctrinal  point, 
'  Apostatical  Communion.'  But  in  truth  two  questions  could 
scarcely  be  more  analogous  as  questions  of  dogmatic  dis- 
cipline. 

'  The  contrast  (it  is  said)  is  very  striking.'  That  is  most 
true.  Cyprian's  first  view  disappeared  from  his  mind.  His 
early  pledge  was  not  redeemed.  But  when  we  look  to  the 
ennobling  success  of  his  former  Councils,  and  the  collapse  of 
the  later  ones,  rescued  only  by  the  sweet  grandeur  of  the  man 
from  creating  wide  disunion,  we  cannot  but  think  the  change 
disastrous^  The  course  of  History  affirms  this  conclusion 
of  Christian  reason. 

what  becomes  of  his  other  plea,  viz.  that  he  distinguishes  the  votum  decisivum 
earlier  precedent  was  departed  from  in  which  belongs  in  them  to  Bishops  only- 
Cyprian's  admission  of  them,  ibid.  from   the   votum   consul tativtim   which 

^  Dr  Pusey,  Councils  0/  the  Church,  may  be  assigned  to  others.     Yet  upon 

c.  III.  p.  87.  that  developed  theory  what  becomes  of 

2  It  may  be  difficult  to  be  sure  of  the  the  authority  of  so  many  Councils,  in 

exact  meaning  of  Hefele's  assertion  that  which    abbots,    archdeacons,    cardinal 

'Bishops  alone  have  the  assistance  of  priests,   cardinal   deacons,   generals   of 

the  Holy  Spirit  to  govern  the  Church  religious   orders,  doctors   in   theology, 

of  God'  {Introd.,  §  4,  11).     He  speaks  doctors  in  canon  law,  have  admittedly 

however  in  reference  to  Councils,  and  exercised  the  Tjotum  decisivum}    (See 


432     THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.    ECCLESIASTICAL  RESULTS. 


3.     The  CatJwlic  and  the  Ultramontane  estimate  of  Cyprian. 

...rb  fte/ivrjadai  tov  dvSpbi  ayiatrfiot. 

Gregory  Nazianzen. 

It  is  of  importance  in  the  history  of  Christian  character 
and  of  the  gradual  building  up  of  that  character,  as  the 
spiritual  expression  of  the  consciousness  formed  by  doctrine, 
that  we  should  have  a  clear  idea  of  the  conduct  of  Cyprian 
through  the  controversy — Worthy  or  unworthy  ?  behind  or 
in  advance  of  his  contemporaries  ?  in  his  attitude  in  relation 
to  Rome  catholic  or  uncanonical  ? 

His  language  is  not  always  free  from  severity,  yet  when 
most  severe  it  is  in  such  contrast  with  Stephen's  hard  state- 
ment and  arrogant  threat ;  in  such  contrast  with  the  common 
style,  that  Augustine  seldom  refrains  at  mention  of  Cyprian's 
name  from  some  epithet  of  mildness,  gentleness,  sweetness, 
placability,  peacefulness.  His  influence  on  Augustine's  own 
controversial  tone  is  probably  inestimable.  How  different 
it  would  have  been  if  Tertullian  and  not  Cyprian  had  been 
his  pattern,  and  yet  we  largely  owe  our  very  possession  of 
Tertullian  to  Cyprian's  appreciation  of  him,  and  rendering 
of  his  thoughts  *  into  so  quiet  and  so  sweet  a  style.'  It 
was  this  which  made  the  dark  half-heretic  intelligible  and 
acceptable  to  Catholics  who,  but  for  the  scholar,  would  have 
shunned  'the  Master.'  His  moderation  much  exceeds  that 
of  Firmilian  and  is  equal  with  that  of  Dionysius,  whose  very 

Hefele,  Introd.  §  4.  1 1,  12.)    If  these  be  solitary  episcopate, 

held,  as  they  are,  to  be  Councils  as  good  [At  the  Council  of  the  Nidd  it  is  not 

and  valid  as  any,  then  the  Divine  Right  of  clear  whether  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 

the  Episcopal  Order  exclusively  to  form  bury  and  ^Ifleda  voted.      It  is  said 

conciliar  decisions  is  given  up.     But  if  that  with   the  Bishops  who  held   the 

so,  what  lines  separate  those  particular  Council    separately,    were    aliquando 

ranks  from  the  laity  or  the  rest  of  the  cum  eis  Archiepiscopus  aliquando  vera 

clergy?    The  dilemma  is  fatal  either  to  sapientissima  virgo  /^IJleda.    Ex  Malm, 

the  authority  of  all  those  Councils  or  de  gest.  Pontif.  lib.  ill.] 
to   the  jus  divinum  in  Councils  of  a 


VIII.  IV.  3-       CATHOLIC  versus  ULTRAMONTANE  VIEW.       433 

office  was  the  peacemaker's,  not  the  combatant's.  But  it  is 
in  his  conduct  of  business  and  in  his  public  appearance  that 
he  rises  to  the  highest  tone.  Among  the  causes  of  the  extra- 
ordinary unanimity  of  the  Councils  we  must  reckon  the 
candour  and  immediateness  with  which  he  appeals  to  a 
larger  and  larger  circle  of  judges  as  the  strife  waxes  hotter ; 
judges  neither  named  by  himself  nor  naturally  biassed  to- 
wards him  ;  bishops  first  of  one,  then  of  two  provinces,  then 
from  beyond  their  border. 

'  If  my  sins  do  not  disable  me,  I  will  learn,  if  I  can,  from 

*  Cyprian's  writings,  assisted  by  his  prayers,  with  what  peace 
'  and  what  consolation  the  Lord  governed  His  Church  through 

*  him '.' 

'The  very  remembrance  of  the  Man  is  a  sanctification'"*.' 
Such  were  the  judgments  of  Augustine  and  of  Gregory. 
Such  has  been  the  judgment  of  the  whole  Church.  The 
East,  which  knew  little  of  him  personally,  accepted  his 
tenet  as  a  sort  of  inspiration.  For  the  simple  detail  of  his 
conversion  it  substituted  a  supernatural  tale,  and  it  assigned 
him  a  supremacy  all  his  own.  '  Not  over  the  Church  of 
Carthage  alone  does  he  preside,'  says  Gregory  Nazianzen 
in  an  oration  delivered  at  Constantinople,  '  nor  yet  over  the 
'  Church  of  Africa  alone,  famous  until  now  from  him  and 
'  for  him,  but  over  all  the  Western  Church,  nay  and  almost 
'the  Eastern  Church  itself,  and  over  the  bounds  of  south 
'  and  north,  wheresoever  he  came  in  admiration.  Thus 
'  Cyprian  becomes  our  own^'  But  where  the  man  was  well 
and  thoroughly  known,  there  even  while  this  his  doctrine  and 
discipline  were  fading  away,  his  excellent  political  wisdom 
and  energy,   and  still   more  his  integrity  and  rare  union  of 


^  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Dnnatt.  V.  xvii.  t^i  KapxvSovluv  vpOKaOi^erai  fxbvov  'E/c- 

(23).  K\T}<xlai) ;  compare  other  expressions  of 

*  Greg.    Naz.    Or.    24,    vii.,    De   S.  his  ...rr^v  KotvTjvXpia-Tiai'ui'  (piXorifiLav... 

Cypriano.  rh  ^i'^a.  irori  KapxrjSovluv  6vofia  vuv  5k 

^  Greg.  Naz.  Or.  24,  c.  xii.  (oi)  fkp  t^s  olKovfUvrp  airdtrifs,  c.  vi. 

B.  28 


434    THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION.        ECCLESIASTICAL  RESULTS. 

zeal  and  love,  activity  and  moderation,  made  him  at  once 
and  for  ever  the  delight  of  the  West*. 

For  ever — in  spite  of  the  new  malevolence,  which  since 
the  dogma  of  Infallibility  has  made  it  necessary  for  papal 
advocates  to  bespatter  each  whitest  robe  that  has  not  walked 
in  the  Roman  train.  We  must  justify  Stephen,  both  act  and 
method,  is  their  deliberate  language.  *  If  we  can  succeed 
*  in  this  by  representations  drawn  from  the  documents,  we 
'will  not  without  irrefragable  arguments  treat  the  letter  of 
'  Firmilian  as  a  forgery  or  a  romance^' 

We  have  done  justice  to  Stephen's  correct  judgment  on 
the  particular  point,  and  to  the  soundness  of  his  reasons. 
But  that  he  claimed  an  authority  which  the  great  fathers 
and  churches  disdained  rather  than  discussed ;  that  he  placed 
the  just  custom  of  his  church  in  an  uncatholic  form  against 
the  tradition  of  other  churches,  that  his  best  reasons  were 
unreasonably  presented,  that  his  reception  of  accredited 
doctors  was  unchristianly  harsh,  has  scarcely  been  questioned 
till  of  latel     It  is  the  burden  of  the  evidence. 

For  be  it  first  observed  that  of  all  who  asked  Cyprian's 
counsel,  of  all  his  own  councillors,  of  prelates  assembled 
from  Africa,  Numidia,  Mauretania,  of  Firmilian  and  Dionysius 
the  Great,  not  one  suggests  the  least  deference  to  the  Roman 
See^  nor  mentions  its  estimate  of  itself  as  an  element  in 
the  question,  or  as  a  scruple  to  be  borne  in  mind.  Augustine, 
who  marshals  every  argument  in  refutation  of  his  opinion, 
never  suggests   that  obedience   to   Rome's   speaking  would 


^ 'Doubtless  present,' says  Augustine,  *  In    Ep.    70.    3    the   reference    to 

'through  the  unity  of  the  spirit'  with  the  foundation  upon  Peter  of  the  one 

the  Council  which  set  aside  his  error.  Church  having  in  this  place  no   rela- 

See  the  whole  of  the  beautiful  language  tion   to   Rome,  corresponds   with  the 

olde  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  V.  xvii.  (23).  absence  of  any  such  reference  in  the 

-  Peters,  p.  540.  genuine  part  of  De  Unitate  c.  4.     And 

^  See  for  example  Tillemont,  S.  Cy-  the  word  ratiom  here  occurring  per- 

prien,  Artt.   xlvii.    xlix.,  vol.   IV.   pp.  haps  gave  rise  to  the  rationis  and  then 

149  f.,  155  f.  the  orationis  of  the  forgery. 


VIII.  IV.  3.      CATHOLIC  versus  ULTRAMONTANE  VIEW.        435 

have  saved  him  from  his  error.  Gregory  the  Theologian  had 
not  a  suspicion  that  any  authority  could  have  been  higher 
than  Cyprian's,  *  he  presides  over  West  and  East' 

The  sole  and  the  full  evidence  shews  Stephen's  claim  as 
ungrounded  and  his  manner  of  stating  it  as  intolerable. 

But  now  the  Ultramontane  contention  is  '  that  Stephen 
'can  never  have  contented  himself  with  rriere  declaration, 
'  because  such  a  course  would  be  so  evidently  ineffective  to 
'dispel  prejudiced  The  fragments  which  lie  in  Firmilian's 
'  letter  must  represent  some  elaborate  refutation  ^.  Augustine, 
'  unacquainted  with  that  letter  and  with  the  treatise  on  Re- 
'  baptism,  excuses  Cyprian  ignorantly,  as  if  Stephen  had 
'  appealed  only  to  custom  °.  Cyprian's  hard  words  shew  that 
'he  presumed  on  victory*:  his  third  Council  of  Zy  bishops 
'  was  summoned  in  the  confidence  produced  by  his  triumph 
'over  Jubaian"^:  his  arguments  exhibit  partly  wantonness, 
'  partly  a  determined  adroitness  in  avoiding  the  point  ® :  his 
'  vindication  of  the  independence  of  each  bishop  in  unbroken 
'  unity  is  a  mere  "  turn  "  to  forestall  the  expected  prohibition 
'  of  his  practices  from  Rome^' 

This  wily  worldly  politician — for  he  was  no  better  if  his 
doctrine  of  unity  was  not  the  very  pillar  of  his  belief — '  may 
'  or  may  not  have  retracted  his  error  formally.  He  tmist 
'  have  done  all  that  Rome  required  or  she  would  never  have 
'  placed  him  in  the  roll  of  saints,  much  less  have  com- 
'  memorated  him  in  the  canon  of  the  mass.  Probably  he 
'  desisted  from  his  practice  without  retracting,  and  this  but 
'shewed  how  holy  Stephanus  had  taken  the  mildest  way 
'  of  bringing  back  the  venerable  wanderer  to  the  truth.  How 
'  great  the  guilt  of  Cyprian  had  been  is  known  only  to  God. 
'  His  other  services,  his  martyrdom,  atoned  for  it.     But  who 


1  Peters,  p.  532.  '  Id.   p.  515. 

^  Id.  pp.  540 — 549.  ®  Id.  p.  535  'mit  welch  vomehmer 

3  Id.  p.  538.  Gewandtheit... 

*  Id.  p.  511.  '  Id.  p.  514. 


vorbeizuschiffen. 
28—2 


436  THE  BAPTISMAL  QUESTION. 

'would  rely  on  what  Cyprian  in  his  hours  of  passion  and 
'of  error  thought  of  the  papal  supremacy,  a  doctrine  which 
'  Firmilian,  though  he  tries  to  be  sarcastic,  does  not  seriously 
'  question  ?  And  oh  what  a  warning  to  us,  who  have  not 
*  Cyprianic  merit,  to  shun  Cyprianic  opposition  to  that 
'  doctrine  !  We  perhaps  might  never  be  allowed  the  oppor- 
'  tunity  of  recanting  V 

What  an  exquisite  picture !  Stephen  smiling  benevo- 
lently from  his  throne  on  the  passionate  prodigal  seated  at 
his  feet,  reclaimed  by  his  gentleness,  clothed  and  in  his  right 
mind. 

And  what  love  for  historic  truth  and  method  !  Countless 
known  facts  rejected  for  hypotheses  constructed  backwards 
from  the  present  Roman  position. 

And  what  oneness  with  the  Catholicity  of  old  ! 

That  these  writers  cannot  be  regarded  as  other  than  faithful  exponents 
of  the  doctrine,  see  p.  322  note. 

1  Peters,  pp.  549,  550. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

expansion  of  christian  feeling  and  energy 
(resumed). 

The  Secret  of  Conduct. 
I.    'Of  the  Good  of  Patience.' 

Augustine  well-nigh  adored  Cyprian's  'Heart  of  over- 
flowing love.'  He  dwells  on  how  he  extended  to  worldly 
or  immoral  colleagues  the  same  loving  patience  that  he 
used  '  in  tolerating  those  good  prelates  who  in  turn  tolerated 
him'  when  through  'human  temptation  he  was  "otherwise 
minded"  on  an  obscure  question\'  Experience  since  Augus- 
tine's finds  antagonists  on  obscure  questions  harder  to  bear 
with  than  worldlings — especially  when  one  is  oneself  on  the 
subtler  side.  But  whichever  alternative  is  the  harder,  Cyprian 
merits  all  the  honour  which  even  Augustine  could  bestow. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  we  saw  how  soon  Cyprian  recognised 
that  the  new  standing-point  required  a  readjustment  of  ethical 
views  of  old  problems,  whilst  the  position  of  the  new  people 
daily  created  new  problems.  Persecution  could  not  do  its 
unequal  work  and  rouse  no  Resentments.  Old  riddles  of 
Sorrow  and  Suffering  grew  still  harder  to  the  called  and 
chosen  whose  choice  and  calling  landed  them  in  the  loss  of 
all  things.    The  whole  philosophy  of  Probation  had  blossomed 

^  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  iv.  ix.  {12). 


43^      EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND   ENERGY. 

out.  The  philosophy  of  Spiritual  Worship  was  in  bud.  On 
eaciTof  these  he  had  written,  we  have  seen  how. 
/  /  But  now  the  seething  tumult  of  Christian  opinions  on 
^/questions  of  intense  interest  to  the  faith,  demanded,  in  supple- 
ment to  his  philosophy  of  Unity,  some  Theory  of  Right 
Feeling  and  Action  amid  Divergences  apparently  scarce  less 
vital  than  those  which  separated  catholic  and  heretic  together 
from  their  joint  oppressors. 

Cyprian  did  not  find  himself  involved  as  by  surprise  in 
these  considerations.  He  had  understood  Christianity  to 
be  the  doctrine  of  a  new  and  true  School — the  last  and  ever- 
lasting. Here  was  '  the  Method  of  a  heavenly  Learning 
'  whereby  our  School  {secta)  directs  itself  to  the  attainment 
'  after  a  Divine  manner  of  the  reward  of  faith  and  hope '.' 
The  scope  of  Paul's  mission  had  been  to  ^form  the  nations ' ; 
that  Apostle  of  Nations  had  expressly  witnessed  'against 
'  their  philosophy  and  empty  fallacy,  self-evolved  and  mater- 
'  ialistic — secundum  traditionefn  hominum,  secundum  elementa 
^  mundV — in  contrast  to  that  reality  which  'rested  on  the 
person  of  Christ  indwelt  in  by  the  fulness  of  deity  V 
^/'  To  develop  and  apply  the  influences  of  this  fresh  and 
y  powerful  factor  to  thought  and  action  was  a  pressing  necessity. 
And  now,  at  the  outset,  what  was  befalling  the  very  foun- 
tain of  the  new  morality,  the  Spirit  of  Charity  or  Love? 
To  say  nothing  of  the  threatening  masses  of  heresy,  was 
this  new  controversy  with  Italy  only  a  new  field,  such  as 
heathenism  had  never  known,  for  Intolerance,  Jealousy  and 
Hate  ?  Evidently  the  supremacy  of  a  Power  actively  an- 
tagonistic to  those  Church-passions  must  be  affirmed  and 
enforced.  The  old  riddles  were  world-riddles  of  life.  The 
Church-riddles  injected  no  less  perplexity  into  faith. 

Cyprian  found  the  danger  strong  in  himself  It  grew 
among  his  partisans  as  fast  as  among  his  adversaries.  His 
own  action  had  awakened  it.     It  was  his  to  find  the  remedy. 

>  De  Bono  Patientue  i.  -  De  B.  Pat.  2. 


IX.  I.       SECRET  OF  CONDUCT — 'DE  BONO  PATIENT!^'       439 

Accordingly,  writing  to  Jubaian',  he  says,  'So  far  as  in 
'  us  lies,  we  are  not,  for  the  sake  of  heretics,  going  to  contend 
'  with  colleagues  and  fellow-bishops :  with  them  I  keep 
'Divine   concord   and   the    Lord's  peace In  patience   and 

*  gentleness  we  hold  fast  by  charity  of  spirit,  by  the  honour 
'  of  our  college,  by  the  bond  of  faith,  by  concord  within  the 

*  episcopate. 

'To   this   end    I  have  just   composed   a  small   book  on 

*  The  Good  of  Patience,  to  the  best  of  my  small  powers,  under 
'  the  permission  and  inspiration  of  the  Lord.' 

Under  this  simple  heading,  which  appears  in  the  pamphlet 
itself  also*,  and  which  is  caught  up  from  a  passing  touch 
of  Tertullian's^  he  develops  his  new  chapter  of  Christian 
Ethics.  Were  it  not  thus  dated  and  motived  by  himself*, 
its  determined  exclusion  of  the  least  provoking  allusion — 
an  example  of  its  own  teaching  not  always  to  be  reckoned 
on  in  eirenica — might  have  left  both  motive  and  date  doubt- 
ful. That  his  auditors  are  subject  to  persecutions  not  only 
from  Jews  and  Gentiles  but  from  separatists  also  is  its  nearest 
reference  to  circumstances  ^  No  word  about  the  '  college 
of  bishops  '  here,  nor  of  any  discord  within  it. 

But  what  is  the  ^Patience'  which  Cyprian  desires  to  evoke? 

Patience  was  that  element  which  Cicero  combines  with 
the  Realisation  of  High  Ideals,  with  Self-Reliance  and  with 
Perseverance,  to  complete  the  notion  of  Fortitude.  And  he 
thus  defines  it" :  'It  is  the  voluntary  and  long-continued 
'  endurance  of  hardship  and  difficulty  for  ends  of  honour  and 
'  usefulness.' 

Was  this  what  Cyprian  longed  to  see  becoming  a  more 


^  Ep.  73.  26.  word.    'Unde  sic    Patientiam  discere- 

2  De  B.  Pat.  19.  mus?'      Vit.  c.  7. 

'  Tert.  de  Pat.  i.  ^  Bonum  ejus  {pa-  "  De  B.  Pat.  21. 

tienti(E)  etiara  qui  cseci  vivunt  summoe  ®  De    Inv.    ii.  54    *Fortitudo...ejus 

virtutis  appellatione  honorant.'  partes :    Magnificentia,    Fidentia,    Pa- 

*  Pontius  alludes   to  it   in   a  single  tientia,  Perse verantia.' 


440  EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

active  principle  in  the  Church  ?     No.     Martyrdom  and  Con- 
fessorship  had  more  than  fulfilled  this  ideal. 

The  Tracts  and  Epistles  of  Seneca  are  not  unlike 
Cyprian's  in  their  purpose  of  raising  the  moral  tone  of 
society.  And  in  Seneca  a  certain  humanity,  a  certain 
spirituality,  breaks  in  upon  his  Stoic  paradox  on  all  sides. 
He  sees  *  a  kinship  and  a  likeness '  between  God  and  good 
men.  He  regards  the  originally  good  as  '  a  true  progeny '  of 
God,  and  their  worldly  afflictions  as  '  a  lovingly  severe  edu- 
cation.' It  is  in  their  'power  of  Patience'  (endurance)  that 
the 'might  of  virtue  is  shewn';  and  it  is  'by  Patience  that 
the  spirit  comes  at  last  to  contemn  the  power  of  evils  \'  But 
Seneca  finds  the  perfection  and  the  reward  of  Patience  in 
a  habitual  joyous  Pride  in  self,  with  a  pleasant  contempt  for 
undisciplined  mindsl  He  attains  to  the  paradox  that  herein 
man  has  the  advantage  of  God — that  while  God  stands 
only  '  outside  the  endurance  of  evils,  man  stands  above  that 
endurance  V 

It  was  something  more  than  this  antique  virtue  that 
Cyprian  perceived.  There  was  a  new  thing  in  the  world,  a 
gift  of  God,  the  impartment  of  a  something  out  of  God's  own 
nature,  and  so  a  certain  seal  of  Sonship  *.  Patience  is  of  the 
Father,  and  '  the  sons  must  not  degenerate^  The  perfection 
'  of  the  sons  is  the  restoration  of  the  original  likeness  of  the 
'  Father  in  the  manifestation  of  His  patience.'  '  Perseverance 
in  Sonship'  is  the  imitation  of  the  Father's  patience. 

What  then  is  the  new  spirit  which  now  enters  into  the 
old  word^? 

1  Seneca,  Dial.  I.  i.  5;  ii.  4,  7;  iv.  ^  Sen.  I?ia/.  I.  vi.  6. 

6j  13.  •*  Cum  Deo  virtus  ista  communis... 

2  Sen.  Dial.  11.  ix.  3  'inde  tam  erectus       Deo  auctore,  De£.  Pat.  3;. ..Dei  res,  5. 
Iretusque    est,    inde    continue    gaudio  •"'  De  B.  Pat.  3,  5,  20. 

elatus.'    xiv.  i 'o  quantus  inter  ista  risus  ^  Dr  Peters  gives   a  wordy,  incom- 

toUendus  est ;  quanta  voluptate  implen-  petent  account  of  this   treatise,  which 

dus  animus  ex  alienorum  errorum  tu-  he  characterizes  as  very  easy  to  under- 

multu  contemplanti  quietem  suam.'  stand, — as  it  is,  if  the  exceeding  diffi- 


IX.  I.     SECRET  OF  CONDUCT — * DE  BONO  PATIENTIM.'    44 1 

Cyprian  does  not  verbally  distinguish  the  aspect  of  the 
virtue  regarded  as  t/te power  which  bears  from  that  of  th&  power 
which  forbears ;  the  sufferance  of  calamity  from  the  repression 
of  the  desire  to  avenge  oneself    Both  unite  in  his  Patientia. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  commonly  have  two  words  for 
these  two  aspects,  *  endurance '  {hypomone),  for  the  former ; 
'  long-suffering,  tolerance '  {macrothymia),  for  the  latter. 

'  The  former  is  opposed  to  cowardice  or  despondency,  the 
'  other  to  wrath  or  revenge.  The  former  is  closely  allied  to 
'  hope,  the  latter  is  commonly  connected  with  mercy\' 

But  in  Aristotle  the  former  is  the  child  of  unmanliness 
or  cowardice;  and  Cyprian  points  out  that  the  philosophies, 
whether  Stoic  or  Cynic*,  which  exercised  it  did  not,  in 
theory  or  in  practice,  aim  at  either  htimility  or  mildness,  but 
were  essentially  self-satisfying  and  severe  ^  But  humility 
and  mildness  are  to  the  Christian  grace  essential*. 

The  second  aspect  of  Patience  {macrothymia)  places  itself 


culty,  which  Cyprian  himself  points  out,  that  Humility  is  thus  essential  to   its 

of   correlating  heathen  and   Christian  idea  a   delicate    analysis    from    Prof. 

virtues,  is  ignored.  H.  Sidgwick's  article  on  Ethics  in  En- 

1  Bp.  Lightfoot  on  Col.  i.  11,  adding  cyd.  Brit,  (ixth  ed.),  v.  Vlii.  p.  591  a: 
that  the  distinction  is  not  without  ex-  'The  far  greater  prominence  (of  Hu- 
ception.  mility)    under    the    new    dispensation 

2  It  is  Cynicism  which  TertuUian  may  be  partly  referred  to  the  ex- 
has  in  view  in  the  parallel  passage  of  press  teaching  and  example  of  Christ ; 
his  De  Fat.  ii.  '  affectatio  humana  ca-  partly,  in  so  far  as  the  virtue  is  mani- 
ninse  aequanimitatis  stupore  formata. '  fested   in   the  renunciation  of  external 

•■'  De  B.  Pat.  2.  rank  and  dignity,  or  the  glory  of  merely 
■*  Arist.  J?Aet.  ii.  6  airb  avavdpiai  yap  secular  gifts  and  acquirements,  it  is 
7)  deiXlas  i)  viroixovT)...2.nA  classical  pa-  one  aspect  of  the  unworldliness  which 
/rWw/'/a  was  never  clear  of  the  slur.  See  we  have  already  noticed;  while  the 
Tac.  Agric.  16  '  (Britanniam)  unius  deeper  humility  that  represses  the  claim 
praslii  fortuna  veteri  patkntue  restituit.'  of  personal  merit  even  in  the  saint  be- 
Cyprian  [De  B.  Pat.  2)  derives  both  longs  to  the  strict  self-examination,  the 
these  ideas,  of  the  falsa  sapientia  and  continual  sense  of  imperfection,  the 
of  the  essential  thought  of  Christian  utter  reliance  on  strength  not  his  own, 
Patience  as  humilis  and  mitis,  from  which  characterize  the  inner  moral  life 
Tertullian's  passing  observations  in  his  of  the  Christian.  Humility  in  this  latter 
c.  xvi.  and  c.  xii.  Let  me  here  quote  sense  'before  God'  is  an  essential  con- 
in    support    of   the   view   of    Cyprian  dition  of  all  truly  Christian  goodness.' 


442     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

in  no  contradiction  to  Justice.  Theophylact*  describes  'The 
Long-suffering  man '  as  inflicting  justice  *  after  abundant 
deliberation,  not  in  sharp  haste,  but  tardily' — a  view  which 
we  may  illustrate  from  Plutarch's  beautiful  book  '  Of  God's 
tardy  judgments,'  where  he  says  that,  as  a  means  of  pro- 
ducing likeness  to  God,  the  contemplation  of  God's  gentle- 
ness will  not  be  ineffective,  as  one  observes  '  how  lingeringly 
'and  leisurely  He  does  justice  even  on  the  wicked,  not 
'that  He  is  afraid  lest  He  should  Himself  chastise  over 
'hastily  and  have  to  repent,  but  because  He  would  cure  our 
'  savagery  and  vehemence  of  vengeance,  and  teach  us  not 
'  to  spring  in  anger  on  those  who  hurt  us,  whilst  our  wrath 
'  burns  and  throbs  and  is  convulsed,  as  if  we  were  glutting 
'thirst  or  famine;  but,  imitating  His  mildness  and  delays, 
'  orderly,  regretfully,  and  taking  into  our  counsels  Time,  who 
'  is  least  likely  to  be  visited  with  repentances,  so  to  set  our 
'  hands  to  justice  ^' 

By  this  excellent  passage  we  see  that  what  Cyprian  adds 
to  the  idea  is  the  resolution  which,  when  we  ourselves  suffer 
for  conscience'  sake,  commits  the  whole  cause  unreservedly 
to  God  ;  and  this  it  is  which  makes  of  Christian  patience  an 
active  power  and  an  attribute  of  deity.  Tertullian,  while 
giving  the  same  counsel,  ends  his  treatise  with  one  glance 
at  '  the  fire  beneath '  which  awaits  '  false  patience '  as  it 
awaits  all  other  falsities.  But  to  Cyprian  such  a  thought 
is  not  a  hope  but  a  dread  certainty,  and  the  God  to  whom 
he  bids  the  Christian  commit  his  cause  is,  as  he  reminds 
him,  One  Who  has  not  yet  thought  it  necessary  to  avenge 
either  Himself  or  His  Slain  Son  or  His  persecuted  Church. 

We  proceed  to  speak  of  the  Form  in  which  was  brought 
out  the  necessity  of  this  fresh  Virtue  to  the  Church's  life. 

1  Theophylact.    Bulgar.    Ad   Galatt.  rrira  Kal  ttji/  /jLiXXTjcriv,  ev  rd^et  Kai  fier' 
V.  22.  ^/i/u.eXe£as,   rbv  ■IJKKTTa  fieravolq.  irpoaoi- 

2  Plut.   de  sera  nitminis  vindicta,  v.  a6fievo»    -xfidvov    Ix*"''''*^    aiin^ovkou 

...dXXd   /ufwvjjjvovi   TTjy   iKtlvov   irpq.b-  Cf.  Thuc.  iv.  i8. 


\> 


IX.  I.    SECRET  OF  CONDUCT — ' DE  BONO  PATIENTIM.'    443 

Although  it  comes  to  us  in  the  shape  of  an  Essay  for 
devotional  study  it  bears  marks  of  having  been  originally 
an  Address  to  some  audience  \ 

It  begins  with  thoughts  and  illustrations  derived  from 
his  '  Master's '  tract  on  the  same  subject,  shuns  his  harsh 
views,  avoids  his  mistakes,  and  misses  his  picturesqueness. 
It  is  charged  with  sweeter  and  truer  notions  of  Life  in  God. 
And  in  a  way  quite  unlike  the  specimens  of  remodelling 
which  we  have  examined  hitherto,  it  avoids  verbal  coin- 
cidences even  when  they  seem  inevitable.  r 

yWhile  Tertullian  starts  from  himself  with  a  sharp  gird 
at  his  own  feverish  impatient  nature  *,  which  disqualifies  and 
yet  fits  him  to  discourse  on  the  topic,  Cyprian  begins  with 
his  audience,  and  with  the  occasion  for  the  virtue  of  which 
he  is  to  speak,  which  they  will  find  in  listening  to  himself 

[Cyprian  proceeds  (as  we  saw)  to  indicate  the  need  of  a 
new  and  Christian  doctrine  concerning  a  virtue  lauded  and 
misrepresented  in  other  systems — a  fact  about  them  which   c.  2 
Tertullian  in  one  breath  accepts  as  homage  and  resents  as 
impertinence '.  j 

But  ours  is  a  Patience  of  Life,  of  Action,  not  of  Specula- 
tion— a  part  of  God's  own   Nature  and   Self  which   passes   c.  4 
with   His   Divine  Being  into  all   His  Sons,  and   belongs  to   c.  5 
the  restoration  of  the  lost  likeness. 

Respondere  Natalibus  is  still  Cyprian's  motto  as  in  the 
days  of  the   plague*,   and  as  he  lovingly  presses  home  our 

^  If  any  editor   has    noted    this    it  tram  patientiam  video  esse  necessariam, 

escapes  me.     Even   Augustine  calls  it  ut  nee  ipsum  quod  auditis  et  discitis, 

an  Epistola,  c.  Duas  Epp.  Pelagg.  iv.  sine    patientia    facere    possitis.     Tunc 

viii,    (22).     Yet    the    opening   phrases  enim  demum   sermo  et   ratio  salutaris 

indicate   that   it  was   orally  delivered.  efficaciter   discitur,    si    patienter    quod 

They  are  too  fUU,  and  would  be  too  dicitur  andiatur. '    De  B.  Pat.  i. 

flat,  for  a  metaphor  to  readers.     '  De  ^  Semper  aeger  caloribus  impatientiae. 

patientia  locuturus,  fratres  dilectissimi,  Tert.  de  Pat.  i. 

et  utilitates  ejus   et   commoda  pmdi-  ^  Tert.  de  Pat.  c.  i. 

caturus,  unde   potius  incipiam,   quam  *  Pont.  Vit.  9. 
quod  nunc  quoque  ad  audientiam  ves- 


444     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

Sonship  and  its  obligation,  he  shews  himself  a  better  master 
of  motive  than  his  Master,  who,  at  this  section  of  the  subject, 
only  represents  to  us  the  obedient  patience  of  our  slaves  and 
our  animals,  and  the  suitableness  of  our  rendering  the  like  to 
the  Giver  of  such  comforts  \ 

c.  4.  The  Patience  of  the  Father  is   displayed   through  ages 

in  the  gifts  of  nature  to  the  idolatrous  nations,  in  all  the 
delays,  all  the   opportunities    He   allows :    the   Patience   of 

c,  6.  the  Son  is  shewn  in  His  eternal  preparation  for  man's  sal- 

vation,  in  every  act  of  His  manhood   and  passion,  full  of 

c.  7.  power  as  of  suffering, — power  which  (in  exorcism)  still  visibly 

tames  the  spiritual  foe — and  is  displayed  too  in  the  opening 

c.  8.  wide  of  His  Church  to  the  return  of  the  sinf idlest.     In  this 

last  clause  we  have  not  merely  an  allusion  to  his  own  con- 
troversies, but  a  deliberate  broadening  out  of  the  spirit  of 
TertuUian,  from  whom  this  argument  *  Of  the  Patience  of 

c.  9.  God '    is   wholly   derived  ^   though    much    expanded.       He 

concludes  this  section  by  alleging  from  S.  Peter  and  S.  John 
the  immense  necessity  of  an  Imitation  of  Christ  along  with 

c.  10.  the  personal  Types  of  His  patience  offered  by  Abel  and 
the  Patriarchs,  by  Joseph  and  Moses,  by  David  in  his 
'  great  and  marvellous  and  Christian  patience '  with  Saul,  and 
by  the  Martyrs  and  Prophets  of  the  old  Covenant.  Here  then 
we  must  not  miss  his  doctrine  that,  while  ethnic  patience 
before  Christ  was  worse  than  nothing,  Jewish  patience  was 
perfect  to  the  full  extent  to  which  types  can  be  perfect : 
Theirs  was  a  prefiguring  of  His. 

cc.  II— 17.  The  next  main  division  of  the  subject  is  the  Necessity 
and  Utility  of  Patience  under  the  conditions  of  Humanity 


1  Tert.  de  Pat.  iv.  in  the  expression  that  He  was  led  'ad 

"Details    of    imitation   crop   up    in  victimam^  {"]).     levi.de  Pat.\n.{y/h.\c\x 

the   statement   of  our  Lord's  baptism  however  appears  elsewhere  in  Cyprian's 

'a  servo'  [De  B.  Pat.  6)  in  the  remark  reading  of  Es.  liii.  7  [Testitn.  Ii.   15], 

that  He   never  betrayed  Judas'  name  cf.  De  B.  Pat.  23.     Hartel  with  Cod. 

throughout  his  discipleship  (6) ;  perhaps  Seg.  reads  ad  cruceni). 


IX.  I.    THE  'PATIENCE'  OF  TERTULLIAN  AND  CYPRIAN.   445 

in  its  falP.  The  tears  of  the  new-born  child  initiate  a  state  c  n. 
of  troubles  in  which  the  Christian  has  the  fullest  share ; 
Patience  is  his  one  prospect  of  dealing  with  them ;  nor  can 
he  find  any  other  road  to  such  special  '  Truth '  and  *  Free- 
dom '  as  are  promised  him,  nor  into  that  Faith,  Hope,  and 
Perseverance,  which  form  the  subjective  part  of  his  religion ; 
nor  yet  find  any  other  rampart  of  the  Purity,  Honesty,  and  c.  14. 
Innocence  which  he  guards. 

Of  Charity  which  is  Christianity  in  essence,  and  of  the   c.  15. 
Peacefulness,  which  so  palpably  differences   Christian  from 
heathen  society  ^  Patience  and  Tolerance  are  the  substantial 
substratum  ^ 

This  section  of  Cyprian's  is  also  built  on  Tertullian. 

Far  less  orderly  and  regular  but  far  more  picturesque  and    Tert.  de 
striking  is  Tertullian's  handling.  Tertullian  finds  the  Necessity 
for  Patience  in  the  obligations  of  accepting  Christ's  view  of 
riches,   bearing   our   losses    and    distributing    our   largesses 
Christianly;    in  the  necessity  of  taking  Christ's  view  of  in-   viii. 
juries,  though  here  his   hot  spirit    cannot  forego  a  distinct 
satisfaction  in  the  surprise  and  disappointment  with  which 
our  patience   must  afflict   our  enemies ;    in  the  necessity  of  ix. 
a  nobler  view  of  the  death  of  friends  ;  in  the  necessity  for   x. 
surrendering  all  vengeance  into  the  hand  of  God.     We  have 
to  bear  alike  the   results   of  our   own    misdoing,  the   plots   xi. 
of  the  Evil  One  *,  and  the  corrections  of  God  ;   we  have  to 
become  'humble  and  mild.' 

1  Augustine,  c.  Dnas  Epp.  Pelagg.  iv.  *  Tertullian  uses  Malus  as  the  equi- 
viii.  (22),  points  out  the  irreconcilable-  valent  of  6  ttovt/p^j.  Certemus  igitur  quae 
ness  of  this  passage  (c.  ii)andofc.  17  a  Malo  infliguntur  sustinere.  Again: 
as  shewing  what  Cyprian  understood  by  Quaqua  ex  parte,  aut  erroribus  nostris, 
'all  have  sinned'  with  any  Pelagian  aut  Mali  insidiis,  aut  admonitionibus 
opinion.  Domini    intervenit    usus,    ejus    officii 

2  Compare  Cyprian's  first  experience  magna  merces....  De  Pat.  xi.,  cf.  xiv. 
of  this  in  ad  Donatum,  14,  with  this  'dissecabatur  Malus.'  On  the  use  in 
which  is  his  last.  general  see  Bp.  Lightfoot  on  Revision 

*  ...patientiae  et  tolerantias  firmitate.       of  the  N.T.  (ed.  3),  App.  11.  p.  294. 
{De  B.  Pat.  i6.) 


446     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

Tert.  de  Peacefulness  *,  Forgivingness,  The  continuance  of  Single 

life  after  Divorce,  Earnestness  in  Repentance,  are  the  steps 
of  the  climax  which,  like  his  scholar,  he  finds  and  dwells 
on  with  delight  in  S.  Paul's  perfect  analysis  of  Charity*. 
And  then  each  has  his  characteristic  corollary :  Tertullian 
strangely — that  we  have  so  far  spoken  only  of  '  a  simple 
uniform  Patience,  merely  in  the  heart';  but  that  she  further 
has  a  '  multiform  function  in  the  body — toiling  to  deserve 
xiii.  the  Divine  favour.'  This  function  is  Asceticism.  'The 
'afflicting  of  the  flesh  is  a  placatory  victim  unto  the  Lord 
'  through  the  sacrifice  of  humiliation  ;  offering  squalor  with 
'  stint  of  rations '  to  the  Lord ;  content  with  plain  food 
'  and  pure  water,  joining  fast  to  fast,  growing  into  sackcloth 
'  and  ashes.' 

Of  this  satisfaction  Nebuchadnezzar  was  an  example, 
though  not  of  the  highest  order ;  and  throughout  every  stage 
of  pain,  self-inflicted  or  enforced  by  the  persecutor,  patience 
is  the  minister  of  power. 

This  chapter  with  its  extravagant  teachings  finds  no 
counterpart  in  Cyprian,  and  while  it  indicates  its  author's 
tendencies  even  in  his  orthodox  years,  it  instances  also  how 
uncatholic  fashions  in  the  Catholic  Church  arise  not  from 
her  true  fathers,  but  are  the  inventions  of  sectarian  geniuses. 

While  Tertullian's  corollary  is  the  very  wildness  of  self- 
maceration,   Cyprian's    is  that  noble  doctrine  of  Probation 
of  which  the  English  Church  philosopher  has  been  the  chief 
c.  17.       exponent*. 

*  Tertullian  (xii.)  speaks  of  the  diffi-  sordes'  would  surely  be  too  violent  for 

culty  which  a  son  of  impatience  finds  Tertullian,   even    if   he   tolerated    the 

in  forgiving  seventy  times  seven  times.  heathen   metaphor   of  libation,    which 

Cyprian  (16)  passingly  alludes  to   the  he  nowhere  does,  and  surely  could  not. 

need  for  forgiving  not  numerically  but  I  venture  to  suggest  litat.      Compare 

universally.  Tert.  de  Pat.  c.  x.  'Quem  autem  ho- 

■•'  Caritas  is  Cyprian's  rendering,  Di-  norem  litabimus  Domino   Deo ' ;   adv. 

lectio  Tertullian's  in  i  Cor.  xiii.  4.  Valent.  ii. '  Infantes  testimonium  Christi 

3  Tert.  de  Pat.  xiii.  'cum  sordes  cum  sanguine  litaverunt.' 

angustia  victus  domino  libat.''     ^Libare  *  Cyprian's  examples  of  patience  are 


IX.  I.    THE  *  patience'  OF  TERTULLIAN  AND  CYPRIAN.   447 

The  '  Necessity  of  Patience '   is   in  TertuUian  prefaced,  T.  dc  P.  v. 
and  in  Cyprian  followed  up,  by  an  enquiry  into  the  '  Origin,'  De  B.  P. 
or,  as   TertuUian  has   it,   the    'Parentage,'   of   Impatience \ '^^ '^* 
Both    assign   its   genesis   to  the    same   cause — The   Devil's 
Envy  of  Man.      The  older  writer  dwells  with  acerbity   on 
woman's  part  in  the  Fall.     All  falls  are  traced  to  the  same 
source  down  to  Israel's  choice  of  '  profane  guiding  gods",'  to 
the  massacres  of  prophets,   and  (says   Cyprian)  to   all  the 
falls  of  the  heretics  in  his  own  day.     But  TertuUian  has  ^  1 . de P.sS.. 
beautiful  contrast  of  the  genesis  of  Patience  in  the  Faith  of 
Abraham  and  of  her  perfecting  in  Christ's  doctrine  of  the 
Love  of  Enemies. 

Yet  again  Cyprian,  rarely  borrowing  his  words',  follows  De  B.  p. 
and  enlarges  his  Master's  list  of  the  Effects  of  Patience  in  ^'deP.-av. 
generating  the  altruism  of  the  Christian  communities  and 
their  persevering   work   for   the  world  through  every    keen 
discouragement — as  'sons  of  the  Father.' 

At  the  last,  the  Master  rises  into  the  most  beautiful  T.deP.xv. 
passage  in  all  his  writings,  impersonating  her  beauty  like  a 
Catherine  of  Raffaelle.  '  Her  countenance  still  and  calm, 
'  brow  pure,  no  wrinkledness  from  mourning  or  from  anger 
'  to  pucker  it,  eyebrows  evenly  smoothed  for  joyousness,  eyes 
'  downcast  in  lowliness  not  unhappiness,  lips  sealed  with  all 
'the  dignity  of  silence;  her  complexion  that  of  free  hearts 
'  and  innocent ;  she  shakes  her  head  at  the  Accuser,  her  smile 
'  threatens  him  ;  about  her  bosom  her  amice  lies  white  and 
'  folded  close,   unpuffed,  unruffled  ;  for  she  sitteth  upon  the 

theLord'spacificcalm,Stephen,Job,and  him  to  employ  Job's  wife.     But  with 

Tobias;  Tertullian's  (De  Pal.  xiv.)  are  fine  pathos,  after  calling  him  'Dives  in 

theEsaiasoftradition,  Stephen,  and  Job.  censu    dominus,    et    in    liberis    pater 

Tertullian's  details  of  the  wife  and  the  ditior,'  he  says  'nee  dominus  repente 

/^«/w/£2  are  borrowed  by  Cyprian.but  not  nee  pater  est.'    De  B.  Pat.  1^. 

his  strange  mistake  that  Job's  children  ^  Exordia,  Cyprian ;    Natales,   Ter- 

were  never  replaced,  and  that  he  as-  tuUian. 

cetically  preferred  to  live  alone.  C)rprian  ^  Profanos  deos...itineris  sui  duces. 

cannot    refrain    from    supposing    that  '    T.  divitem  temperat. — C.  coercet 

Satan's  success  through  Eve  encouraged  potentiam  divitum. 


448     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

*  throne  of  that  gentlest,  kindest  Spirit  who  rolls  not  in  the 
'  whirlwind,  nor  blackens  in  the  cloud,  but  is  ever  of  a  tender 
'clearness,  open  and  singlehearted,  the  Spirit  whom  in  his 
'third  vision,  Elias  saw.  For  where  God  is,  there  also  is  His 
'  foster-child,  even  Patience.' 

So  he  writes,  and  then,  as  if  impatient  of  Patience  herself, 

f  he  dashes  suddenly  into  a  wild  invective  against  the  'patience 

'l.de  Pat.  '  of  the  Gentiles  of  the  earth — a  false,  a  criminal  patience,  taught 

I  '  them  by  Satan's  self,  emulating  God.    Patient  of  every  shame 

'for  gold's  sake,  patient  of  rivals,  plutocrats,  dinner-givers — 

;  'impatient   of  God  alone...'     For  this  patience  there  waits 

;    only  fire.     ...'We,  we  must  offer  the  patience  of  the  spirit, 

I    '  the  patience  of  the  flesh.     We  believe  in  the  resurrection  of 

'  flesh  and  of  spirit.' — He  ends. 

Cyprian's  conclusion   is  as  different  as  may  be  and  as 

characteristic.    'AH  retributions  to  be  let  alone  by  man.    They 

De B.Pat,  belong  to  God,  saith  Prophecy.     /  have  held  my  peace :  shall 

CC«    2 1     22. 

I  hold  my  peace  for  ever^f...  The  silent  Lamb  of  the  Passion 
cc.  23,  24.  is  the  Judge  who  will  not  keep  silence.  He  who  avenges 
riot  Himself,  who  so  long  avenges  not  His  slain  Son — shall 
His  servants,  with  unscrupulous,  unblushful  precipitation 
vindicate  themselves  before  He  is  vindicated  .-'  Rather,  work 
on,  stedfast  in  tolerance,  and  in  the  "Day  of  Wrath-"  stand 
with  the  just  and  the  godfearing.' 


2.    'Of  Jealousy  and  Envy.' 

The  Tractate  'of  Jealousy  and  Envy,'  which  long  remained 
abroad  as  well  as  at  home  a  famous  and  popular  'epistle^' 

^  Isai.  xlii.  14.     E.  V.  'I  have  long  earliest  theological  use  of  this  title.     Is 

time  holden  my  peace ;  I  have  been  still  it  taken  from  Rom.  ii.  5? 
and  refrained  myself.'   H.  Ewald:  '  Ich  ^  Epistola  populis  nota,  Aug.  d.  Bapt. 

schwieg — soil  ich  auf  ewig  verstummen  c.  Donn.    iv.    viii.    (11). — '...librum... 

an  mich  halten?'   Die  Propheten  d.  Alt.  valde  optimum,'  Hieron.  Comment,  in 

Bundes.  (1840),  v.  11.  p.  420.  Ep.  ad  Galatt.  1.  iii.  c.  5. 

*  '///^  Irce  et  vindictae  Dies^  is  the 


IX.  2.     SECRET  OF   CONDUCT — ' DE  ZEI.O  ET  LIVORE.'     449 

belongs  to  nearly  the  same  time ;  but  as  it  is  unmen- 
tioned  in  the  letter  to  Jubaian  it  came  out  probably  a  little 
later,  although  before  the  recommencement  of  persecution  \ 
This  too  is  motived  by  the  dread  that  in  the  official  life  of 
the  Church  fresh  fields  were  opening  to  commonplace  passions. 
Their  outer  activity  might  be  checked  by  the  rules  of  the 
society,  yet  the  religion  would  miss  its  end  if  it  left  Christian 
hearts  to  be  ridden  over  so  secretly  by  that  mysterious  Being 
whose  energy  Cyprian  recognised  in  the  constant  depravation 
of  good  as  fast  as  it  arose ^ 

These  are  some  now  visible  effects  of  '  blinding  jealousy.' 
'There  is  a  breaking  of  the  bond  of  the  Lord's  peace,  a 
'  violence  done  to  brotherly  charity,  there  is  a  corrupting 
'  of  truth,  a  dividing  of  unity,  a  dashing  into  heresies  and 
'  schisms,  (and  it  will  continue)  so  long  as  there  is  this  cavil- 
'  ling  at  chief  priests,  this  envying  at  the  bishops, — any  man 
'  complaining  aloud  at  not  having  been  preferred  for  conse- 
'  cration,  or  disdaining  to  submit  to  another's  prelacy.  Hence 
'  one  "lifts  up  the  heel";  hence  one  rebels,  proud  out  of  jealousy, 
'  crooked  out  of  rivalry,  a  foe  through  enmity  and  envy  not  to 
'  the  man  but  to  his  office.'  Maximus,  Felicissimus,  Novatus, 
still  more  Novatian,  may  have  passed  before  his  mind's  eye 
as  he  wrote^;  but  it  was  the  general  condition  of  factiousness 
which  had  to  be  probed  in  order  to  be  healed.  Such  is  the 
motive. 

The  purpose  then  is  in  continuance  of  his  plan  of  analysing 
and  developing  the  new  school  of  life.  And  in  this  his  last 
treatise  he  boldly  feels  after  a  more  searching  and  more 
formative  discipline  of  the  conscience  than  hitherto.  He 
goes  to  the  foundations  of  spiritual  self-knowledge. 

^  This  may  be  fairly  inferred   from  Will  of  Evil, 
the  character  of  the  exhortation  in  c.  '  This   passage   (c.   6)   and    that    in 

16.  c.   12  (p.   454)  below  must  I  think  be 

-  Observe  in  this  treatise  the  constant  taken  as  a  grave  incidental  judgment  on 

reference   of  phenomena   to   a   Living  Novatian's  motives. 

B.  29 


450     EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIAN  FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

c.  I.  It  is  upon  the  'dark  and  hidden  devastation'  which  'lurk- 

ingly  affects  unwary  minds'  that  he  focuses  the  new  light. 

c.  3.  '  The   darts   rain   thickest   from    the   ambushes.     The  more 

'  hidden  and  clandestine  the  archery  the  more  fatal  it  is.  Let 
'  us  awake  to  understand  it.'  And  so  through  the  whole  treatise. 

c.  6.  It  is  to  'the  recesses  of  the  mind,'  'the  unhappiness  which  is 

c.  7.  *  in  the  secret  places  of  the  heart,'  'the  wounds  deeply  lodged 

c.  9-  '  within  the  hiding-places  of  the  conscience,'  that  he  directs 

men's  own  observation.  And  so  with  the  course  of  remedy 
which  he  applies.  It  is  the  inner  life  of  the  conscience  to 
which  the  great  organizer  addresses  himself  in  the  last  issue. 

c.  15.  Itisthe 'Deifica  Disciplina' — the 'Discipline  that  divinises' 

— which  must,  which  only  can,  complete  our  soul's  'Birth 
unto  God.' 

The  first  question,  'How  am  I   to  hold  the  grace  once 

c.  16.  given  against  the  most  secret  and  fatal  of  inner  assaults.?' 
he  answers  thus  : — By  meditations — by  exercises  spiritual — 
Reading,  Thought,  Prayer,  Works  of  Charity.  '  For  not  the 
'  days  of  martyrdom  alone  are  the  days  of  coronation   for 

c.  17.  'God's  warriors.  Peace  too  has  her  crowns^'  'But  how  to 
attain  them '  is  the  next  question,  '  if  Jealousy  and  Envy 
have  been  long  dominant  in  me'^?' 

'  It  is  possible  still,'  he  replies.  '  The  inner  accurate  search- 
ing and  weeding  of  the  heart . .  The  sweetening  of  bitterness. 
The  Sacrament  of  the  Cross,  with  its  food  and  wine..  The 
imitation  of  good  men,  or,  if  at  present  that  seems  impossible, 
sympathy  with  them,  and  delight  in  the  happiness  of  others.' 

So  nearly  and  so  effectively  does  he  reach  the  idea  of  an 
enchiridion  that  he  concludes  with  suggesting  topics  for 
frequent  reflection,  and  especially  that  one  which  in  all 
times   has    been   found   most    potent,  '  The   Practice   of  the 

c.  18.         Presence  of  God.' 

^  Divina  nativitas.    Deifica  disciplina  '^  ...tu  etiam  possis  qui  fueras  zelo  et 

(c.  15).    Corroborandus,  firmandus  ani-       livore  possessus...  (c.  17). 
mus  (c.  16). 


IX.  2.      SECRET  OF  CONDUCT — ' DE  ZELO  ET  LIVORE."     45 1 

Superficially  unlike,  this  is  in  some  respects  the  most 
Cyprianic  of  Cyprian's  tracts.  It  is  broadly  practical,  and 
it  is  defective  in  scientific  analysis  of  the  passion  to  be 
subdued,  though  he  rightly,  like  Clement  of  Rome,  detects 
it  to  be  the  most  fatal  of  all  to  Church-life. 

We  will  now  ascertain  his  notion  as  to  what  Zehcs  and 
Livor  are,  and  conclude  with  his  ideal  of  the  opposite  temper: 
an  ideal  perhaps  never  more  perfectly  realised  (never  cer- 
tainly by  any  controversialist)  than  in  himself  \ 

The  Title  '  De  Zelo  et  Livore '  leads  us  to  expect  some- 
thing of  logical  distinction.  But  the  '  et  Livore'  proves  to  be 
rather  a  substitute  for  an  epithet  to  explain  in  what  sense  he 
means  to  use  ' Zelus-.' 

For  in  Aristotle  Zelos  has  none  but  a  good  sense — 'a 
reasonable  quality  in  reasonable  men,'  for  it  is  '  a  kind  of 
'  pain  at  a  visible  presence  of  good  and  precious  gifts,  possible 
'  for  oneself  to  attain  ;  a  pain  not  because  another  hath  them, 
'  but  because  oneself  hath  not^'  It  is  this  classical  sense  which 
CEcumenius  well  puts  when  he*  calls  it  '  an  enthusiastic  move- 
'  ment  of  soul  towards  something,  with  some  attempt  to 
'  resemble  what  it  so  earnestly  affects.' 

But  such  noble  emulation  may  be  depraved  in  two  ways, 
by  a  desire  to  engross  the  perceived  good,  or  by  the  mere 
base  wish  that  the  owner  had  it  not.  This  antiently  was 
Phthonos,  the  '  mean  passion  of  the  mean,'  '  pain  at  another's 
good,'  'apart  from  any  hope  of  obtaining  it"';  or,  as  Plutarch, 

^  Augustine    has  caught    this.     Cy-  "  D.  Brutus,  who  was  a  lover  of  un- 

prian  says  (c.  13)  'eum  posse  fcrZ/a/ifw  fashionable    words,    is    seemingly    the 

tenere,   quisque    magnanimus   fuerit   et  only  prae-Augustan  who  uses  livor  (Cic. 

benignus    et    zeli    ac    livoris    alienits.'  Epistt.  ad  Fatn.  xx.  10,  i). 

Augustine   says,    'Vere  decuit   Cypria-  ■*  Rhet.  ii.  ti. 

num  de  zelo  ac  livore  et  arguere  graviter  ■*  CEcumen.   Comment,  in  Ep.  Cath. 

et  monere,  a  quo  tarn  mortifero  malo  cor  Jacob,  iii.  14. 

ejus  penitus  a//V««;«  tanta  c«nVa/w  abun-  ^  Aristot.  /.  c,  and  ii.    10,  yA)  tvo.  n 

dantia  comprobavit  :  qua  vigilantissime  avrQ,    dXXd.   5i'  iKelvovs.      Cf.    ...Xvtttjv 

custodita,  &c.'    De  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  IV.  eV    dXXorptois   a.ya.Boh.     Diog.    Laert. 

viii.  II.  vii.  i.  (in). 

29 — 2 


452     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND   ENERGY. 

'simply  against  those  who  seem  to  prosper,... against  those 
who  seem  to  advance  in  excellence'.'  Again  Cicero,  who 
proposed  for  clearness'  sake  to  call  the  active  feeling  invidentia, 
further  cleared  the  definition  by  adding  that  the  envied  well- 
being  is  such  as  to  be  unhurtful  to  the  envious*. 

But  amid  the  falling  esteem  which  the  new  ethics  intro- 
duced for  all  qualities  which  tended  to  emphasize  or  even 
pronounce  that  Ego,  which  had  hitherto  been  the  world's 
centre,  the  idea  that  was  in  Zeltis  declined.  At  once  in 
S.  Paul  its  workings  take  rank  with  those  of  enmity  and  con- 
tention ^  Jerome  still  notes  the  double  use,  the  noble  and 
the  base.  But  Cyprian  had  placed  it  wholly  on  the  level  of 
Phthonos.  He  begins  by  coupling  it  with  Livor  and  his  first 
words  run  thus,  '  To  be  jealous  {zelare)  of  the  good  you  see, 
'  and  to  envy  {invidere)  better  men  is  held  by  some  a  slight 
'and  trivial  crime"*.'  In  reality  it  is  one  of  the  deadliest  be- 
cause one  of  the  most  secret  of  our  temptations.     Its  origin, 

c.  4.  he  proceeds,  like  that  of  Impatience',  is  in  the  will  of  Satan. 

It  was  the  sight  of  the  Image  of  God  in  Man  which  gave  the 
occasion.  '  He,  throned  in  angel  majesty,  he  well-pleasing 
'and  dear  to  God,  he  was  foremost  to  perish  and  to  destroy... 
'  He  brake  out  into  Jealousy  {zelus)  through  malevolent  Envy 
^  {livor)... Wt  snatched  from  man  the  grace  of  his  imparted 
'  immortality,  and  himself  lost  all  that  he  once  had  been.' 

c.  5.  Man  had  caught  the  infection  ;  yet,  as  Cyprian  seems  to 

mean,  it  was  not  in  the  first-fallen  that  its  power  appeared. 
It  was  in  the  '  primal  hatreds  of  fresh  brotherhood ' ;  and 
down  from  Abel  to  the  delivery  of  the  Christ  '  through  envy,' 
Cyprian  touches  the  great  Jewish  instances. 

^  Plut.  de  Odio  et  Invidia,  vi.  ...roh  Cf.  iii.  9.  20. 

ImSXov  ^jt'  dper-g  vpoUvai  8oKov<n.  ^  ^X^P"''  ^/"S-     Gal.  v.  20,  on  which 

2   Tusc.  Disp.  iv.  8.  17  '  segritudinem  see  Bishop  Lightfoot. 

susceptam  propter  alterius  res  secundas  ''  Zelare   is    applied   indifferently   to 

quae  nihil    noceant  invidenti ;   nam   si  things   and   persons,  fratrem    (c.    ii), 

quis  doleat  ejus  rebus  secundis  a  quo  virtutem...felicttatem  (c.  7). 

ipse  laedatur,  non  recte  dicitur  invidere.'  ^  De  B.  Pat.  12,  19. 


IX.  2.     SECRET  OF  CONDUCT — ' DE  ZELO  ET  LIVORE!     453 

Then  come  the  evils  of  which,  in  the  Church  and  in  the 
world,  Jealousy  is  the  '  root';  and  here  there  is  again  a  trace  of 
classification.  They  are  (i)  hate  and  animosity,  (2)  avarice  c.  6. 
and  ambition,  (3)  irreligion,  as  overpowering  the  consider- 
ation of  the  Fear  of  God,  the  School  of  Christ  and  the  Day 
of  Judgment,  (4)  pride,  (5)  cruelty,  perfidy,  impatience, 
discord,  wrath,  (6)  Church  Divisions ^ 

Lightly  to  sketch  the  remainder  of  the  treatise: — It 
dwells  on  the  self- torment  of  envy,  on  its  physical  symptoms 2, 
the  difficulty  of  eradicating  it,  the  self-contradictions  of  the 
situations  it  creates',  its  contrariety  alike  to  the  Lowliness 
and  to  the  Light  of  Christ*,  and  to  the  whole  Imitation  of 
Him.  Yet  is  it  curable  by  one  master-thought  of  His  duly 
learnt.  He,  when  He  taught  that  least  is  greatest,  '  lopped 
'emulation  away,  removing  the  material^  cause  of  envy 
'  itself 

It  outlines  next  the  pattern  of  a  Christian  as  drawn  by 
our  Lord  and  Saint  Paul,  and  this  may  well  be  quoted  at 
length  on  account  of  the  perfect  ideal  which,  in  its  'reality  and 
its  healthfulnessV  Cyprian  set  before  himself  It  is  scarcely 
possible  that  a  closer  parallel  could   be   found  to  the  very 


1  It  would  seem  from  the  above  that  is  the  ruin  of  J>ax  and  caritas,  and  is 

Cyprian,  as  a  moralist,  uses  zelus  as  the  the  contrary  of  the  unanimis  et  viitis 

most  comprehensive  term,  livor  (unkind)  character, 

or  invidia  (mean)  as  its  immediate  de-  "  Vultus  minax .  .  pallor  in  facie,  in 

velopment,  and  amulatio  as  a  specific       labiis  tremor c.  8. 

activity.  The  following  are  illustrations.  ^  Perseverans   malum    est   hominem 

.Satan's  first  emotion  was  zelus :  then  in-  persequi  ad  Dei  gratiam  pertinentem, 

vidia  grassatur  on  earth,  and  man  livore  calamitas  sine   remedio   est   odisse   fe- 

periturus...diabolum  qui  zelat  imitatur  licem.     c.  9. 

(c.  4).     Ab  invidis  nunquam  livor  ex-  ■*  Is  the  rather  singular  phrase  Qu?e 

ponitur.../«z'/a'«^   in   majus  incendium  sunt  Christi gere  quia /«/jr ^/ a'zV^  C^rzj^wj 

livoris  ignibus  inardescit   (c.   7).     Zeli  ^^^  (c.  10)  thegerm  of  the  hymn  C/4r?V/^ 

tenebrse,  nubilum  livoris,  invidice  cseci-  qui  lux  es  et  dies  ? 

tas   (c.   II).     Zelus  is   the  opposite  of  *  Omnem  causam  et  materiam.   c.  10. 

7nagnanimiias,livoroibenigniias{c.  \^).  ®  Per  quem  (Cypr.)  ...Dominus  vera- 

Again,  (i  Cor.  iii.  i — 3)  zelus  is  found  cissima   intonuit  et   salubria  prsecepit. 

only  in  infants  in  Christ:  accordingly  it  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  iv.  viii.  (11). 


454     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIAN   FEELING  AND  ENERGY. 

character  which  Pontius  and  Augustine  from  acquaintance 
and  study  describe  as  his  own. 

c.  12.  'We  must  remember  by  what  name  Christ  calls  His  own 

people,  by  what  title  He  designates  His  own  flock.  Sheep  He 
names  them,  that  Christian  innocence  may  match  the  inno- 
cence of  sheep.  Lambs  He  calls  them,  that  their  simplicity  of 
mind  may  copy  the  lamb's  simple  nature.  Why  lurks  a  wolf 
under  sheep's  clothing  ?  Why  does  one  calling  himself  a 
Christian  falsely  defame  Christ's  flock  ?  To  take  upon  one 
Christ's  name  and  not  walk  by  Christ's  way, — what  is  this  but 
the  counterfeiting  of  a  Divine  name,  an  abandonment  of 
the  road  of  salvation  ?  Forasmuch  as  Himself  saith  in  His 
teaching,  "  he  cometh  unto  Life  who  keepeth  the  command- 
ments," and  "he  is  wise  that  heareth  His  words  and  doeth 
them,"  and  "  he  too  is  called  the  chief  doctor  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  who  teacheth  and  so  doeth," — shewing  that,  what 
the  preacher  preacheth  well  and  serviceably  shall  then  profit 
the  preacher,  if  what  is  delivered  by  his  lips  be  fulfilled  by 
deeds  following.  But  what  did  the  Lord  oftener  instil  into 
His  disciples .-'  what,  among  saving  warnings  and  heavenly 
precepts,  hath  He  bidden  us  more  observe  and  keep  than  that 
"with  the  same  love  wherewith  He  loved  His  disciples,  we 
should  also  love  one  another".'*  Now  how  doth  he  keep  either 
the  peace  of  the  Lord  or  charity,  who  through  the  coming  in 
of  jealousy  can  neither  be  a  peacemaker,  nor  be  in  charity '.-'' 
From  this  remonstrance  he  rises  still  in  his  delineation  of 
the  unearthly  spiritual  idea  of  the  Christian  Life,  of  the 
change  actually  wrought  by  the  New  Birth,  and  of  our  true 

c.  13.  Sonship  to  God.     He  weaves  together  the  Apostle's  sayings 

about  the  '  mortifying  of  the  deeds  of  the  flesh,'  the  '  being 
led  by  the  Spirit,'  and  being  'God's  sons':  he  argues  from 
them,  'If  we  have  uplifted  our  eyes  from  earth  to  heaven,  and 

c.  14.  '  raised  to  things  above  and  things  Divine  a  heart  full  of  God 

1  See  p.  449,  n.  3. 


IX.  2.     SECRET  OF  CONDUCT— 'Z?£  ZELO  ET  LIVORE:     455 

'  and  of  Christ,  let  us  be  doing  nothing  but  things  worthy  of 
'God  and  of  Christ'  Again  he  quotes  'Risen  with  Christ... 
'  minded  of  things  above... life  hid  with  Christ  in  God... Christ 
'our  life  one  day  to  appear,  and  we  with  Him,'  and  again  he 
argues,  '  We  then,  who  in  baptism  died  and  have  been  buried 
as  to  the  fleshly  sins  of  the  old  man,  who  by  heavenly 
regeneration  have  risen  with  Christ,  think  we  and  do  we  the 
things  that  are  Christ's  !  The  Apostle  tells  of  "  the  first  man 
of  the  earth  and  of  the  second  man  from  heaven,"  of  our 
"bearing  the  image  of  the  one  first,  and  afterwards  of  the 
second."  That  heavenly  image  we  shall  never  wear  unless  we 
present  Christ's  likeness  in  what  we  have  already  begun  to  he. 
This  it  is  to  have  changed  what  you  once  were  and  to  have 
begun  to  be  what  you  were  not ;  namely,  that  a  Divine  nativity 
shines  out  in  you,  that  a  deifying  education  responds  to  your 
Father  God,  that,  in  the  honour  and  praise  of  living,  the  God 
brightens  ifi  the  man... Unto  this  brightness  the  Lord  shapeth 
and  prepareth  us,  and  the  Son  of  God  enwindeth  this  likeness 
of  God  His  Father  into  us.'  Then  follow  his  favourite 
passages  in  which  the  Sonship  of  the  Christian  is  worked  out. 

Then  the  questions — How  to  adapt  in  ourselves  the  world's 
necessary  life  to  such  a  life  as  this  in  the  world  .'*  How  to  set 
about  it,  if  nothing  yet  has  been  effected  .'* 

Of  his  answers  to  these  we  have  already  spoken. 

So  in  these  two  Papers  Cyprian  lets  the  world  see  what 
he  held  to  be  at  once  the  Secret  of  Conduct,  the  true  way  of 
Church-Reform,  and  the  Church's  Work  for  the  Empire. 


CHAPTER   X. 

The  Persecution  of  Valerian. 
I.  I,    The  Edict  and  its  occasions. 

'We  stood  together  linked  in  a  band  of  love  and  peace 
against  heretical  wrong  and  Gentile  pressure.' 

This  is  Cyprian's  reminiscence  of  the  Council  a  year  after- 
wards. It  indicates  that  externally  there  had  been  difficulties 
in  its  way  which  have  left  no  other  trace  in  the  correspond- 
ence. From  indignant  words  of  Pontius  we  must  also  infer 
that  some  relics  of  the  plague  and  the  gallant  service  of  the 
Church  had  lasted  through  the  Council  up  to  the  moment 
of  Cyprian's  banishment \  But  it  comes  as  a  surprise  to  find 
Cyprian's  next  letter  written  from  exile  to  exiled  brothers  of 
the  Council. 

A  sudden  blow  has  fallen  upon  a  large  proportion  of  the 
Christian  population — a  renewal  of  persecution  under  which 
some  died  early,  the  heads  of  the  society  were  expelled,  and 
the  youth  of  neither  sex  was  spared. 

Dionysius  the  Great  was  already  in  exile  too,  sent  to 
Kephron  by  yEmilian  himself  ^  Just  when  Africa  was  the  least 
troubled  part  of  the  world,  the  success  of  the  Third  Council 
on  Baptism  seems  to  have  been  a  prelude  to  destruction. 

We  will  shortly  speak  of  the  confused  circumstances  which 
attended  the  outbreak. 

^  Pontii  Vit.  ii.  ii.     See    Note   on   Kephron   and   the 

*  The  Acta  Publica  are  quoted  very       Lands  of  Kolluthion,  p.  463. 
fully  by  Dionysius  ap.  Euseb.  H.  E.  vij. 


X.   I.    I.  MACRIANUS.  457 

The  new  persecuting  phase  of  Valerian's  life  was  ascribed 
to  the  influence  of  Macrian*.  These  were  two  remarkable  men. 
Valerian's  purity  and  dignity  of  character  had  endeared  him  to 
Decius.  At  Decius' fantastic  revival  of  the  censorship,  the  senate, 
even  if  primed  to  choose  him,  did  it  with  such  acclamations  as 
'Pattern  of  old  times,'  'Censor  all  his  life,'  'Censor  from  a  boy.' 
Trebellius  adds  that  he  would  have  been  elected  imperator 
by  universal  suffrage  if  such  voting  power  had  existed^  The 
Christian  population  honoured  him.  There  were  so  many  of 
themselves  safe  in  his  household,  that  they  affectionately 
called  it  'a  Church  of  God^'  In  spite  of  a  languid  tempera- 
ment he  had  been  always  admired  for  a  characteristic  insight 
in  selecting  men  for  great  posts*.  We  have  his  own  sketch 
of  Macrian  whom  he  chose  to  fill  the  closest  place  to  himself^ 

He  was  made  Rationalis,  Chancellor  of  the  Imperial  Ex- 
chequer®. Though  delicate  in  health,  of  luxurious  habits,  and 
perhaps  crippled  in  person^,  Macrian  was  a  man  of  the  highest 
force  of  character  and  fertility  of  resource,  of  distinguished 
soldiership  and  influence  with  the  armies  in  several  countries, 
among  them  Africa,  and  of  immense  wealth.  His  martial 
sons  were  patterns  of  discipline.  Like  other  agnostics  of 
his  time  he  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  mysteries  of  the 
Egyptian  'Magi,'  and  is  called  by  Dionysius  their  'Archisyna- 
gogus,'  which  must  at  least  mean  an  intimate  and  a  patron*. 
The  family  had  long  kept  up  a  kind  of  cultus  of  Alexander 

^  Zonaras  xii.  24  says  his  name  was  Rationibus  or  Rationalis. 

Macrinus  and  his  son's  Macrianus.    But  ^  a.va-Kr\pif  ri^  a-wfian,  Dionysius  ap. 

the  coins  with  the  old  bearded  head  Euseb.    vii.    10.     Zonaras  xii.    24  says 

have  MACRIANUS  as  well  as  those  with  ddrepov  ire-n-i/ipuTo  tQiv  (TKeKGiv  which  per- 

the  young  smooth  face.  haps  is  not  a  mere  version  of  Dionysius 

■■'  Trebell.  Pollio,  ed.  Peter,  Valeriani  as  he  has  independent  information  about 

duo,  c.  5.  the  family. 

'  Dionys.  ap.  Euseb.  vii.  10.  ®  Dionysius,  ap.  Euseb.  vii.  10,  says 

■*  Treb.  Poll.  Regilianus.    Nearly  all  he  did  not  recognise  any  Divine  Ttpbvoia. 

his  generals  became  emperors.  or  Kpi<ji%.     As  Dionysius  was  his  con- 

*  Treb.  Poll.  Macrianus.  temporary  and  lived  in  Egypt  he  may 

^  kirl   t€iv    KadoKov    \6yu)v    /Sao-tX^ws  have  known  what  he  was  saying ;  which 

•{Dion.     ap.    Euseb.    vii.    10),    i.e.    a  is   very  unlike  Gibbon's   version    'As 


458  THE   PERSECUTION   OF   VALERIAN. 

the  Great,  wearing  his  portrait  in  their  embroideries  and 
embossing  it  on  their  plate.  As  there  was  at  Alexandria  a 
ceremonial  cultus  of  Alexander,  this  perhaps  may  indicate 
a  traditional  connection  with  Egypt.  There  was  bitter  war 
between  the  '  Magi '  and  the  Christian  Exorcists  with  their 
anti-daemoniac  powers.  They  enforced  the  common  interpre- 
tation of  the  deepening  calamities  of  the  Empire,  and  Macrian 
prevailed  on  Valerian  to  be  initiated  in  their  mysteries\  His 
later  effect  on  the  reputation  of  Gallienus  himself  is  com- 
pared rather  stiltedly  by  Dionysius  to  that  of  a  cloud  hiding 
for  awhile  the  sun''. 

Valerian's  son  Gallienus,  or  the  conception  of  him,  was  a 
terrible  product  of  the  times.  A  polished  rhetorician,  and 
elegant  composer,  devoted  personally  to  Plotinus^  a  scientific 
gardener  withal,  and  a  portent  of  heartless  frivolity  and  sin. 
His  clever  wicked  face  on  the  medals*  is  in  utter  contrast  to 
his  father's  clean  massive  head.  Yet  he  had  early  received 
such  impressions,  strengthened  possibly  by  a  Christian  mar- 
riage^  that  the  language  of  Dionysius  about  him,  immediately 
on  the  disappearance  of  Macrian,  seems  more  than  gratitude 
for  his  instant  action  in  the  repeal  of  Valerian's  edict^. 

The  persecution  thus  begun  by  the  virtuous  and  stayed  by 


Macrian  was  an  enemy  to  the  Christians,  "^  Euseb.  vii.  23. 

they  charged  him  with  being  a  magi-  ^  eTi/xija-av  5i  t6v   UXut'wov  ixaXicra 

clan.'  K"-^  i(Ti<pdrj(jav  FaXi^i'is  re  6  avTOKpdrwp 

^  irpo€fJLevos  in  Dion.   £p.  ad  Herin-  koX  r;  rovjov  ywi^  ZaXwvlva.     Porphyr. 

amnion.,    ap.    Euseb.    vii.    23,    means  Vit.  Plot.  xii. 

no     other    betrayal     of    Valerian    by  ■•  See  plate  xlviii.  Grueber  and  Poole's 

Macrian  than   the   projecting  him   on  Roman  Medallions  in  British  Museum. 

the  evil  policy  which  led  to   his  fall.  '  Sup.  p.  280  n.  ,Orosius  (vii.  22)  at- 

The    mistake    arises    from   mixing   up  tributes   his  action   to  a  sense  of  the 

with  it  a  spurious  sentence  in  Trebel-  Divine  judgment  on  Valerian.    Accord- 

lius    '■ductii   cujusdam    sui  dtuis^   and  ing  to  Trebellius  he  was  gratified  by  the 

fancying  Macrian  to  be  meant.      His  event. 

other  expression  ijirh  toijtov  irpoaxOds  ®  Euseb.  vii.  23  gives  not  Gallienus' 

(ap.  Euseb.  vii.  lo)  has  the  same  sense;  original  edict  but  the  rescript  applying 

Syncellus  quoting  it  has  iIiTr^  deoO  irpo-  it  to  Egypt.   'Oaiwrepos  Kal  iptXodfwrepos, 

ax^fis.     Ed.  Dind.  p.  719.  in  the  light  of  the  rest  of  the  letter  to 


X.   I.    I.  THE  'UPRISING  OF   NATIONS.'  459 

the  infamous  einperor  fulfilled  for  Dionysius,  by  help  of  the 
key  furnished  in  its  exact  apocalyptic  duration  of  three  and  a 
half  years*,  the  vision  of  the  Dragon's  wrath  against  the 
Woman.  To  Optatus  afterwards  it  seemed  to  be  in  connection 
so  close  with  Decius'  persecution  that  together  they  made  up 
the  terrific  'Lion'  Vision  of  DanieP. 

It  is  not  common  to  find  so  total  a  revulsion  from  a  toler- 
ant policy  except  towards  the  end  of  a  career,  or  unless  some 
strong  personal  influences  concur  with  some  public  difficulty. 
We  see  both  elements  at  work  when  without  warning  or 
inquiry  edict  and  rescript  fell  upon  the  Church. 

The  calamities  which  Macrian  explained  in  his  own  way 
were  indeed  appalling.  In  the  first  triennium  of  Valerian 
(254 — 257)  were  felt  the  first  death-pangs  of  the  Empire. 

This  was  '  The  Uprising  of  Nations','  as  Zonaras  says 
truly, — raiders  no  more,  but  Peoples  in  irresistible  advance. 
The  confederate  Franks  who  had  been  first  met  some  years 
before  by  Aurelian  at  Mayence,  and  from  there  to  the  sea  held 
all  north  of  the  Rhine,  had  streamed  across  Gaul,  heeding  no 
defeats,  and  were  entering  Spain.  And  now  the  whole  vast 
moat  of  the  Empire  formed  by  Rhine  and  Danube,  with 
Hadrian's  wall  and  foss  between  them,  then  continued  by  the 
Black  Sea  and  the  Don,  was  overleapt  and  overswum  at  every 
point.  The  '  All-men  '  and  the  '  March-men  '  poured  count- 
lessly  in,  the  former  soon   to   reach   Milan  thirty  thousand'* 

Hermamtnon,  goes  beyond  official  style.  death  of  Macrian.      It  is  most  natural 

It  is  possible  that  Dionysius  knew  no-  to     suppose     that     Dionysius     counts 

thing  of  the  personal  life.     It  remains,  from  the  '  first  edict '  until  Gallienus' 

I   believe,    problematical   how  far  the  edict  of  toleration,  middle  of  257   to 

scandalous  chronicles  of  the  emperors  end    of    ■260.     Besides,    being   himself 

represent    more    than    brutal    popular  banished  to  Kephron  a.  D. -257,  he  might 

imaginings.  fairly   count    the    persecution    to   have 

1  Dr  Peters,  p.  574,  thinks  Dionysius  begun  by  that  time, 
is  speaking  only  of  the  East  and  that  ^  Optat.  iii.  8. 

there   was   no  persecution   there   until  *  Zonaras   xii.    23    ...eOvwv    ovv   /cat 

the    'second    edict'    (?the   rescript)    in  eiri  rovrov  yevofiivris  ^jraz'ao-rdcrews 

A.D.  258,  and  infers  that  therefore  the  *  Zonar.  xii.  24. 

Eastern    persecution    lasted    until   the 


460  THE  PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

strong  before  any  check  came.   The  Goths  imperilled  Thessa- 

lonica^;  a  general  defence  of  Greece  had  to  be  organized; 

Athens  was  refortified,  the  Isthmus  walled  across. 

To  Generals  who  mostly  became  Emperors  in  their  day 

Gallienus  committed  Italy  itself,  Illyricum,  and  Thrace.   These 

were  infiltrated  with  tribes  which  left  '  nothing  unravaged  '  as 

they  passed*, — Borani,  Gotthi,   Carpi,  Orugduni.     He   went 

himself  to  the  protection  of  the  Celtic  tribes  and  found   it 

expedient  to  marry  a  Teutonic  chieftain's  daughter',  and  to 

surrender  part  of  Pannonia,  making  the  first  Roman  cession* 

to  Barbarism. 

A.D.  257.  About  the  middle  of  257  Valerian  marched  to  the  East; 

1010.  Coss.  for  the  same  enterprising  otherwise  unknown  Borani,  whose 

]^^'    p     sole  contribution  to  civilisation  was  the  overthrow  of  the  past, 

Licinius      came  from   the  Dniester  to  Byzantium   in   flat  boats  which 

Valerianus  they  there  exchanged  for  Bosporan  vessels,  and  scaring  all  the 

Germ         settlers    of  Pontus  into  the   midlands  and  highlands   struck 

Max.  mi.  straight  for  the  rich  citv  of  Pityus.     With  all  the  resources  of 

Imp.  ^  '  ^ 

Caesar  P.     the  great  fort  and  harbour  the  baffling  of  them  for  a  single 

(iallienus    year  was  a  great  feat  on  the  part  of  Successianus.     Next  year 

p.  F.  A.     they  were  to  take  it,  and  to  take  the  populous  Trapezus,  to  their 

Max.  Dae.  own  amazement,  and  they  were  followed  up  by  tribe  after  tribe 
Max.  III.  ..... 

bent  only  on  the  annihilation  of 'all  beauty  and  all  greatness. 

From  the  East  the  Persians  or  Parthians  were  not  like 
the  Northerners  driven  on  from  behind,  but  with  a  spontaneous 
lust  of  rapine  they  swept  Mesopotamia  and  Syria  for  captives 
and  spoil. 

Africa  for  all  its  Berber  raids  was  the  safest  portion  of  the 
Roman  world. 


^  Zos.   i.   29,   Zonar.   xii.    2^,   Sync.  *  Gallus  in  252  had  promised  annual 

(Dindorf)  p.  715.     Whether  the  fortifi-  subsidies  to  the  Goths  (i-T^o-xeTo,  Zosim. 

cation  of  Thermopylse  was  a  fact  seems  i.    24.;   exaggerated   into   airivSeTai.   by 

to  me  questionable.  Zonar.  xii.  21),  but  in  238  the  Goths 

-  ixipoi  ov5kv  Tfi%  'IraX/as^TTjj'IXXupi-  had  already  been  receiving  annual  sH- 

Soi  KaToKiirbvTes  ab-TjuTov ...,Zo%\m..  i.  31.  pcndia.     See  T.  Hodgkin,  Italy  and  her 

*  .Sup.  p.  300,  n.  7.  Invaders,  (1892)  vol.  I.  pp.  46  sqq. 


X.   I.    I.  CHRISTIANS   AGAINST   UNITY.  461 

The  whole  Empire  was  girt  as  with  an  ever-contracting  ring 
of  fire.  No  worse  time  of  misery  has  ever  hemmed  in  civilisa- 
tion. The  barbarian  might  at  any  moment  be  anywhere  and 
the  plague  was  everywhere.  Macrian  then  was  not  the  one 
persecutor.     He  was  the  voice  and  spirit  of  the  Empire. 

The  essence  of  the  Empire  was  unity.  One  army,  one  law, 
one  senate.  The  adoration  of  the  majesty  of  the  Emperor  with 
which  no  national  or  local  worship  interfered,  was  a  necessity 
which  grew  more  vital  as  the  danger  from  without  grew 
universal.  The  most  tolerant  of  emperors  could  not  deny 
that  in  the  midst  of  all  there  was  an  ever-multiplying  power, 
which  defied  the  central  unity.  Another  unity  was  growing 
up  and  growing  everywhere  which,  as  it  would  not  adore 
Caesar,  could  not,  men  thought,  but  make  common  cause 
with  the  violators  from  without.  The  very  usurpers  were 
less  traitorous  because  their  aim  was  at  least  to  perpetuate  in 
themselves  the  imperial  unity.  Whenever  any  stir  directed 
imperial  or  popular  attention  to  the  Christians,  there  was 
visible  in  them  an  anti-Roman  and  therefore  anti-human 
unity  which  was  believed  to  compact  itself  by  the  darkest 
and  most  compromising  bonds. 

In  every  district  it  had  its  local  chief  about  whom  ad- 
herents rallied.  Everywhere,  even  when  they  obediently 
abandoned  their  social  evening  meetings^  even  when  the  old 
theory  of  an  'illicit  religion'  could  not  be  pressed  consistently 
any  longer,  still  everywhere  unexplained  '  conventus '  met  ; 
any  individual  who  obeyed  the  magistrate  by  sacrificing  to 
the  Majesty  of  Augustus  evidently  ceased  to  be  a  member  of 
their  corporation  ;  and  everywhere  the  cemeteries  had  a  weird 
fascination  for  them  ;  especially  if  there  lay  in  them  agents 
who  had  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law. 

1  Pliit.  et  Traj.  Epp.  96  '  Soliti  stato  quo   secundum    mandata  tua  hetaerias 

die    ante    lucem    convenirc.rursusque  esse  vetueram.'     See  W.   M.   Ramsay, 

coeundi  ad  capiendum  cibum...quod  ip-  Church  in  Roman  Empire,  ch.  x. 
sum  facere  desiisse  post  edictum  meum, 


462  THE   PERSECUTION   OF   VALERIAN. 

It  was  June  257  when  Valerian  set  out  for  the  East,  a 
propitious  moment  for  an  able  and  popular  minister  of  Mac- 
rian's  views  political  and  spiritual.  By  a  despatch  to  the 
senate  Valerian  committed  to  him  the  military  dispositions  of 
the  State\  In  his  hands  was  placed  an  Edict  which  empha- 
sized the  common  law  of  the  Empire,  by  enforcing  these 
crucial  particulars.  The  Christians  were  to  be  parted  from 
their  chiefs,  to  give  up  their  meetings  and  never  to  visit  the 
cemeteries. 

Its  operation  was  at  first  intended  to  be  bloodless-.  It 
was  thought  that  the  removal  of  their  influential  men  from 
among  them  would  leave  the  people  to  fall  back  into  their 
old-fatherly  natural  ways^  Particulars  were  sent  to  the 
governors  as  to  who  should  be  separated.  Dionysius,  who  was 
brought  before  the  Praefect  of  Egypt*,  observed  that  Tamilian 
did  not  at  once  order  him  to  hold  no  meetings^,  but  in  his 
simplicity  desired  him  to  give  up  being  a  Christian — as  a 
ready  way  of  ending  the  Christianity  of  the  masses®.  The 
Proconsular  Acts  record  that  when  the  Praefect  had  dwelt 
without    effect    on    the    unusual    leniency   with    which    the 

^  '  Ego  bellum  Persicum  gerens  Ma-  proconsul  or  procurator,  because  Egypt 

criano  totam  rem  p.  credidi  quidem  a  was    incorporated    abnormally   in    the 

parte  militari,'  Treb.  Pollio,  Trig.  Tyr.  Empire,  and  was  administered  by  the 

I  iff.     The  appointment  is  made  from  personal  staff  of  Augustus  and  his  suc- 

the  scene  of  war,  not  before  Valerian's  cessors. 

departure.     It  does  not  seem  to  have  '  AipLiXiavbs  de  ovk  etTri  fioi  Trporjyov- 

weakened  Gallienus.  /xivw  [xr\  cvvaye.     Euseb.  vii.  ii. 

2  Lactantius says  Valerian 'shed  much  ®  With  him  were  convened  (accord- 
blood  in  a  short  time '  {De  tnort.  Per-  ing  to  the  Acta  Publico)  the  presbyter 
secut.  v.).  But  in  the  first  years  257,  8  Maximus,  who  succeeded  him  in  the 
it  seems  doubtful  whether  any  blood  see,  Faustus  a  martyr  in  extreme  old 
was  shed.  age  under   Diocletian,   Eusebius  after- 

'  It  is  quite  touching  to  see  in  the  wards  Bishop  of  Laodicea,  Chseremon, 

Acta  of  the  early  trials  how  the  magis-  three  Deacons  who  had  survived  their 

trates  always  think  the  pantheon  gods  terrific  service  in  the  plague  (sup.  p.  244) 

are  the  natural  ones  for  all  men.  and    Marcellus,    probably   one   of    the 

*  8i4ir(i)v  TT)!'  7]y€ftoviav,  Euseb.  H.E.  Romans  whom  he  mentions  (Euseb. /.r.). 

vii.  II,  the  viceroy  in  whose  hand  was  the  These  seem  also  to  have  accompanied 

whole  civil  and  military  power.    It  was  his  exile, 
^nly  in  title  that  he  was  lower  than 


X.    I.    I.  THE  EDICT.      THE  CCEMETERIES.  463 

Emperors  were  ready  to  condone  his  past  if  he  would  conform, 
he  gave  him  a  final  injunction  to  convene  no  assemblies,  and 
to  enter  no  'so-called  coemeteries'.'  Meantime  without  a  day's 
respite  for  his  malady  he  was  to  convey'  himself  to  Kephron — 
a  wretched  place,  whose  very  name  was  new  to  him,  on  the 
edge  of  the  Desert.  There  his  people  were  at  first  chased  and 
pelted,  but  out  of  the  unpromising  elements  around  them,  with 
the  help  of  a  confluence  of  visitors  from  Egypt,  they  formed  a 
fresh  mission.  He  was  then  brought  nearer  Alexandria,  to  be 
within  reach  if  wanted  again.  This  was  to  '  The  Lands  of  Kol- 
luthion,'  a  disreputable  place  on  the  high  road,  worried  with 
caravans  and  freebooters — on  which  account  Dionysius  calls  it 
'  more  Libyan  '  than  Kephronl  But  he  was  also  more  acces- 
sible to  friends  from  the  city,  who  came  and  stayed  with  him. 
They  held  regular  '  Synagogues '  there,  as  in  other  outlying 
posts,  and  so  opened  yet  another  mission.  These  details  and 
contrasts  fill  up  for  us  what  happened  about  the  same  time  to 
Cyprian*,  though  there  is  no  mention  of  the  month  in  which 
Dionysius  was  sentenced. 

On  Kephron  and  The  Lands  of  Kolluthion. 

These  places,  unnamed  by  geographers,  may  be  too  insignificant  to 
be  ever  identified,  but  points  about  them  which  can  be  made  out  from 
Eusebius  {H.  E.  vii.  11)  are  of  interest  as  touching  life.  Kephron  was 
outside  Mareotes,  which  in  Roman  times  was  a  nome  (Bockh,  C.  I.  G. 
III.  p.  316),  and  its  chief  place,  Marea  {Meri),  on  the  west  of  the  lake. 
Kephron  was  eij  to.  fxeprj  rqs  At/3v»jy.  A  poor  village,  so  far  from  Alexandria 
that  people  who  wanted  to  follow  Dionysius  {ddfX<piv  enofifvav)  had  to  take 

^  Euseb.  /.c:  ovSafius  di  ^^^ffrat  oUre  exile  at  the  appointed  time.     Digesta, 

Vfuv   cure   dWots   riaiv   rj   crwodovi   Trot-  48,  19,  4. 

eiffOai,    ■^   et's    to.    KoKoij/xeva   KoifjLrjrrjpia  ^  Ets  ret  KoWvdiuvoi. 

elffUvai.      In   this   phrase   he   possibly  ■*  It  is  curious  that  Eusebius  vii.  11 

objects  to  the  old-fashioned  word,  as  assigns  to  this  Valerian  persecution  the 

much  as  to  the  fact  that  (as  he  knew)  rough  transportation  and  rescue  of  Dio- 

the  cemeteries  were  to  them  much  else.  nysius   which   he   has   himself   quoted 

-  On  the  penalty  Deportatio  see  infr.  rightly    under    the    Decian    visitation, 

note   on   'Cyprian's    treatment.'     The  vi.  40. 
penalty   was   death   for   not   going   to 


464  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  VALERIAN. 

up  their  abode  there  (...»roXX^  ovvtneBijfirja-ev  rjfuv  tKK\T]<ria).  It  was 
convenient  for  other  parts  of  Egypt.  '  7%^  Lands,  or  Paris,  of  Kolluthion^ 
Ta  KoXXovd/wfor,  were  within  the  Mareotes.  It  was  no  place  for  residents  ; 
'  rougher  and  more  Libyan '  than  Kephron  ;  which  refers  less  to  mileage 
than  to  wildness.  For  it  was  nearer  Alexandria  {...yurvM  \uilK\ov  tjj  jrokfi, 
&c.),  and  a  frequented  station  (probably  a  night  station)  odotrropovvTcov 
fvo)(Xi](r«n  on  a  high  road,  so  that  the  Praefect  could  readily  re-arrest 
him,  and  his  visitors  could  come  easily  and  stay  the  night  (dvajravcrotrrai). 
He  compares  it  to  npoaoTfia,  which  were  often  miles  from  the  head-place 
(Valesius,  no/e  on  Euseb.  l.c.).  It  was  yvaptficorepos  koI  (rvmjdeffTfpos  than 
Kephron  to  the  Exile.  Now  in  the  Decian  persecution  he  had  been 
exiled  to  a  *  dismal,  dirty '  place  (f'p^/iof  /cat  avxii^pos)  three  miles  east  of 
Paraetonium,  and,  though  Eusebius  confusedly  quotes  his  letter  about  that 
exile  as  if  it  referred  to  this  one,  yet  this  fact  suggests  that  the  '  Lands  of 
Kolluthion '  may  lie  somewhere  on  the  same  '  road '  from  Alexandria  to 
Cyrene.     Nicephorus,  H.  E.  vi.  10,  has  muddled  Eusebius  more. 

Koluthus,  Kolluthus,  Kephron  were  Egyptian  personal  names  (Giorgi, 
Fragm.  Copticuin  ex  actis  S.  Coluthi,  1781  ;  de  Miraculis  S.  Coluthi, 
1793.     Epiphan.  Hcer.  69). 

It  is  curious  that  a  pyramid  is  called  from  Kephren,  while  a  paw  of 
the  Sphinx  bears  the  inscription  To  KoXXu^i'tui/or  irpoaKvvTjpxi  (Letronne, 
Inscr.  Gr.  et  L.  de  VEgypte,  ll.  p.  478,  D.  xxxix.).  That  neighbourhood 
seems  too  far  off. 


2.     Treattnent  of  Cyprian. 

Aug.  30.  At  Carthage  Cyprian  was  sent  for  on  the  30th  of  August 

(the  day  before  the  accession  of  Xystus  at  Rome)  to  the 
Proconsul's  private  office  or  Secretarium — a  room  of  audience 
which  for  less  popular  trials  now  generally  superseded  the  noisy 
forum  and  crowded  basilica.  What  was  afterwards  secured 
as  a  right  to  distinguished  provincials,  that  they  should  be 
seated,  during  their  trial,  in  the  secretarium  of  the  judged  was 

1  Cod.  Justin.  3,  24,  3.     Of  all  the  Secretarium,    while     the     Proconsular 

Christian    trials    up   till    Cyprian's    in  Acts  say  that  it  was 'statute  forensi  con- 

Ruinart's   Acta   Sincera  in    which   the  ventu '  and  'Proconsul... sedens  pro  tri- 

scene  of  the  trial  is  named,  it  is  always  bunali.'  Montanus  and  his  companions, 

the  forum,  the  tribunal,  or  before  the  a  few  months  after  Cyprian,  are  taken  to 

multitude.      Only  in   the  case  of  the  andfroin  the  Forum  till  the 'Prases 'de- 

Scillitan  martyrs,  a  later  Christian  ac-  cides  to  hear  them  in  the  Secretarium. 

count  says  that  the  trial  was  held  in  the  (VMva3.x\.,PassioSS.Montani,Lucii...y'\) 


X.  I.  2.  CYPRIAN   AND   PROCONSUL.  465 

no  doubt  conceded  much  earlier  by  usage.  Cyprian  was  at 
any  rate  heard  in  this  less  public  way, — though  probably  with 
open  doors.  An  undoubtedly  genuine  document  of  the  Pro- 
consular Acts  reports  the  following  spirited  and  mutually 
somewhat  sarcastic  conversation  which  was  held  there ^ 

The  Proconsul  Aspasius  Paternus  opened  thus : — 

The  most  sacred  Emperors  Valerian  and  Gallien  have  done 
me  the  honour  to  send  me  a  Despatch  in  which  they  have 
directed  that  persons  not  following  the  Roman  religion  must 
conform''  to  the  Roman  ceremonies,  I  have  in  consequence 
made  enquiries  as  to  how  you  call  yourself ^  What  answer 
have  you  to  give  me  ? 

Cyprian  the  Bishop  said  : 

I  am  a  Christian,  and  a  Bishop.  I  know  no  other  Gods 
but  the  one  and  true  God  who  made  heaven  and  earth,  the 
sea,  and  all  that  is  in  them.  He  is  the  God  whom  we  Chris- 
tians wholly  serve.  Him  we  supplicate  night  and  day  for 
ourselves  and  for  all  men  and  for  the  safety  of  the  Emperors 
themselves. 

Paternus.     In  this  purpose  then  you  persevere? 

Cyprian.  That  a  good  purpose,  formed  in  the  knowledge 
of  God,  should  be  altered  is  not  possible. 

Paternus  {sneering  at  Cyprian's  last  word).  Well,  will  it 
be  '  possible '  for  you,  in  accordance  with  the  directions^  of 
Valerian  and  Gallien,  to  take  your  departure  as  an  exile  to 
the  city  of  Curubis  .-' 

Cyprian  did  not  condescend  to  meet  the  sneer  with  more 
than  one  word — I  depart. 

But  Paternus  wished  to  know  something  else. — They  have 
done  me  the  honour  of  writing  to  me  not  about  bishops  only, 

1  Pontius  does  not  report  this,  obser-       answer. 

ving  'sunt  acta  quje  referant,'  Vit.  11.  •»  PrcEceptum.    Act.  Proc.  i  C.  '...im- 

2  Recognoscere :  prefix  re  does  not  at  mutari  non  potest.  P.  poteris  ergo 
this  stage  of  language  imply  return  to,  secundum praeceptum...'  pracipere a.nd. 
as  the  Oxford  translator  has  it.  />r^(r</)/Mw  the  constant  term.    SoPassio 

*  De  nomine  tuo ;   explained  by  the       SS. Pionii et sodoriim ejus,\n.{K\xaa.x\). 

B.  30 


466  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  VALERIAN. 

but  about  presbyters  too.  I  would  therefore  know  from  you 
who  are  the  presbyters  that  reside  in  this  city. 

The  old  jurist  had  his  turn.  Cyprian.  You  have  by  your 
own  laws  made  good  serviceable  regulations  against  the  very 
existence^  of  informers.  Accordingly  it  is  not  in  my  power 
to  discover  and  delate  them.  However  they  will  be  found  in 
their  several  cities. 

Patermis.     My  question  refers  to  this  day  and  this  place. 

Cyprian.  Inasmuch  as  our  discipline  forbids  any  to  offer 
themselves  spontaneously,  and  this  would  also  go  counter  to 
your  legislation,  they  are  unable  to  offer  themselves ;  but  if 
you  search  for  them,  they  are  to  be  found. 

Patermis.  I  shall  have  them  found — and  he  added  '  They 
'have  directed  further  that  no  assemblies  are  to  be  held,  and 
'  that  they  are  not  to  enter  cemeteries.  So  if  any  one  fails  to 
'  observe  this  salutary  direction  he  will  be  capitally  punished.' 

Cyprian  the  Bishop  replied,  Do  as  you  are  directed. 

Thereupon  Paternus  sentenced  the  Blessed  Bishop  Cyprian 
to  be  'deported '  into  exile^ 

This  was  a  sentence  which  carried  with  it  loss  of  citizen- 
ship^    Provincial  Governors  could  not  inflict  it  without  special 

^    Trajan   in   his   Rescript    to   Pliny  attached  to  Justin  Martyr's  Apologia: 

{Plin.et  Traj.  Epp.  97)  allows  Christians  Otto,  vol.  I.  pp.  244,  -246.     See  Euseb. 

to  be  delated  (though  not  by  anonymous  iv.    13,    who   says    Melito   quoted   the 

accusation)  and  punished.     But  Pliny  former,  but  ? 

/'awd'^^r.  34,  35  gives  an  account  of  Tra-  An   instance   of  the   punishment   of 

jan's  vengeance  on  dclatores  in  general.  a  delator  occurs  in  the  martyrdom  of 

Hadrian  ad  Minuc.  Fundan.  orders  Apollonius  A.D.  188  under  Commodus. 

</t7rt/z  to  be  punished  if  guilty,  but  calum-  Ruinart,  de  S.  Apoll.  Martyre,  iv. 
nious   delatores   more    severely.     Otto,  ^  Jussit   in   exilium    deportari.    Act. 

yustini  mart,  opera,    vol.   I.  p.    192 —  Proc.  2. 
Euseb.  iv.  9.  *  Ulpian  ap.  Digesta,  48,  19,  2;  48, 

M.  Antoninus  Pius,  Ep.  ad  Commune  22,  6.     I  hesitate  to  understand  Ulpian 

Asia  (fictitious,  possibly  preserving  a  in    48,    22,    14    '  Deportatio    et    civi- 

fact),  orders  the  delator  to  be  punished  tatem    et  bona   adimit '    to  mean  that 

and  the  delatus  to  be  pardoned.    M.  Au-  Deportatio  in  every  case  involved  for- 

relius  Ep.  ad  Senatum  (also  spurious)  feiture   of  goods  ipso  facto.     For  not 

similarly  and  more  strongly.     Both  are  only  does  Marcian,  Dig.  48,  22,  15,  say 


X.  I.  2.  CYPRIAN   AT  CURUBIS.  467 

direction  from  the  Emperor.  Paternus  quoted  the  'praecept' 
of  Valerian  and  Gallien  for  assigning  him  to  Curubis,  just 
as  we  saw  that  yEmilian  did  for  sending  Dionysius  to 
Kephron*.  Deportation  meant  properly  to  an  island.  But, 
as  in  the  case  of  Relegation,  isolated  places  might  be  named 
as  well  as  islands,  and  in  Egypt  an  oasis,  for  the  scene  of 
exile^ 

Cyprian  was  allowed  time  for  his  arrangements  and  on  Colonia 
September    14'   reached   Curubis,  an   out-of-the-way,    clean,  cumbis. 
pleasant,  well-walled  little  coast  town,  about  fifty  miles  from  p°^[°^^^ 
Carthage*,  in  a  lonely,  not  savage  district,  at  the  back  of  the  Libera 
great  eastward  promontory  of  the  Gulf  of  Tunis.     It  crowned  piin. 
a  low  hill,  sunny  and  green,  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  walk  from    '^'^  °' 
the  shore'.    A  torrent  beside  it  scooped  out  a  little  harbour, 
since  silted  up®.     In  front  glowed  the  island  of  Kossyra,  set 
in    illimitable  blue.      Its  amenities   were   completed    by   an 
aqueduct,  which  still  strides  across  the  torrent  bed. 

The  isolation  however  was  great^     The  town  was  some 
twenty  miles  from  Clypea  to  its  north  and  twelve  from  Neapolis 

'  libertatem  retinet,  et  jure  civili  caret,  t^s  /ceXei/crews  tCiv  (re^acrrCov  tjuQv,  Euseb. 

gentium veroutitur.  Itaqueemit,  vendit,  vii.  11. 

locat,  conducit,  permutat,  fcenus  exercet  -  Sed  et    in   eas    partes   provincise, 

aliaque  similia,'  but  in  the  two  former  quae    sunt    desertiores,    scio    prassides 

passages  Ulpian  himself  does  not  say  solitos  relegare.     Digesta,  48,  22,  7. 
as    much,    but    speaks    of   citizenship  ^  Eo  die  quo  in  exilii  loco  mansimus, 

only;    and    I    do    not    see    how   that  Pont.  Vit.  c.  12.     eo  die  post  exactum 

could    be    reconciled    with    Cyprian's  annum,  id.  13.    die  octava  decima  Kal. 

condition,  which  is  an  excellent  case.  Oct.,  Act.  Proc.  3  and  6,  i.e.  \\th  Sep. 

He  while  in 'r/,?/fr/'a/?o' largely  relieved  In  the  Roman  Kalendar,  the  feast  of 

other  sufferers  (^Epp.  77,  78,  79),  and  by  Cyprian  is  now  Sept.  i6th.  See  p.  620. 
order   he  returned  to  his  own  Horti,  *  One    does    not    know   where    Dr 

which  had  therefore  not  been  confiscated  Peters    thinks    it   was  ;    '  er   hatte   zur 

during  his  year  of  absence.  Acta  proc.  ^\  Reise  von  Karthago  bis   hieher  unge- 

Pont.  Vit.  15.     In  his  dream  also,  Pont.  fahr  vierzehn  Tage  gebraucht, '  p.  577. 

Vit.  13,  he  asks  leave  'res  meas  legi-  Two    very    short    days    at    the    most 

tima  ordinatione  disponere.'    Cyprian's  sufficed.     Cf.  infr.  p.  479,  note  3. 
owm   expression   in   Ep.   76,  which   is  ®  Tissot,  vol.  II.  p.  134. 

likely   to   be  as  technically  precise  as  '°  Sir  Grenville  Temple,  vol.  Ii.  p.  13. 

the  Acta,  is  'relegatum.'  ^  The  Bishops,  Ep.  77.  2,  call  it  'in 

1  TovTov  ytp  Tov  rbtrov  ^|eXe|d/*i;i'  Ik  deserto  loco'  for  all  its  pleasantness. 

30—2 


468  THE   PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

to  the  south.  It  had  with  them  followed  the  lead  of  Hadrume- 
tum,  and  made  terms  with  the  Roman  invaders  at  once,  and 
been  dignified  therefore  as  a  Julian  Colony.  People  of  the 
Freedman  class  rose  easily  to  its  chief  magistracy^,  and  have 
left  tokens  of  their  loyalty  in  its  improvements. 

But  beyond  such  loneliness  as  this,  and  of  course  entire 
uncertainty  as  to  the  future,  Cyprian  had  no  hardship  to  com- 
plain of.  Some  of  his  household  accompanied  him,  and  his 
devoted  grandiloquent  deacon  Pontius,  who  tells  us  through 
many  affected  lines  that,  though  as  Christians  they  would 
have  equally  enjoyed  some  place  like  Kephron,  yet  he  found 
the  shore  not  too  rocky  nor  too  lonely  nor  too  pathless,  the 
woods  green  and  the  waters  wholesome,  as  sunny  and  as  ade- 
quate a  retreat  as  he  could  desire  even  for  so  great  a  man's 
privacy,  while  constant  visitors  rejoiced  to  supply  every  need-. 

He  cannot  nevertheless  forbear  from  remarking  that 
although  to  themselves  exile  was  no  felt  penalty  yet  the 
guilt  was  extreme^  of  those  who  inflicted  it  as  a  severe 
punishment  on  the  innocent. 

Among  these  odd  observations  we  catch  flashes  so  like 
Cyprian's  language  that  we  may  count  them  as  fragments  of 
his  conversation.  To  the  heathen  'their  country  and  their 
'  uniting  name  are  exceeding  dear — we  recoil  even  from  parents 
'  if  their  counsel  is  against  the  Lord.'  '  To  the  Christian  all 
this  world  is  one  house.'  'The  sincere  servant  of  God  is  a 
stranger  in  his  own  city.'  Maxims  which,  misunderstood, 
vv^ent  far  to  explain  why  Christians  were  fancied  to  be  bad 
patriots.  It  was  not  possible  yet  for  them  to  be  at  home  in  a 
pagan  polity  as  religious  as  their  own.  But  Pontius  himself 
dwells  excellently  on   Cyprian's  sense   of  civic  obligation^ 


^  Corp.  Inscrr.  Lat.  vol.  vili.  i.  pp.  oppidi  totum  ex  saxo  quadrate.    Corp. 

127  ff.     It  seems  to  have  had  one  so-  Inscrr.  Lat.  viil.  i.  977. 

called 'Duovir.'  ^  Ultimum  crimen  et  pessimum  nefas. 

^  Loci gratiam,  &c.,  Pont.  Vit.  c.  xi ;  Pont.  Vit.  ir. 

apricumetcompetentem,  12  &c.  Murum  ■*  Pont.  Vit.  c.  ir  'illis  patria  nimis 


X.  I.  2.  CYPRIAN'S  DREAM.  469 

His  love  of  conversation  was  strong  as  ever.     He  wished  he 
might  die  talking — talking  of  God  \ 

One  conversation  Pontius  gives  word  for  word.  And  a 
singular  story  it  is — the  authentic  narrative  of  one  of  those 
visions  which  he  himself  regarded,  and  not  unnaturally,  with 
deep  reverence. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  on  the  first  night  on  which  he 
slept  in  Curubis  he  dreamt  about  the  Proconsul. 

'  The  day  we  stopped  at  the  place  of  banishment,  before  I 
went  fast  asleep  there  stood  before  me  a  young  man  of 
immensely  superhuman  stature.  He  led  me  as  if  to  the  Prae- 
torium'^,  and  I  thought  I  was  brought  up  to  the  Tribunal  where 
sate  the  Proconsul.  As  soon  as  he  looked  up  at  me,  he  at  once 
began  to  note  down  on  his  tablet  some  sentence  of  which  I 
knew  nothing,  for  he  had  not  asked  me  anything  in  the  usual 
way  of  enquiry.  But  the  young  man  who  stood  behind  him  read 
with  great  attention  whatever  it  was  that  was  entered  there. 
And  as  he  could  not  speak  with  me  from  where  he  was,  he  set 
forth  by  significant  gestures  what  was  going  on  in  the  way  of 
writing  upon  that  said  tablet.  He  opened  out  his  hand  quite  flat 
like  a  broadsword  blade',  and  imitated  the  stroke  given  in  an 
ordinary  execution.  He  expressed  what  he  meant  me  to  un- 
derstand as  well  as  with  the  clearest  speech.     I  understood  it 

cara  et  commune  nomen  est  [cum  paren-  to  meet  the  plague  dwells  most  markedly 

tibus] :  nos  et  parentes  ipsos,  si  contra  on  Cyprian's  zeal  'pro  civitatis  salute' 

Dominum   suaserint,  abhorremus.'    H.  and  for  the  good  of  'respublica'  and 

The  reading  is  interesting.     Some  dull  '  patria.' 

African,  not  catching  the  construction  of  ^  ...cupido  sermonis,  Pont.  Vii.  14. 

the  former  clause  and  thinking  that  'et  '^  The  site  of  the  Praetorium  at  Car- 

parentes  ipsos' required  a  previous  men-  thage  is  fairly  to  be  identified  on  the 

tion  of  parents,  inserted  ctim  parentes  eastern  slope  of  the  Byrsa.    See  Tissot, 

after  est,  in  bold  native  syntax,  which  vol.  I.  pp.  649  ff. 

is  the  reading  of  all  the  Mss.     A  duller  ^  Spata,  spatha  (Pont.    Vit.  12),  the 

than  he  amended  it  into  aim  parentibus.  broad   sword    used    in   executions — so 

Cf.  De  montibus  Sina  et  Sion,  c.  8 'cum  called   from  its   shape  like  the  aird,dr) 

imperatorem  et  regem  suum,' c.  9 'tabu-  of    the    loom.     Thence   all    Romance 

lam  cum  nomen  regis  Judceorum.'  words   spada,  espada,    epee,    and   our 

Pontius  in  recalling  his  organization  spade. 


470  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  VALERIAN. 

would  be  sentence  of  death.  I  began  to  ask  and  sue  with- 
out stopping,  that  I  might  have  even  one  day's  reprieve 
allowed  me,  till  I  could  arrange  my  affairs  with  due  method. 
And  after  I  had  frequently  renewed  my  entreaties,  he  began 
again  to  make  some  note  or  other  on  his  tablet.  However 
from  the  calmness  of  his  expression  I  gathered  that  my 
Judge's  mind  was  moved  as  feeling  mine  a  reasonable 
approach.  And  besides,  that  same  youth  who  awhile  back 
had  given  me  the  token  of  my  passion ^  by  gesture  rather  than 
language,  now  nodding  again  and  again  on  the  sly,  hasted  to 
convey  to  me,  by  twisting  his  fingers  together  one  behind 
another,  that  the  reprieve  for  the  morrow  which  I  asked  for 
was  conceded.  I  must  say  that  though  no  sentence  had  been 
read  I  recovered  my  senses  with  a  very  glad  heart  of  rejoicing 
over  the  reprieve  I  received.  And  yet  through  the  dread  of 
uncertainty  as  to  the  interpretation  I  trembled  so,  that  the 
remains  of  the  terror  made  my  heart  still  throb  with  absolute 
quivering.' 

His  candour  about  the  fright  it  gave  him  shows  a  trust- 
worthy witness  to  a  really  remarkable  dream,  for  t/iat  very 
day  year  it  came  to  pass.  '  The  Morrow '  became  a  house- 
hold word  with  them — meaning  the  day  when  he  should 
suffer — borrowed  from  the  dream ^  For  the  present  his 
waking  was  to  a  day  of  very  stern  suffering  and  business 
cares. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Cyprian's  rank  procured  him 
special  exemptions,  while  it  is  also  certain  that  as  yet  there 
was  no  general  persecution,  but  rather  a  Roman  confidence  in 
moral  decapitation ;  a  belief  that  the  removal  of  the  Bishops 
and  the  making  examples  of  them  would  be  the  extinction 
of  Christian  life.  The  'artistic  cruelty'  is  commented  on 
with  which  two  years  later,  even  before  they  had  to  suffer, 
the   Clergy    were   shut   up   while    various    temptations    and 

*  Passionis,  Pont.  Vit.  12.  crastinus';   15  'sed  crastinus  dies  ille... 

-  Pont.    Vit.    13    'proximabat    dies       vere  crastinus.' 


X.  I.  3. 


THE   NUMIDIAN   BISHOP-CONFESSORS. 


471 


terrors  were  applied  to  the  layfolk*.  Cyprian  must  have  felt 
much  sorrow — even  if  it  was  an  exultant  sorrow — over  the 
miseries  and  courage  of  brethren  upon  whom  he  had  drawn 
so  much  attention  both  by  his  Councils  and  by  his  constant 
magnifying  of  their  office. 


3.     Nii-midian  Bishop-Confessors. 

Whether  others  were  exiled  at  the  same  time,  or  what 
happened  to  the  Presbyters  for  whom  Paternus  asked,  we 
have  no  record ^  If  it  was  difficult  to  be  severe  when  the 
Bishop  of  Carthage  had  fared  so  differently  at  his  hands 
from  even  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  under  the  Praefect  of 
Egypt,  the  lenity  was  made  up  for  to  the  extreme  when  the 
Province  after  the  Proconsul's  death  fell  under  a  Deputy. 
And  the  President  of  Numidia  had  no  such  scruples^ 

Nine*  of  the  thirty-one  Numidian  bishops  who  had  sat  in 


^  Ruinart,  Passio  SS.  Jacobi  et  Ma- 
riani...,  x.  This  document,  written  by 
the  friend  who  received  these  martyrs 
with  others  in  his  villa  near  Cirta,  where 
their  commemorative  inscription  is  still 
on  the  well-known  rock,  and  the  Passion 
of  Montanus  and  Lucius  and  other 
Clergy  of  Carthage,  partly  written  by 
themselves  just  after  Cyprian's  death, 
are  full  of  points  of  greatest  interest. 
Ruinart,  Passio  SS.  Montani,  Lucii  et 
all.  Mm.  Afr. 

'  As  Theogenes  of  Hippo  was 
martyred,  as  well  as  Successus  of  Abbir 
germaniciana  and  Paulus  of  Obba,  after 
Cyprian  (cp.  Aug.  Serm.  273,  and 
Passio  Monlani  xii.  with  Sentt.  Epp. 
14,  i6,  47  and  Epp.  76,  80),  they  had 
most  likely  been  exiled  previously. 
These  identifications  may  not  amount 
to  certainty. 

'  Passio  Montani  ii.,  iii.,  vi. 

*  '  Nemesiano,  Felici,   Lucio,  alteri 


Felici,  Litteo,  Pollano,  Victori,  laderi. 
Dative,'  &c.,  Ep.  76,  cf.  Epp.  -j-j, 
78,  79.  These  nine  confessor  bishops 
were,  I  think,  probably  all  from  Numi- 
dian sees.  Nemesian  of  Thubunae, 
Litteus  of  Gemellse,  Polianus  of  Mileou, 
lader  of  Midili  and  Dativus  of  Vada 
certainly  were.  Besides  these,  two  were 
named  Felix,  one  Lucius  and  one  Victor. 
Of  seven  named  Felix  in  the  Council  two 
had  Numidian  sees,  Bagai  and  Bamac- 
cora.  Two  Lucii  attended  it,  and  one 
of  these  had  the  Numidian  see  of  Castra 
Galbae.  There  were  two  Victors,  one 
of  whom  was  bishop  of  Octavu(s),  and 
there  was  a  see  of  that  name  (or  Octava) 
in  Numidia,  where  was  the  massacre  by 
Circumcellions  (Optatus  iii.  c.  4), 
as  well  as  an  Octavum  or  Octavium 
in  the  Byzacene.  Mark  also  that  Felix 
Jader  and  Polianus  in  Ep.  79  send 
greeting  to  Eutychianus  who  was  a 
Numidian,    Ep.   70.    The   writers    of 


472 


THE   PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 


the  Council  are  seen  a  little  later  at  chained  labour  in  the 
mines.  Their  treatment  had  been  severe  and  ignominious. 
Some  had  died  under  it^,  some  were  in  prison.  They  had 
been  beaten  with  cudgels,  which  gives  the  estimate  of  their 
rank  as  below  the  middle  class  of  society". 

Others  were  brought  to  Cirta  for  execution  two  years 
later  after  having  been  a  long  while  in  banishment'. 

Those  to  whom  with  presbyters  and  others  Cyprian  now 
writes  toiled  in  the  dark  at  piles  of  ore,  choked  with  the 
smoke*  of  smelting  furnaces,  half-fed,  half-clothed,  half  their 


Ep.  11,  Nemesian,  Dativus,  Felix  and 
Victor,  also  speak  as  having  been  tried 
before  the  Prajses,  i.e.  of  Numidia, 
whereas  Cyprian  had  been  before  the 
Proconsul  of  Africa. 

The  use  of  Prsses  here  illustrates 
what  Mommsen  calls  '  Nominum  in- 
constantia.'  The  title  Prases  of  Nu- 
midia was  used  in  this  third  century 
under  Septimius  Severus  (or  Caracalla), 
C  I.  L.  vol.  X.  i.  6569,  and  also  under 
Alexander  Severus,  vol.  viii.  i.  2753, 
8328  (cf.  Index,  vol.  viii.  ii.  p.  1067). 
Previously  Numidia  had  been  under  a 
Legatus  Augttsti  of  consular  or  highest 
praetorian  rank.  From  Gordian  to  Callus 
it  was  governed  only  by  a  procurator,  a 
knight.  Again  in  our  time  under  Va- 
lerian and  Gallien  the  old  status  was 
restored  ;  we  have  viii.  i.  2615  Leg. 
Augg.  pr.  pr.;  and  2634  Leg.  Auggg. 
pr.  pr.  in  A.D.  253  (according  to  date 
in  Mommsen's  Index,  if  this  does  not 
rather  belong  to  the  time  of  Septimius 
Severus).  Prases  was  again  in  use 
under  Constantine,  with  consular  rank, 
VIII.  i.  2729.  See  Vlii.  i.  pp.  xvi, 
xviii.  It  is  then  interesting  to  find 
presses  here  used  as  the  habitual  name, 
though  not  appearing  officially  on  the 
monuments  of  this  time. 

In  the  Province  itself  the  Pro- 
curator (referred  to  in  the  text)  who 


administered  it  for  a  time  after  the 
death  of  Galerius  Maximus  is  called 
Prases  in  the  contemporary  Passio  SS. 
Montarii,  Lucii...,\\.,  iii.,  vi.  Passio  SS. 
yacobi,  Mariani...,  iii.  (Ruinart). 

^  Ep.  76.  I  '  martyrii  sui  consum- 
matione.' 

-  Fustibus  csesi,  Ep.  76.  2. — Non 
omnes  fustibus  csedi  solent,  sed  hi 
dumtaxat  qui  liberi  sunt  et  quidem  te- 
nuiores  homines  :  honestiores  vero  fus- 
tibus non  subjiciuntur.../)?^.  48.  19.  28. 
Flagella  used  for  slaves  only,  together 
with  pcEna  vinculorum,  Dig.  48.  19. 
ID.  As  Cyprian  speaks  of  traversaria 
simply  as  making  the  feet  cunctabimdi, 
these  are  perhaps  some  kind  of  move- 
able stocks.  Ducange  in  his  19^^  Dis- 
sertation on  JoinvilWs  Life  of  S.  Louis 
(Glossarium,  [Niort.  1887,  vol.  X.  p. 
6i\)  describes  it  as  a  beam  through 
holes  in  which  the  feet  were  drawn 
wide  apart  in  the  torture  of  the  cippus. 

^  Secundinus  probably  of  Cedias 
Sentt.  Epp.  1 1  and  Agapius  'jamdudum 
in  exsih'a  submotos...ab  exsilio  perduce- 
bantur.'  Passio  SS.  yacobi,  Mariani... 
iii. 

■*  Ep.  11.  3.  Cyprian  seems  to  have 
imagined  them  as  gold  and  silver  mines, 
Ep.  76.  2,  but  none  such  are  traced  in 
that  region.  Copper  there  may  have 
been.     See  Tissot,  vol.  l.  p.  258. 


X,  I.  3,  THE   NUMIDIAN   BISHOP-CONFESSORS.  473 

hair  dipt  off,  sleeping  on  the  ground.  Dragged  too  from  the 
bright  towns  elsewhere  described,  the  cleanly  Romans  sadly- 
missed  their  baths*. 

They  were  somewhat  more  than  kept  alive  by  the  liber- 
ality of  Cyprian,  in  his  banishment,  and  of  his  lay-friend 
Quirinus  for  whom  he  compiled  and  classified  the  Testimonia. 

The  sub-deacon  Herennianus*,  with  three  acolytes,  Lucan, 
Maximus  and  Amantius,  conveyed  his  letter  and  distributed 
the  help.  They  brought  back  answers  from  three  separated 
groups  of  confessors.  One,  the  seventy-eighth,  is  dated  from 
the  mine  of  Sigus  about  five-and-twenty  miles  south-south- 
east of  Cirta,  in  Numidia.  The  place  is  well  known  though 
it  was  never  important,  but  the  mines  have  not  yet  been 
rediscovered'. 

The  lessons  of  the  former  persecution  seem  not  to  have 
been  lost.  There  is  no  lament  as  yet  over  lapsed  brethren, 
though  here  at  least  the  persecution  was  generals 

Parts  of  Cyprian's  letter  to  them  are  less  happy  than  any- 
thing he  has  written  since  the  high-flown  language  addressed 
to  the  Decian  martyrs.  Humour  seems  to  fail  him  when  he 
finds  himself  amid  practical  pathos.  It  surely  was  grim  com- 
fort in  the  stocks  to  have  their  suffering  feet  apostrophized, 
to  be  bidden  forget  the  labour  of  extracting  silver  or  gold 
ores  because  they  were  themselves  vessels  of  silver  and  gold, 
and  so  were  at  home  in  a  gold  mine.  But  once  free  of  such 
fashionable  quips,  he  is  himself  in  his  contrasts  of  '  captive 
body  and  kingly  heart,'  the  'body  of  this  humiliation  and  the 

^  A  characteristic  touch,  Ep.  76.  2.  monuments    which    probably    are    not 

^  Ep.    11.   3.     The  same  no   doubt  very  ancient.     Ann.  Arch,  de  Constan- 

through   whom    a    year    later    Lucian  tine,  1863,  p.  21. 

supplies     the     Carthaginian    prisoners  If  metallum  Siguensem  is  right  which 

with  food,  Pass.  Montan.  ix.  Hartel  gives  from  a  right  valuation  of 

3  Respublica  Siguitanorum,  hod.  Zi-  MSS.  we  have  an  African  form, 
ganieh;    Playfair,   p.    113,  near  Bordj  *  Ep.  76.6.     Later  on  some  fell,  re- 
ben  Zekri.     C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.   p.   552.  pented  and  were  treated  on  Cyprian's 
Several  roads  met  there,  it  has  yielded  lines.     Passio  Montani  xiv. 
many  inscriptions,  and  has  megalithic 


474  THE  PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

body  of  His  brightness,'  the  impossibility  of  binding  the  free 
mind,  or  spoiling  the  shrines  of  the  Spirit.  And  nothing  is 
nobler  than  the  breadth  with  which  he  bids  them  not  be 
moved  at  their  inability  to  '  offer  and  celebrate  the  sacrifices 
of  God,'  seeing  that  in  their  own  persons  they  actually  are 
'  His  holy  immaculate  victims.' 

Their  grateful  answers  are  in  a  simple  strain  except  when 
they  echo  his.  They  feel  his  intense  sympathy,  they  value 
his  exposition  of  '  hidden  sacraments,'  they  tell  him  how  they 
had  been  fortified  for  their  own  hearing  before  the  Prseses, 
by  reading  the  Acta  of  his  trial  and  behaviour  before  the 
Proconsul*.  At  present  they  know  him  to  be  '  in  a  desert 
place  in  exileV 


4.    'Of  Encouragement  to  Confessorship.' 

One  occupation  of  the  forced  leisure  of  Curubis,  I  think, 
we  may  trace  with  fair  certainty.  The  Book  commonly 
called  Of  ENCOURAGEMENT  TO  CONFESSORSHIP^  but  ori- 
ginally To  FORTUNATUS,  has  been  already  considered  in 
its  place  in  Cyprian's  philosophy  of  life*.  As  to  its  form  it 
will  be  remembered  that  he  calls  it  '  no  treatise  but  material 
for  treating.'  It  is  to  meet  the  wants  of  teachers.  It  is  a 
Manual  to  sustain  faith  and  fortitude  in  persecution — as  in 
placid  times  there  are  Manuals  of  Communion.  He  calls 
it  a  Compenditim  of  CapiUtla,  passages  arranged  under  Tititli, 
These  '  Titles  '  are  most  systematic,  but  the  handling  of  them 
is  not  uniform  nor  compact.  At  first  the  texts  are  neatly 
and  briefly  woven  together  by  a  clever  thread  of  connection 
and   comment.     But  the   comments  grow  longer  and   more 

1  Ep.  Il-  I,  2.  Pammackium  c.   19,  but  in  the  older 

2  Ep.  77-2.  editions  is  attributed  to  Hilary  by  an 

3  De    Exhortatione    Martyrii  odd  traceable  blunder, 
like  Tertullian's  De  exhortatione  casti-  ^  Sup.  c.  vi.  iii.  p.  264. 
tatis.    It  is  quoted  by  Jerome,  Ep.  48  ad 


X.  I.  4,  5-  *I)E  EXHORTATIONE  MARTYRII.'  475 

diffuse  and  pass  into  argument  and  rhetoric,  until  on  the 
Maccabees,  we  have  almost  a  sermon  with  a  prefatory  note 
on  the  number  ' Seven' 

It  contains  no  single  expression  which  implies  that  the 
storm  of  persecution  had  burst.  But  the  atmosphere  through- 
out is  charged  with  the  feeling  that  persecution  is  imminent 
and  certain  \  The  false  certificates  of  having  sacrificed,  libelli, 
are  spoken  of  in  the  way  of  warning,  without  mention  of 
people  having  accepted  or  refused  them^  These  conditions 
together  seem  to  fit  only  the  time  after  the  first  edict  of 
Valerian  when,  after  a  long  peace,  the  persecution  which  had 
begun  with  the  bishops,  could  not  be  expected  to  confine 
itself  to  them  ;  when  there  was  need  of  a  vigorous  and  sub- 
stantial monition,  but  no  opportunity  for  a  very  finished  one. 
Again,  this  is  the  last-mentioned  subject  of  Cyprian's  pen  in 
the  quasi-catalogue  of  Pontius^ 

Accordingly,  we  attribute  this  '  Compendium '  to  the 
respite  of  Curubis  with  its  daily  increasing  danger. 


5,     Rovie — Accession  of  Xystus  and  his  immunity. 

On  August  the  2nd  Stephanus  had  died  at  Rome,  after  the  Aug.  ?, 
Edict  was  out;  a  circumstance  which  fell  in  with  the  later    '  '   "' 
notion   that  he  was  martyred*.    On  the  31st,  the  day  after  Aug.  31. 
Cyprian's  trial  at  Carthage,  he  was  succeeded  by  XYSTUS^ 

'  Ad  Fortiinat .  Pmf.  c.  \.  The  Church  -  Libelli,  ad  For  tun.  c.  ii. 

is  an  army  in  camp  before  battle.     Cf.  ^  Pontii  Vit.  c.  6. 

c.  I  incumbit,  c.  2  praparare.  ■*  The  notion  has  indeed  come  down 

The  Ci/Z'd'w^^r/awMw,  which  has  been  so  late  as  to  possess  Mgr.  Freppel,  pp. 

edrted    in   juxtaposition    with    the    ad  473,  477,  and  Dr  Peters,  p.  503. 

Forhinatum,  was  written  under  raging  '  Aug.  31.     In  Acta  Stephani  (Bol- 

persecution  (ad  Devietr.  12,  13).    The  land)  the  date  given  is  viiii.  Kal.  Sept., 

'recent  lesson'  of  defeat  {ad  D.  c.  17)  Aug.  24.     But  this  is  inconsistent  with 

fits  the  catastrophe  of  Decius,  but  not  the  more  valuable  Liberian  Catalogue 

of  Valerian  whose  overthrow  was  fol-  which    (corrected   by   the    omission   of 

lowed  by  the  cessation  of  persecution.  the  '  two  years '   arising  perhaps  from 


4/6  THE  PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

The  traditional  image  of  Xystus  in  hymn,  prayer  and 
memorial  is  a  distinct  one.  An  Athenian,  a  philosopher,  a 
great  Teacher*.  It  is  acutely  and  learnedly  maintained  by 
the  eminent  scholar  Dr  Adolph  Harnack  that  we  have  a 
hitherto  unrecognised  example  of  that  teaching  in  the  name- 
less Epistle  TO  NOVATIAN.  The  theory  if  just  would  throw 
such  light  and  colour  upon  his  figure,  although  not  upon  the 
immediate  crisis  we  are  in,  that  it  is  necessary  to  reserve 
the  question  for  separate  discussion  I  In  his  eleven  months 
Dionysius  wrote  Xystus  three  epistles  on  Baptism ;  one 
representing  the  sentiments  and  decisions  of  the  Eastern 
Bishops  and  the  unreasonable  conduct  of  Stephanus  towards 
them  ;  again,  asking  his  counseP  rather  earnestly  in  a  case  of 
heretical  baptism  which  he  himself  had  not  thought  well  to 
repeat ;  and  lastly  giving  him  a  long  dissertation  on  the 
whole  question*. 

Xystus  no  doubt  followed  Stephen's  opinion,  but  as 
Pontius,  not  without  a  thrust  at  the  dead  lion,  calls  him  'a. 
good  and  pacific  Priest^'  it  is  clear  that  he  did  not  hold 
Stephen's  language  about  Cyprian. 

How  it  befel  that  all  the  time  of  the  removal  under 
the  Edict  of  other  Bishops   into  banishment  or  degrading 


'Xystus   ii.')    gives   xi /«    vi  ^  for   his  tery  of  Praetextatus  represented  him  in 

episcopate.     There  is  no  doubt  of  the  his  chair  with  a  hearer  at  his  feet,  and 

day  of  his  death,   Aug.  6,    258.     See  in  the  chair  he  died  (infra  p.  490). 

Lightfoot,    Apostolic  Fathers,  P.    I.  S.  -  Ad  Novatianum,  Hartel,  vol.   III. 

Clement  of  Rome,  vol.   I.  p.    290  (ed.  p.  52.     See  Appendix  below,  p.  557. 

1890).  ^  crvfi^ovX'^. 

^  Thus  the  Sacramentanum  Leonia-  *  His  second,  fifth  and  sixth  Baptis- 

WMwviii.  id.  Aug.  iii.  (Muratori,  t?/.  cit.  mal  letters,  Euseb.  H.  E.  vii.  5,  9. 

I.39o)'quiadeandemgloriampromeren-  *  Pont.    Vit.    14.      Dr   Peters,    with 

dam  doctrinae  suae  filios  incitabat  et  quos  ultramontane  penetration,  thinks  the  ex- 

erudiebat  hortatu  praeveniebat  exemplo.'  pression  must  be  due  to  Xystus'  having 

'  Ambrosian '    Hymn    (H.   A.    Daniel,  informally   reconciled   Cyprian   to   the 

Thesaurus  Hymnolog.  1855,  '•  "°'  XCI.)  Church,  an  event  which  must  have  oc- 

'  Ortus  Athenis  et  altus  Philosophorum  curred,  though  our  documents  are  all  so 

studiis  Mutavit  artem  artium  Prseceptor  defective  as  to  omit  it,  or  else  Cyprian 

apostolicus.'     The  graffito  in  the  ceme-  could  never  have  been  canonised. 


X.  I.  5.     ACCESSION  OF  XYSTUS  AND  HIS  IMMUNITY.       477 

confinement  Xystus  was  unmolested  at  Rome,  is  more  than 
we  know.  Concealment  was  then  a  part  of  church  life.  Can 
the  magistracy  have  lain  so  long  under  the  impression  that, 
through  terror  of  the  law  whose  appearance  coincided  so 
nearly  with  Stephen's  death,  the  See  remained  unfilled  as  it 
had  done  for  a  longer  interval  under  similar  circumstances 
after  Fabian's  death  ?  It  is  diflficult  to  think  that  Gallienus 
had  suflficient  influence  in  Macrian's  presence  to  keep  the 
edict  so  long  suspended.  Yet  when  he  afterwards  repealed 
Valerian's  laws  we  observe  that  he  took  credit  for  some 
previous  protection  of  the  Church \  However  that  may  be 
Xystus  was  untouched,  and  even  at  Rome  not  inactive,  as  we 
shall  see,  until  a  new  order  was  fulminated. 


II.  I.    The  Rescript. 

Fragments  of  two  very  different  imperial  documents  be- 
longing to  the  year  258  are  in  our  hands.  One  was  drawn  at 
Byzantium,  the  other  is  generally,  it  may  be  groundlessly, 
said  to  have  been  issued  on  the  same  occasion. 

The  year  before  Valerian  had  promised  to  make  Aurelian 
and  Ulpius  Crinitus  consuls  on  May  22,  in  the  room  of  himself 
and  Gallien  his  son.     At  a  brilliant  review  which  he  held  at  a.d.  258. 
Byzantium  he  did  make  Aurelian  consul,  addressing  him  in  ^-u-c. 
the  great  Thermae  in  a  fulsome  yet  deserved  panegyric,  and  CossMem- 

c       •  1  •         •         1  r    ,  ■  ,      ,      mius  Tus- 

conterrmg   on   him    m    the   presence    of  his  troops  and  the  cus...Pom- 
'  Palatine  Staffs'  decorations  quadrupled  and  quintupled,  to  Bassus. 
match  the  allowances  previously  assigned  him  to  enable  him 
as  a  poor  man  to  support  the  consular  burdens.     For  Ulpius 

^  I   have   pointed  this  out,  p.   304,  43.     So  also  Td|ts  eKK\T](naa-TLKT^.]     An 

n-  4-  intermediate  sense  of  the  word  ojfficitttn 

2  Officium  Palatinum,   Fl.  Vopiscus  occurs  in  Pliny  Epp.  i.  5,  11,  'me  con- 

.(4«r^//a«Mj-c.  13.  [Organized  by  Hadrian,  venit  in  prastoris  officio,'  i.e. '  office,  busi- 

Aurel.  Vict.  Epit.  xiv.     Ap.  Scrr.  Byzz.  ness  room.'     Cf.  Act.  Maximiliani  M. 

Td^is  /3ao-t\iKij,  Theophan.  Contin.  iii.  c.  i.  (Ruinart). 


478  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  VALERIAN. 

Crinitus,  the  richest  man  of  his  times,  he  did  nothing  that 
day  except  make  him  adopt  that  great  soldier  of  fortune, 
then  fresh  from  his  Gothic  victories,  as  his  son. 

There  is  no  subsequent  interval  in  which  Valerian  could 
have  kept  great  state  there,  either  when  he  was  resettling 
Antioch  or  while  he  was  dragging  about  upon  the  chance  of 
lighting  on  '  Scythians.'  But  in  fact  Memmius  Tuscus  was 
with  him  there  as  Consul  Ordinarius',  and  as  he  entered  on 
his  office  on  the  first  of  January  that  year,  there  is  no  doubt 
about  the  year'.  If  Valerian  kept  to  the  day  he  had  named 
our  First  Fragment  is  the  'Court  Circular'  of  May  22.  Vo- 
piscus  extracted  it  from  the  Act  Book  of  Acholius,  Master 
of  Presentations',  or  Lord  Chamberlain,  to  the  Emperor. 

It  was  an  extraordinary  levee  of  great  captains,  who 
might  scarcely  have  been  expected  to  leave  their  tremendous 
charges  even  to  receive  Valerian.  Upon  his  right  sat  the 
Praefect  of  the  Praetorium,  who  as  Principal  '  Secretary  of 
State'  or  medium  of  communication,  and  second  person  in 
the  Empire  ever  since  Titus  held  the  office  under  his  father*, 
was  always  with  the  Court.  This  was  now  Baebius  Macer. 
Next  to  him  sat  the  Praeses  of  the  East,  Q.  Ancarius. 

On  the  left  sat  in  the  russet  tunics  of  their  office^  the 
great  Wardens  of  the  Marches,  the  Duces  or  special  com- 
manders of  the  Limites  or  fortified  frontiers.  There  was  the 
Dux  of  the  Scythian  frontier,  Avulnius  Saturninus ;  of  the 
frontier  of  the  East,  lulius  Trypho ;  of  the  Illyrian  and 
Thracian  frontier,  Ulpius  Crinitus  himself;  and  Fulvius  Boius 
of  the   Rhaetian :    above    Trypho   however   sat    the    Praefect 

^  As  distinct  from  the  honorary  con-  consularis.     Neither  of  them  appears  in 

suls.  consular  lists,  and  Valerian  and  Gallien 

^  Fl.  Vopiscus,  Aurelianus,  c.  ii.  did  not  resign.     However  the  custom 

*  Magister     admissionum,      Vopisc.  already  existed   of  creating   consulares 

Aureliantis,  c.  12.  who  had  not  been  consuls. 

Other    indications   seem   to  put  the  *  Aurel.  Victor,  de  CcEsar.  9. 

day  later,  and  Ulpius  Crinitus  speaks  of  '?  tunicas    ducales    russas,     Vopisc. 

himself  as  having  already  become  what  Aurel.  c.   13. 
Aurelian  was  now  to  be  made,  a   Vir 


X.  II.  I.  THE  RESCRIPT.  479 

Designate  of  Egypt,  Murrentius  Mauricius,  and  next  below 
him  Maecius  Brundisinus,  Praefect  of  the  Corn-Supply  {An- 
nond)  of  the  East. 

It  has  been  usually  concluded  that  this  Court  at  Byzan- 
tium had  something  to  do  with  altering  the  character  and 
increasing  the  severity  of  the  persecution*.  Why,  is  hard  to 
see.  This  was  not  business  which  concerned  a  great  Review. 
The  Emperor's  own  Rescript  could  equally  well  emanate  at 
any  point  of  his  marches  or  halts.  It  was  not  till  a  week 
after  the  6th  of  August  that  Cyprian,  who  had  people  at 
Rome  on  the  watch  for  information,  was  able  to  learn  that  a 
new  and  cruel  Rescript  had  arrived  there  and  had  instantly 
been  put  in  force^  Certainly  then  if  the  Byzantine  pageant 
was  held  on  May  22,  we  cannot  suppose  that  a  decree 
then  made  did  not  reach  Rome  until  well  on  in  August^ 
Whether  the  date  is  good  or  not  for  the  former  event, 
the  earliest  date  which  we  could  allow  for  the  dispatch  of 
the  Rescript  by  the  Emperor  would  be  the  first  half  of 
July. 

The  process  would  be  this.  Something  happens  at  Rome, 
or  the  idea  is  somehow  motived  there  that  the  Edict  is  not 
acting  strongly  enough  to  reform  the  Christians.  A  request 
is  moved  in  the  Senate  and  sent  to  the  Emperor,  wherever  he 


^  Pearson,  ^««a/.  Cv/r.  A.  D.  258,  iv.  Brundisium  and  the  Via  Lavicana  as 

2  He  obtained  the  information  while  1222  or  1233  Roman  miles  (by  Via  Prse- 

the  document  itself  was  yet  only  on  its  nestina  1240  or  1251),  according  to  the 

way  to  Kincd.,  quas  litleras  cotidie  spera-  Itinerarium  Antonini,  that  gives  17  or 

mtis  venire,  Ep.  80.  i.  18  days' journey  at  70  miles  a  day,  which 

*  R.  L.  Friedlaender,  Darstellungen  is  not  excessive  for  the  transmission  of 

aus  der  Sittengeschkhte  Roms,  Leipz.  posts  as  compared  with  travelling.     A 

1881,  vol.  II.,  pp.  17, 1 99, gives  instances  rescript  which  reached  Rome  on  Aug.  4 

of  extraordinary  travelling  at  the  rate  need  not  have  left  Byzantium  before  July 

of  TOO  miles  or  more  a  day  for  six  and  18  or  19. 

eight  days.     Travellers  who  put  up  for  Despatches  were  carried  by  the  le- 

the  nights  travelled  from  30  to  36  miles  gionary     spectdatores,     '  hemerodromos 

a  day.     If  we  count  the  distance  from  vocant    Grseci    ingens    die    uno   cursu 

Byzantium  to  Rome  by  Dyrrhachium,  emetientes  spatium,'  Livy  xxxi.  24. 


480  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  VALERIAN. 

may  be,  that  he  would  interpret,  comment  on,  or,  as  he  may- 
think  fit,  assert  the  principle  of  the  Edict.  It  was  thus  that 
Pliny  asked  Trajan  to  express  his  mind  as  to  how  the  common 
law  should  be  worked.  Valerian  writes  back  to  the  Senate. 
And  his  said  Rescript,  our  'Second  Fragment,'  called  also 
an  Oration S  as  representing  the  oration  which  the  Emperor, 
if  present,  would  have  addressed  to  the  Senate,  runs  as 
follows  : 

'That  Bishops  and  Presbyters  and  Deacons  be  inconti- 
nently punished  with  death^  Senators  however  and  men  of 
high  rank  and  knights  of  Rome  forfeit  their  dignity':  be, 
further,  divested  of  their  goods ;  and  if  after  being  deprived 
of  their  means*  they  persist  in  being  Christians,  be  also  capi- 
tally punished ;  that  matrons*  be  deprived  of  their  goods  and 
relegated  into  exile  ;  and  that  all  Caesarians  who  have  either 
confessed  before  or  confess  now,  suffer  confiscation,  be  put  in 
bonds,  entered  in  the  slave-lists^  and  sent  to  work  on  Caesar's 
estates'.' 

Whoever  inspired  these  novel  orders  meant  them  to  be 
final.  Rank  or  sex  were  no  longer  to  protect  any  one.  It  is 
plain  that  the  higher  ranks  were  felt  to  be  honeycombed  by 
Christianity,  while  the  special  provision  about  the  Caesarians®, 


^  Ep.    80.    I.      Cf.    Dig.    24,     I,    3  still   means   wives   not    in    the    power 

Ulpianus,    'Haec   ratio  et  oratione  im-  (wa«M5)  of  the  husband.     Set  Diet.  Gk. 

peratoris  nostri  Antonini  Augusti  electa  and  Rom.  Antt.  s.v.  'matrimonium.' 

est :  nam  ita  ait,'  &c.  ^  Descripti,    sic   lege,    not    inscripti 

2  Animadvertantur  =  capite   damnen-  'branded,'  Mart.  viii.  75,  9. 

tur.     '  Habere  gladii  potestatem  ad  ani-  ''  It  was  a  punishment  even  for  slaves 

madvertendum  in  facinorosos  homines,'  to  be  removed  from  the  familia  urbana 

ap.  Dirksen,  Manuale,  s.v.  and  sent  into  the  rustica. 

^  £'^r^ow  already 'a  dignity.'     Sena-  ^  Csesariani  were  not '/'(2/<w/3^aw/^« ' 

tors  had  long  been  styled  'Clarissimi.'  (as  Schwarze   p.    115,   Peters  p.   574, 

Later  on  the  rank  of  'Perfectissimatus'  Freppel  '■  officiers  de  sa  tnaison^  p.  485, 

was   inserted    between    'Clarissimatus'  say),  but  inferior  ofiicials  of  the  Fiscus 

and  'Egregiatus.'  under  the  Rationalis  or  Procurator  Cse- 

«  Ademptis facultatibus.  saris.     In   Cod.  Justin.    10,  i,   5  they 

5  Matronce  as  used  in  law  apparently  are  employed  in  distraints.     They  had 


CEMETEKIES    ON  THE  il 


Londo: 


E. 


N    &  ARDEATINE  WAYS. 


BOVrLLAS. 


Stanford's  G^g'r£stab^ 


&^  C°L'f 


X.  II.  I.  THE   RESCRIPT.  48 1 

or  lower  officials  of  the  Revenue,  illustrates  the  kind  of  em- 
ployments into  which,  as  free  from  idolatrous  taint,  the 
Christians  crowded.  Cyprian  notes  the  inclusion  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  clergy*. 

But  his  intelligence  comprised  more  fearful  news.  The 
Prefects  in  the  city"  had  without  a  moment's  pause  begun 
the  confiscations  and  the  executions'.  Not  only  so,  Xystus* 
himself  had  on  Sunday  the  sixth  instant  been  found  in  the 
forbidden  '  cemetery '  and  then  and  there  put  to  death  along 
with  four  out  of  the  seven  Deacons  of  Rome. 


2.     Rome. —  The  exclusion  from  the  Cemeteries. 

Archaeology  has  few  episodes  able  to  compare  for  unex- 
pected interest  with  the  light  and  confirmation  it  throws  upon 
and  receives  from  Cyprian's  direct  news  about  the  Rescript. 
This  we  shall  see  presently  with  the  assistance  of  De  Rossi 
as  to  the  martyrdom  and  memorials  of  Xystus. 

But  first  there  are  two  points  on  which  we  may  ourselves 
look  for  some  elucidation  from  facts.  Why  was  the  entrance 
of  Cemeteries — areas  hitherto  secured  by  legal  rights — made 
capital?  It  was  not  merely  to  stop  their  assembling  for 
worship.      They  had   many  Basilicce  and   other  Fabricce,  as 

opportunities   of  enriching   themselves  stituted  the  latter  office,  there  were  two. 

oppressively   and    were   under  checks,  As  its  civil  importance  grew  vast,  there 

e.g.   they  might   not,   while   they  held  were  from  time  to  time  three,  and  at 

office,  be  admitted  to  the  rank  of  per-  last  four.    There  was  sure  to  be  at  least 

fectissimatus,  ducena,  centena,  egregia-  one  at  home,  while  Valerian  had  one  in 

tus,  but  might  if  they  retired  with  spot-  attendance  so  long  a  time  and  so  far 

less  character ;  so  Constantine  enacts,  away. 

Cod.  Theod.  10,  7,  i ;  cf.  10,  7,  2.  ^  The  mere  'si  qui  sibi  oblati  fuerint 

^  Ep.  80.  I,  'universi  clerici  sub  ictu  animadvertantur,'  Ep.  80.  r,  looks  as  if 

agonis  constitute'  enquiry  were  not  too  minute. 

2  Ihid.  '  Praefecti  in  urbe.'     I  suppose  ■*  '  Xistus '   in   Ep.  80,   and  Pontius 

'prsefectus  urbanus'  and  a   'praefectus  Vit.  14  (H artel). 
prsetorio.'     Under  Augustus,  who   in- 

B.  31 


482  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  VALERIAN. 

we  know  from  the  history  of  Fabian.  And  why  the  sudden 
access  of  severity  in  the  Rescript  ? 

Caius  (whom  in  an  early  essay  Bp.  Lightfoot  shewed 
reason  to  believe  to  be  Hippolytus  himself)  says,  in  the 
Dialogue  with  Proclus,  '  But  I  can  shew  you  the  trophies 
'  of  the  Apostles.  For  if  you  will  go  to  the  Vatican  or  to  the 
'  Ostian  Road  you  will  find  the  trophies  (tombs)  of  those  who 
'founded  this  Church'.'  This  is  the  earliest  account  we  have 
of  the  remains  of  the  two  Apostles.  It  belongs  to  the  time 
of  Zephyrinus  A.D.  199 — 217. 

The  same  critic  observed  much  later  that  the  two  Apostles 
together  '  appear  in  connection  with  the  Roman  Church  in  the 
'  earliest  document  emanating  from,  as  well  as  in  the  earliest 
'  document  addressed  to,  the  Roman  Church  after  their  death ^' 

The  historic  certainty  of  their  martyrdom  there,  and  the 
identity  of  their  relics  is  a  non-Cyprianic  question  which  I 
forbear  to  judge.  Until  more  is  known  two  opposite  con- 
clusions will  be  maintained,  mainly  upon  religious  considera- 
tions remote  from  the  matter  in  hand.  Should  the  facts  ever 
grow  clearer,  one  of  the  two  parties  will  discover  that  religious 
opinion  has  no  place  in  the  discussion.  There  is  however  no 
doubt  that  at  that  early  period  the  remains  of  S.  Peter  were 
believed  to  be  on  the  Aurelian  Way  and  those  of  S.  Paul  on 
the  Ostian. 

There  is  no  more  doubt  that  shortly  afterwards  they  were 
believed  to  be  together  in  the  'Catacombs','  under  the  apse  of 
S.  Sebastian,  three  miles  along  the  Appian  Way.  The  Salz- 
burg Itinerary  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventh  century  and  the 

1  Ap.  Euseb.  H.  E.  ii.  25.  See  Light-  was  (as  is  well  known)  not  a  general 
foot  in  Cambridge  Journal  of  Philology,  term  as  yet,  but  was  long  the  name  of 
vol.  I.  p.  98,  1868.  this    particular    cemetery.      It  was   of 

2  Clem.  Rom.  ad  Corinth,  v.,  Ignat.  course  indeclinable  and  its  cases  were 
ad  Rom.  iv. ;  see  Lightfoot's  note  on  falsely  formed.  Gregory,  Epp.  lib.  iv. 
the  latter  passage.  indict,  xii.   30,    correctly   '  in  loco   qui 

3  Catacumbas,   properly  two  words,       dicitur  Cata  Cumbas.' 
cata  cumbas,  i.e.  'at  the  sleeping  places,' 


X.  II.  2.     SS.   PETER  AND  PAUL  MOVED  TO  CATACUMBAS.     483 

rather  later  Epitome,  '  Of  the  places  of  the  Holy  Martyrs,' 
speak  of  S.  Sebastian's^  i.e.  the  Catacombs,  as  the  place 
where  the  two  Apostles  rested  forty  years — a  symbolic  date. 

There  were  eccentric  stories  to  account  for  this  fact. 
Eastern  Christians  had  tried  shortly  after  the  martyrdoms  to 
convey  the  bodies  to  Palestine,  had  been  arrested  by  God 
and  man,  and  had  left  them  here  on  the  way^  Long  after 
they  had  been  replaced  in  or  near  their  first  homes  Gregory 
the  Great  refused  relics  from  them  to  the  Empress  Constan- 
tina  on  the  plea  of  other  phenomena  and  particularly  of  these 
stories.  But  they  are  attempts  to  account  for  the  relics  having 
certainly  been  there,  when  both  before  and  after  they  were 
elsewhere. 

Another  curious  early  attempt  to  decipher  what  hap- 
pened is  the  account  in  the  VitcB  Papariim  of  the  Felician 
Catalogue^  that  Cornelius  took  the  bodies  from  the  '  Cata- 
combs,' and  that  Lucina  (a  standing  name  of  Christian  ladies 
in  legends)  restored  S.  Paul  to  the  Ostian  Way,  while  Cor- 
nelius laid  S.  Peter  once  more  on  the  Vatican.  This  is  a 
great  anachronism,  but  it  shews  that  it  was  well  known  that 
there  was  a  time  when  they  rested  in  the  'Catacombs.' 

Damasus(366 — 384)  adorned  the  half-underground  chamber 
called  Platonia*  under  the  apse  of  S.  Sebastian.  It  is  irregular 
in  shape,  and  has  a  stone  settle.     In  the  middle  of  it  is  a  pit 

^  SoalsoWilliamofMalmesburyinthe  Fault,  ap.  Fabricium  Cod.  Apocr.  N.T. 

I  ith  centuiy  :  Kossi,  Roma  Sotterranea  V.  iii.  p.653.    ¥\oxtnX\ni,VeiusHus  Mar- 

Crisiiana,  I.  pp.  i8o — i.     L.  Duchesne,  tyrol.  (Lucae,  1668),  p.  in. 

Liber  Pontificalisji.cw — cvii.  thinks  the  ^  (a.d.    530)  —  Lipsius,    op.   cit.   p. 

40  years  might  represent  from  A.D.  1^%  275. 

to  soon  after  Constantine's  defeat  of  Max-  *  Damasus...*et  in  Catacumbas  ubi 

entius,  313.     The  apocryphal  Acts  of  jacuerant  corpora  sanctorum  apostolo- 

Peterand  Paul  and  the  Pseudo-Marcellus  rum  Petri  et  Pauli,  in  quo  loco  plato- 

give  a  year  and  seven  months  for  the  mam  (platoniam)  ipsam   ubi  jacuerunt 

time  during  which  the  new  tombs  were  corpora   sancta    versibus    exomavit,'... 

preparing  in  their  first  resting-places.  Duchesne,  Lib.  Pontific.  vol.  I.  p.  212. 

"  Acta  Petri  et    Pauli,  Tischendorf,  'Rivestimentidilastre  marmoree.'  '  Pla- 

Acta  A postt.  apocrypha,  \%ii\,  pp.  i%,i(),  tonia,   cioe   grande   lastra   marmorea;' 

Pseudo-Marcellus,  de  Actibus  Petri  et  Rossi,  Rom.  Sott.  Ii.  pp.  22,  33. 

31—2 


484  THE   PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

six  or  seven  feet  square,  and  of  about  the  same  depth,  with 
an  opening  into  it  through  the  pavement.  Damasus  paved 
this  chamber,  and  lined  the  sides  with  marble, — still  adhering 
a  yard  high  to  the  walls.  There  remains  also  a  large  marble 
slab  dividing  the  pit  into  two,  making  it  a  'locus  bisomus'^' 
For  this  place  he  wrote  one  of  his  Inscriptions.  It  exists  in 
several  antient  collections,  as  copied  from  here,  and  here  it 
began  to  be  replaced  by  a  thirteenth  century  hand,  but  breaks 
off  before  the  last  word  of  the  third  line^     It  begins 

Here  thou  must  know  the  saints  beforetime  dwelt, 
Whoe'er  dost  ask  for  Peter  and  for  Paul'. 

We  now  understand  why  the  Ambrosian  Hymn  for  the 
Festival  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  speaks  of  it  as  kept  in 
Rome  at  three  places  on  the  same  day. 

Through  the  great  city's  round  the  dense  crowds  stream  along. 
Upon  Three  Roads  they  keep  the  sacred  Martyrs'  Feast*, 


^  There   is   an  interesting  paper  by        Tombe  Apostoliche  di  Roma  (Typ.  Vat. 
H.  Grisar,  translated  by  Lanciani,  Le       1892),  see  p.  36. 
2  A  photograph  of  it  is  in  Parker's  Catacombs,  plate  xxi. 

^  Hie  habitasse  prius  sanctos  cognoscere  debes, 
Nomina  quisque  Petri  pariter  Paulique  requiris. 
Discipulos  oriens  misit  quod  sponte  fatemur. 
Sanguinis  ob  meritum  Christumque  per  astra  secuti, 
/Etherios  petiere  sinus  regnaque  pionim. 
Roma  suos  potius  meruit  defendere  cives. 
Hasc  Damasus  vestras  referat  nova  sidera  laudes. 
De    Rossi,    Inscriptiones    Christiatia       origin,  and  that  the  story  of  the  Greeks 
Urbis  Romce,  vol.  11.  pp.  32,  65,  89,  105.       defeated  in  the  attempt  to  appropriate 
Duchesne,  Lib.  Pontific.   I.  p.  civ.     S.       them    arose    from    these   words   being 
Damasi  C>/!iMJ^M/a^/6^£'j/a,  ed.  Merenda,       misunderstood.        Lightfoot,    Apostolic 
Rome  1754,  pp.  226,  136,  249.  Fathers,  part  i.  3".  Clement  of  Rome,\o\. 

In  z/.  5  ^<^«a^«^  need  not  be  amend-        H-  p-  500.     See   a   similar  cause  and 
ed.     It  would  not  have  offended  the  ear       result  p.  491,  n.  2. 
of  Damasus.     Cf.    Carm.   3,    Angelus  ■*  Tantse  per  urbis  ambitum  Stipata 

hsec  verba  cecinit.     Carm.  4,  In  rebus       tendunt  agmina.     Trinis  celebratur  viis 
tantis  Trina  conjunctio  mundi.  Festum   sacrorum   martyrum.     H.    A. 

On  V.  6  Bp.  Lightfoot  thinks  that  it       Daniel,    Thesaurus    Hymnologicus^    I. 
meant  only  that  Rome  claimed  them  as       xc.     Lips.  1855. 
Roman  citizens  in  spite  of  their  Eastern 


X.  II.  2.     SS.  PETER  AND  PAUL  MOVED  TO  CATACUMBAS.    485 

the  Three  Roads  being  the  Aurelian  and  the  Ostian,  where 
they  suffered,  and  the  Appian  which  passes  Catacumbas. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  interesting  link  which  rivets 
these  facts  to  our  story. 

One  of  those  entries  in  the  Kalendar  called  Hieronymian, 
which  exhibit  the  Use  of  Rome  in  the  fourth  century,  is  this  : 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  June  at  Rome, 

Birthday  of  the  Holy  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 

of  Peter  on  the  Vatican  the  Aurelian  Way, 

but  of  Paul  on  the  Ostian  Way, 

of  both  in  Catacumbas; 

they  suffered  under  Nero, 

Bassus  and  Tuscus  being  Consuls^. 

The  day  seems  at  first  as  if  it  were  that  of  their  joint 
martyrdom.  But  in  the  early  mentions  of  their  deaths  no 
day  is  named,  much  less  the  same  day  for  both.  It  then 
suggests  itself  at  once  that  it  is  the  day  of  a  Deposition, 
afterwards  supposed  to  be  the  day  of  martyrdom.  The 
Depositio  Martirmn  of  A.D.  354  registers  the  day  correctly 
as  a  Deposition  ;  though  the  scribe,  probably  thinking  that 
Catacumbas  applied  to  the  Vatican,  and  knowing  that  now 
again  S.  Paul  was  on  the  Ostian  Way,  has  confused  the 
entry  by  inserting  the  word  Osteiise^.  The  Consulship  named 
shews  that  it  could  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  deaths. 
But  it  is  the  very  year  258  A.D.,  when  the  severe  Rescript 
appeared  following  the  Edict  about  the  Cemeteries.  We 
may  be  tolerably  sure  then  that  June  29,  A.D.  258,  was  the 

^  'lllkal.jul.  Romse  natale  sanctorum  hist.  Classe,  Konigl.  Sachsisch.  Gesell- 

apostolorum    Petri   et    Pauli :   Petri   in  sch.    d.    Wissenschaften   Leipz.     1850, 

Vaticano  via  Aurelia:  Pauli  vero  in  via  p.  632),  called  Liberian,  Filocalian  or 

Ostensi  :     utriusque    in    Catacumbas  :  Biicherian  catalogue  {calendar)  from  the 

Passi  sub  Nerone,  Basso  et  Tusco  con-  Pope  who  ordered  it,  the  compiler  and 

sulibus,'  Duchesne,  Lib.  Pontif.  i.  p.  cv.  the  first  editor.  It  is  edited  by  R.  A.Lip- 

^  'ill  kl.  lul.  Petri  in  Catacumbas  et  sius  also  :    Chronologie  der  Rotniscken 

Pauli  Ostense  Tusco  et  Basso  cons.'  Libe-  Bischofe  (1869) ;  and  the  List  of  Popes  is 

rian    Catalogue — Depositio   martinim.  revised  from  all  the  published  material 

Mommsen's   Uber  den    Chronographen  byBp.  Lightfoot,  ^/oj//. /a/^^j,  part  I. 

vom  Jahre  354  (Abhandl.  d.  philolog.-  S.  Clement  of  Rome ,  l.  p.  201  sqq. 


486  THE  PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

day  when  both  were  removed  to  their  temporary  hiding-place 
in  the  Catacumbas. 

It  scarcely  is  venturing  into  too  minute  a  coincidence  should 
we  observe,  that,  if  a  fortnight  sufficed,  as  it  probably  did,  for 
the  government  couriers  to  transmit  dispatches  between  Rome 
and  Byzantium,  there  was  a  good  margin  of  time  between 
June  29  and  August  6  to  communicate  to  Valerian,  even  if 
he  were  further  afield,  what  the  Christians  were  about,  and  to 
receive  his  reply.  The  removal  from  their  place  of  execution 
of  the  remains  of  notorious  leaders  of  a  dangerous  section, 
which  it  was  always  necessary  to  suspect  and  impossible  to 
understand,  was  probably  noted,  and  invested,  as  it  would  be 
in  Europe  to-day,  with  political  significance.  The  graves  of 
those  criminal  Jewish  agitators  had  not  ceased  to  be  visited, 
and  now  the  modern  leaders  were  somehow  turning  the  old 
names  to  account.  Xystus  in  this  same  year  translated  to 
the  Cemetery  of  Callistus  the  Virgin  Lucilla  and  her  father 
Nemesius  the  Deacon,  who  had  been  laid  on  the  Via  Latina 
by  Stephen  in  2  57\  It  is  tempting  to  think  that  the  Emperor 
may  have  been  induced  to  sharpen  his  decree  by  tidings  of 
the  translation.  It  could  not  be  unknown  that  the  'trophies' 
and  the  cemeteries  were  tampered  with  by  the  Christians 
after  they  had  been  warned  off  from  places  dear  and  long 
legally  secured  to  them.  '  You  know  even  the  days  of  our 
'  meetings,'  says  TertuUian^  '  and  so  we  are  laid  wait  for  and 
'  apprehended  and  in  these  actual  secret  congregations  we  are 
'  arrested.' 

The  whole  proceeding  wears  the  aspect  of  precaution. 
There  was  no  knowing  what  violence  might  be  at  hand.  And 
if  it  could  be  shewn  that  the  blocking  up  of  passages,  the 
breaking  away  of  staircases,  the  opening  of  secret  galleries  out 
into  the  sandpits,  which  are  such  marked  facts  in  the  history 
of  the  cemeteries,  belonged  partly  to  the  days  of  Valerian's 

1  J,   H.  Parker,  ArchcBol.  of  Borne,  ^  Ad  Naiiones,  1.  i.  c  7. 

vol.  XII.  The  Catacombs,  p.  73. 


X.  II.  3-  UNDER   XYSTUS.  487 

persecution,  as  well  as  to  those  of  Diocletian,  there  would  be 
little  or  no  doubt  of  the  meaning  of  that  proceeding. 

However  this  may  be  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  would  have  his  share  in  directing  the  removal  of 
the  sacred  forms  and  any  other  measures  of  precaution  or 
reverence.  And  as  legislation  about  cemeteries  could  no- 
where apply  to  anything  like  the  extent  that  it  did  at  Rome, 
we  may  feel  sure  that  such  legislation  had  its  origin  in 
Roman  difficulties. 


3.     Memorials  of  Xystus  and  his  Martyrdom. 

We  have  learnt,  from  Cyprian's  own  letter,  that  Xystus 
was  martyred  in  a  cemetery  on  the  sixth  of  August^  and 
with  him  four-  (of  the  seven)  Deacons  of  Rome. 

There  is  no  uncertainty  now  as  to  the  place  of  this  tragedy. 
De  Rossi's  researches,  and  what  he  himself  calls  his  'extended 
and  complicated  comment,'  a  masterpiece  of  knowledge, 
insight  and  patience,  have  cleared  up  endless  difficulties^ 

I.  The  earliest  list  of  Roman  cemeteries  calls  that  of 
Callistus  '  Coemeterium  Callisti  ad  S.  Xystiim  Via  Appia*.' 
There  still  stands  above  ground  a  small  chapel,  originally 
a  Schola,  in  plan  a  square,  with  large  apses  on  three  sides  ; 
its  front,  open  antiently  like  an  exhedra,  to  the  Via  '  Appia- 

^  Xystus  sat  11  months  12  (?6)  days,  Pamele,  Fell. 
Lipsius,  <?/.  aV.  p.  213.    Eusebius, /T.  ^.  *  The  following  are  the  chief  refer- 

vii.  27  has  (in  the  same  error  noticed  ences  to  De  Rossi,   Roma  Sotterranea 

already    in    other    instances)    assigned  Cristiana  :  vol.  i.  p.  247,  Xystus'  chapel 

him  as  many  years.     So  in  vii.    14  he  inCemeteryofPraetextatus;  vol.  Ii.p.  4, 

seems  to  speak  of  him  as  overliving  the  'S.  Sistus  and  S.  Cecilia';  vol.  II.  p.  20, 

edict  of  restoration.     Another  error  is  Crypt  of  S.  Sistus;  vol.  II.  p.  87,  Sepul- 

repeated   from   him   by    Jerome,    who  chre,  monuments  and  companions  of  S. 

assigns  eight  years  to  Xystus.   {Interpret.  Sistus;  vol.   III.  p.  468,  Tricora  of  S. 

Chronic.  Euseb.  ad  Ann.  D.  258.)  .Sistus   and  S.  Cecilia.     See  Lanciani, 

-  Ep.  80.   I .     Quartus  for  quattuor,  Pagan  and  Christian  Rome,  p.  117. 
unwarrantable   alteration    adopted    by  *  Rom.  Sotl.  vol.  11.  p.  6. 


488  THE  PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

Ardeatina^'  The  lower  masonry  and  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  rased  nearly  to  the  ground  and  rebuilt  under  Con- 
stantine  make  it  probable  that  it  was  one  of  the  'many 
fabrics'  placed  'throughout  the  cemeteries'  by  Fabian*,  and 
removed  as  a  conventictdum  by  Diocletian.  From  very  early 
times  it  has  been  called  the  Church  of  S.  Xystus,  of  S.  Caecilia, 
or  of  both.  Pilgrims  halt  at  it  before  descending  one  of  the 
two  flights  of  steps  which  lead  to  the  crypt  of  S.  Sisto',  in 
which  the  popes  of  the  third  century  were  usually  buried,  and 
to  that  of  S.  Caecilia.  Xystus  became  the  chief  and  central 
sanctity  of  this  crypt.  The  plaster  over  the  door  of  the  crypt 
is  scored  with  invocations  of  '  Sustus,'  graffiti*  so  early  that 
they  are  mutilated  by  the  changes  made  by  Damasus  in  the 
fourth  century,  although  Celerinus  and  Lucianus  in  the  be- 
ginning of  our  story  would,  with  all  their  exaggerations  about 
martyrs,  have  revolted  from  them.  Within  it  was  placed  the 
very  chair  in  which  he  was  teaching  when  he  was  martyred. 

For  the  whole  cemetery  Damasus  wrote  an  inscription 
in  his  best  hexameters,  and  cut  it  on  marble  in  this  chapel, 
where  De  Rossi  found  almost  the  whole  in  above  lOO  frag- 
ments and  with  surprising  skill  refitted  them  together  into 
the  appearance  of  some  delicate  net^ 

They  are  to  this  effect : 

Here  closely  lie  a  crowd  of  Holy  ones ; 
The  aweful  graves  their  sacred  Bodies  keep 
Heaven's  palace  hath  caught  up  the  soaring  souls. 

1  The  Cross-road  which  connects  the  Roma,  1895,  p.  162. 

Appia  and  Ardeatina  (see  map)  is  so  *  Liberian  Catalogue,  Mommsen,  op. 

called   by   De   Rossi.     The  names   of  «V.  p.  635;  Lipsius,  <?/.  «V.  p.  •267. 

these  roads  are  as  yet  matter  of  con-  '  Rom.  Sott.  II.   p.  27,  headed  'La 

troversy.      Sign.    Lanciani    names,    as  cripta    di    S.    Sisto    fu    il    sepolcreto 

having  lately  thrown  some  light  on  the  ordinario  dei   papi   nel   secolo  III.' 

question,   the    memoirs    by    Christian  *  'Sante  Suste  in  mente   habeas  in 

Huelsan,  sulla porta  Ardeatina  in  Mit-  horationes  Aureliu  Repentinu.'     'Suste 

theilungen,  1894,  pp.  320 — 327,  Taf.  ix.       san utae  Libera  .  .  .'     'Sane  .  .  . 

(Roemische  Abtheilung\  rnd  by  Gius.       .  .  .  e te  abe  in  oratione  .  .  . ', 

Romassetti,  Scoperte  Suburbane,  in  Boll.  &c.     Rom.  Sott.  II.  p.  17. 

della    Commiss.    Arch,    comunale    di  '  Rom.  Sott.  11.  tav.  ii. 


X.  II.  3-  MEMORIALS   OF   XYSTUS.  489 

Here  Xystus'  comrades — who  the  trophies  won, 
Here  many  Peers — who  at  Christ's  altars  watch. 
Here  lies  the  Priest  who  lived  a  lengthened  Peace, 
Here  the  Confessor  Saints  whom  Grsecia  sent, 
Here  Youths,  old  men  yet  boys,  and  grandsons  pure 
Who  willed  to  keep  their  Virgin  Modesty. 
Here  would  I  Damasus  have  laid  my  limbs 
But  feared  to  vex  the  ashes  of  the  Just^. 

This  epigram  itself  witnesses  to  the  pre-eminent  honour 
of  Xystus^  as  does  Hkewise  the  inscription  placed  above  the 
Chair  by  Damasus,  of  which  also  minute  fragments  were 
found. 

Its  purport  was  as  follows : 

What  time  the  sword  pierced  through  the  Mother's  heart. 
Set  here  as  Pilot  I  taught  heaven's  decrees. 
Sudden  they  came  and  took  me  as  I  sate. 

The  peoples  gave  their  necks  to  the  soldiery. 

The  Elder  marked  one  who  would  fain  have  snatch'd 

His  palm;   but  first  he  offered  his  own  head, 

Not  suffering  savagery  to  strike  at  large. 

Christ  with  His  bounteous  gifts  of  life  assigns 

The  Shepherd's  wage,  and  folds  the  flock  Himself  ^ 

^  Hie  congesta  jacet  quseris  si  turba  piorum 
Corpora  sanctorum  retinent  veneranda  sepulcra 
Sublimes  animas  rapuit  sibi  regia  caeli 
Hie  comites  Xysti  portant  qui  ex  hoste  tropaea 
Hie  numerus  procerum  servat  qui  altaria  Christi 
Hie  positus  longa  vixit  qui  in  pace  sacerdos 
Hie  confessores  sancti  quos  Graecia  misit 
Hie  juvenes  puerique  senes  castique  nepotes 
Quis  mage  virgineum  placuit  retinere  pudorem. 
Hie  fateor  Damasus  volui  mea  condere  membra 
Sed  cineres  timui  sanctos  vexare  piorum. 

Text  preserved  \n  Sylloge  Turmiensis,       Rorme,  II.  pp.  66,  105.    View  of  Crypt 
23,  and  Corp.  Laureshamensis  Sylloge,       of  S.  Xystus,  Rom.  Soft.  ll.  tav.  i. 
4ta,   43,   ap.  Rossi,  Inscr.   Chr.    Urb. 

*  He  is  said  to  be  the  only  Roman  martyr  admitted  into  the  Syriac  Kalendar. 

^  Tempore  quo  gladius  secuit  pia  viscera  matris 
Hie  positus  Rector  cselestia  jussa  docebam 
Adveniunt  subito  rapiunt  qui  forte  sedentem. 


490  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  VALERIAN. 

2.  Yet  this  solemn  place  of  his  sepulture  is  not  'the 
little  church  where  Xystus  was  beheaded','  though  often 
confused  with  it. 

Opposite  to  the  Cemetery  of  Callistus  along  the  Appian 
Way  a  little  further  south,  and  towards  the  antient  temple 
of  Ceres,  now  St  Urban's  Church,  was  found  in  1848  the 
Cemetery  of  Praetextatus.  Praetextatus  is  the  name  of  a 
great  family  who  were  not  all  Christians  when  they  began 
to  let  Christians  use  it. 

Here  is  a  painting  of  '  Sustus '  with  his  name.  Here  was 
a  graffito  of  a  Cathedra,  another  of  a  Doctor  seated  in  a 
Cathedra  with  a  hearer  at  his  feet.  Here  is  seen  still  the 
inscription 

...mi  refrigeri^  Januarius  Agatopus  Felicissimus  martyres^. 

The  Liber  Pontificalis  records  that  with  Xystus  were 
slain  six  Deacons,  Felicissimus,  Agapitus,  Januarius,  Magnus, 
Vincentius,  Stephanus,  also  that  the  Deacons  were  buried  here 
on  VIII  id.  Aug.*,  while  Xystus  was  laid  with  his  predecessors 


Militibus  missis  populi  tunc  colla  dedere; 
Mox  sibi  cognovit  senior  quis  tollere  vellet 
Palmam,  seque  suumque  caput  prior  obtulit  ipse 
Impatiens  feritas  posset  ne  laEDere  quenquam. 

Ostendit  Christus,  reddit  qui  PRaemia  vitas 
Pastoris  meritum  numerum  gREGis  ipse  tuetur. 

Text  in  Duchesne,  Z.  F.  v.  I.  p.  156:  ^  '  Ecclesia  parva  ubi  decollatus  est  S. 

preserved   in    Corp.    Lauresh.    Sylloge,  Xystus.'    Salzburg  Itinerary,  Rom.  Sott. 

4ta,  60.     Rossi,  Inscr.  Chr.  U.  Ronuz,  I.  p-  180. 

II.  p.  108.     For  probable  situation  of  ^  Refrigeri  =  refrigeret. 

Chair  and   inscription,   see  Rom.  Sott.  '  Rossi,  Boll.  Arch.  Crist.  1863,  p.  3. 

II.  taw.  I.  and  2.     The  fragment  found  — R-  S.  I.  p.  ■251,  11.  p.  89,  Agathopus 

in  the  crypt  is  indicated  by  capitals.  is  the  form  for  Agapitus  in  apparently 

The  fragments  of  a  third  inscription,  all  codices  of  the  Hieronymian  Cata- 

R.  S.  II.  tav.  iii.  no.  8,  no  doubt  belong  logue.     R.  S.  11.  pp.  41,  47. 

to  a  Damasian  epigram  on  the  events,  ^  Duchesne,  Z./".  I.  p.  155.   Cyprian's 

though  the  letter  cutting  is  less  beauti-  date  is  viii  id.  Aug. 
ful. 


X.  II.  3-  MEMORIALS  OF   XYSTUS.  49 1 

in  the  Cemetery  of  Callistus*,  just  across  the  road.    His  Chair 
went  with  him. 

Over  two  of  the  Deacons  Damasus  wrote  for  the  Cemetery 
of  Praetextatus 

Comrades  and  Servers  of  the  unconquered  Cross 
They  followed  their  pure  Pastor's  Faith  and  Works. 

Damasus  to  Felicissimus  and  Agapitus". 

A  dialogue  of  some  dramatic  power  with  some  shreds 
of  authenticity  is  recited  by  Ambrose,  as  having  been  held 
with  Laurentius',  another  Deacon,  by  Xystus  on  his  way  to 
execution. 

This  story  seems  at  first  sight  irreconcilable  with  the  ac- 
count of  his  beheading  in  the  Chair.  But  we  cannot  set  aside 
the  observation  of  De  Rossi^  that  it  is  impossible  that  seven 
Romans  should  have  been  simply  murdered  without  trial  by 
a  gang  of  soldiers  ;  that  they  must  have  been  taken  before 
the  judge,  and  may  have  been  sent  back  to  the  place  where 
they  were  apprehended  as  law-breakers  to  be  put  to  death^ 

^  'Sepultus  est  in  cymiterio  Calesti  Duchesne,  Z/^J./'owA  I.  pp.  68,  9(2'.^.  first 
via  Appia  nam  vi  diaconi  ejus  in  cymi-  edition  of  L.  P.  as  represented  in  Feli- 
tirio  Praetextati  via  Appia  via  id.  Aug.'       cian  abridgment). 

2  Hi  crucis  invictse  comites  pariterque  ministri 
Rectoris  sancti  meritumque  fidemque  secuti. 

Felicissimo  et  Agapito  Damasus. 

Rossi,    Inscr.   Ch.   11.   p.   66.     This  epigram   of   Damasus   placed   over   it. 

epigram  probably  (as  Lipsius  suggests,  It  was  transferred  with  the  story  of  a 

op.  cit.  p.  223)  gave  birth  to  the  Hne  of  Pope's  martyrdom  in  it,  enriched  by  the 

legends  in  which  Xystus  himself  is  cruci-  account  of  blood  shed  over  it,  to  Stephen 

fied.  Amhros.  de  Off.  Ministrorum,  I.  x\\.  as  the  nearest   unmartyred    pontiff,   in 

'  Ambrosian  '  Hymn  ap.  H.  A.  Daniel,  spite  of  his  not  appearing  in  the  Defo- 

Tkes.  H.  I.  xc.  I.     Prudent.  Peristeph.  sitio    Martiru7n   but    in    the   Depositio 

ii.  21 — 26.  Episcoporum  in  the  Liberian  Catalogue 

^  Lipsius  regards  Laurence  as  histori-  (Mommsen,  Chrott.  v.  Jahren^,  op.  cit. 

cal,  though  archidiaconns  (not  in  Am-  p.  631),  liii  non.  Atigustas  Sleffani  in 

brose)  is  an  anachronism,  0/.  «V.  p.  120.  Calisti.     The  Chair  was  bestowed  by 

The  fine  story  of  Laurence,  with  the  Innocent  XII.  on  Cosmo  III.  and  taken 

circle  of  heroes  who  gathered  round  it,  to  Pisa  (Merenda,  Damasus,  p.  i). 

obliterated  after  a   time    the   recollec-  •*  R.  S.  11.  pp.  91,  92. 

tion  that  the  Chair  belonged  to  Xystus,  '  Lib.  Pontif.  (ist  ed.),  Duchesne,  p. 

whose  name  was  not  mentioned  in  the  69,'truncatisuntcapite' — solemn  Roman 


492  THE  PERSECUTION   OF  VALERIAN. 

for  a  warning  to  those  who  persisted  in  frequenting  the  ceme- 
teries. Upon  the  road,  he  suggests,  some  such  conversation 
may  have  been  held.     He  urges  the  '  rapiunt'  of  Damasus. 

This  conjecture  is  supported  by  a  passage  which  De  Rossi 
does  not  notice.  The  second  edition  of  the  Liber  Pontificalis^ 
says  '  Xystus  was  apprehended  by  Valerian['s  officers]  and 
'  led  away  to  sacrifice  to  the  demons.  He  scorned  the  precepts 
'of  Valerian  and  was  beheaded ^' 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  incidents  which  Damasus 
carefully  notes — how  he  was  found  teaching  in  his  Chair,  how 
the  people  offered  themselves  to  die  for  him  or  with  him,  how 
his  anxiety  was  to  prevent  them  from  provoking  the  soldiers, 
and  how  the  old  man  anticipated  the  self-devotion  of  one 
faithful  follower  by  stretching  out  his  own  neck  to  receive 
the  blow. 

The  relics  of  the  history,  the  monuments,  the  epigrams, 
the  letter,  are  wonderfully  yet  not  too  absolutely  in  accord*. 
And  as  to  the  scene  itself  what  more  natural  than  that  the 
quieter  and  more  protected  chapel  of  Praetextatus  should  have 
been  resorted  to  by  the  bishop,  deacons  and  people,  when 
the  larger  and  less  private  ones  were  made  dangerous  by  the 
edict  ? 

execution.     Cyprian's  word  animadver-  cannot  apparently   be  reconciled  with 

swn  is  more  often  than  not  used  of  decol-  Damasus'  epigram  saying  that  '  comites 

lation,  and  there  is  Damasus'  ^ caput  ob-  XystV  were  in  Cxm.  Callisti.   De  Rossi, 

tulit.^     The  Leonian  Sacramentary  also  II.  p.  91  fF.  gives  it  up  with  distress  and 

preserves  'intrepida  cervice,' Muratori,  says  Z?i5. /"<?«/.  needs  amendment.     But 

op.  cit.  I.  c.  390.     This  has  seven  tnisste  only  three  are  claimed  for  Praetextatus 

for  his  day.  by  the  Invocation  and  Damasus,  whose 

.  ^  Duchesne,    Lib.   Pont.    i.   p.   155;  epigram  for  this  place  shews  that  he 

cf.  p.   69.  did  not  understand  a// '  the  comrades  of 

2  Ductus  ut  sacrificaret.  Xystus '  to  be  at  Callistus.     It  is  not 

Prseceptum,    technical    word,    as    in  worth  while  here  to  pursue  the  question 

Acta  Proc.  ap.  Hartel,  p.  ex,  1.  24;  ex,  through      the     Kalendars.        Perhaps 

1.  12;   cxi  8  proeceperunt,  11   prsecep-  Cyprian's  statement  that  four  Deacons 

turn   est,   18   sacro   prsecepto;   cxii   10  died  with  him  {cum  eo)   may  lend  a 

prseceptum,  &c.  ray.     If  there  were  six   two   suffered 

^  The  Lib.  Pontif.  entry  of  all  six  later. 
Deacons  as  buried  in  Cctm.  Prcetextati 


CHAPTER  XI. 


The  Birthday. 

Quod  nomen  sic  frequentat  Ecclesia  id  est  Natales,  ut  Natales  vocet  pretiosas 
Martyrum  mortes.     AUG.  Serm.  310,  c.    i. 

It  was  (as  we  have  seen)  Cyprian  himself  who  with  his 
constant  promptitude  and  his  official  skill  secured  probably 
the  very  first  news  which  reached  Africa.  The  Rescript, 
accompanied  by  an  imperial  circular  addressed  to  Governors 
of  Provinces,  was  still  on  its  way  when  he  sent  the  intelli- 
gence of  its  approach  to  Successus  to  be  circulated.  Successus 
of  Abbir  Germaniciana,  near  Curubis,  was  one  of  the  Senior 
Bishops.  In  a  few  months  he  was  to  follow  Cyprian  to 
martyrdom\  His  letter  to  Successus  is  apparently  written 
from  Carthage.  There  is  a  sound  about  it  of  being  in  the 
world.  He  mentions  the  derangement  of  his  correspondence 
caused  by  the  fact  that  none  of  '  the  clergy '  could  leave  the 
place,  '  the  whole  body  being  placed  under  the  death  stroke.' 
The  attitude  of  all  was,  he  says,  one  of  hope  and  devotion. 
He  anticipates  no  defection,  no  lapse  now*.  He  deprecates 
only  excitement  and  rash  confessions'.  'Not  death,  but 
deathlessness,*  '  no  dread,  only  gladness '  were  his  character- 
istic watchwords  for  them. 

^  Ep.  80.     The  ninth  name  in  Ep.  ^  Ep.  80. 

57,   seventh   in   Ep.   67,    sixteenth    in  ^  Ep.  81.    De Exhortatione  Martyrii 

Sentt.  Epp.  Ruinart,  Passio  SS.  Man-  only  gives  a  warning  beforehand  against 

tani,  Lticii,  alioruniy  xxi.  libelli.     Supra,  p.  475. 


494  THE   BIRTHDAY. 

He  came  to  Carthage  because  Galerius  Maximus,  who 
had  succeeded  Paternus  as  Proconsul,  had,  upon  receiving  the 
Imperial  Rescript,  suddenly  ended  his  year  of  exile  by  a 
summons  to  appear  before  him.  But  when  he  came,  Galerius, 
owing  probably  to  ill-health  detaining  him  at  Utica,  could 
not  hear  him,  and  ordered  him  to  retire  to  his  own  country- 
house^  by  Carthage  and  there  confine  himself  The  beautiful 
HortP,  full  of  memories  of  the  days  of  his  pagan  eloquence 
and  eminence,  where,  glowing  with  the  light  and  joy  of  his 
Baptism,  he  had  held  his  colloquy  with  Donatus  ;  the  dear 
home  which  he  had  in  early  days  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor,  but  from  which  his  great  friends  would  not  allow  him  to 
be  separated,  repurchasing  them  and  presenting  them  to  him 
afresh, — it  was  a  strange  chance  (so  to  speak)  which  gave 
him  the  quiet  days  there,  of  which  he  expected  each,  as  it 
came,  to  be  the  last'. 

High  officials  even,  as  well  as  people  of  senatorial  rank 
and  of  the  great  families*,  certainly  not  all  of  them  Christians, 
now  urged  flight  upon  their  old  friend^  and  offered  him  various 
safe  retreats.  But  he  recognized  no  sign,  and  no  inner  prompt- 
ing to  compliance.  He  felt  only  a  fresh  stimulus  to  teach, 
to  substitute  in  men's  minds  the  sanctions  of  the  life  to  come 
for  the  ordinary  motives  of  the  world.  He  was  so  filled  with 
the  passion  of  teaching  that  he  trusted  the  stroke  might  come 
to  him  (as  it  had  come  to  Xystus)  in  that  very  act.  Galerius, 
still  at  Utica,  was  naturally  anxious  to  obey  the  Rescript. 
He  alone  knew  the  special  contents  of  the  private  dispatch® 

1  Act.    Proc.    1.     Pontius   {Vit.    15)       Proc.  2. 

speaks  of  him  as  at  the  Horti  without  *  Pliires  egregii  et  clarissimi  ordinis 

mentioning  how  he  came  to  be  there.  et    sanguinis   sed   et   saeculi    nobilitate 

2  It   will  be    remembered    that    the       generosi.     Pont.  Vit.  14. 

'■HortV  of  great  men  were  important  '  Consilio  carissimorum.     £j>.  81. 

features  of  the  topography  of  Rome  and  "  Audituri   ab  eo  (proconsule)   quid 

still  more  of  Carthage.     On  what  they  imperatores    super    Christianorum    lai- 

implied  see  Professor  Mayor's  stores  of  corum  et  episcoporum  nomine  manda- 

quotation  on  Juvenal  i.  75.  verint...     Ep.  81. 

3  Quotidie  sperabat  veniri  ad  se.  Act. 


XL  THE   BIRTHDAY.  495 

to  the  Governors,  and  presently  he  sent  two  of  his  military 
clerks^  to  fetch  the  Bishop  quietly  over  to  Utica. 

But  now  acting  with  the  coolness  of  a  person  used  to  take 
his  own  course  in  details,  even  with  magistrates,  Cyprian  was 
not  to  be  found.  He  was  gone  to  one  of  the  offered  conceal- 
ments— there  to  stay  until  the  Proconsul  should  be  able  to 
come  to  Carthage.  He  was  sure  that  the  summons  to  Utica 
meant  death.  And  although  he  had  no  fear  of  death, 
Cyprian  had  deliberate  views  as  to  the  scene  of  his  death. 
This  was  no  new  impulse,  no  new  prudence.  Years  before 
he  had  congratulated  Lucius  on  his  return  from  exile  to 
Rome**,  most  likely  to  die  there,  on  this  very  ground 
because  'the  victim  which  has  to  set  before  the  brother- 
'hood  the  pattern  of  manliness  and  of  faith  ought  to  be 
'offered  up  in  the  presence  of  his  brethren.'  So  now  from 
his  retreat  he  writes  to  his  Presbyters,  Deacons  and  Commons, 
that  he  only  awaits  the  Proconsul's  visit  to  Carthage,  because 
'  the  City  in  which  he  presides  over  the  Church  of  the  Lord  is 
'the  place  where  a  Bishop  ought  to  confess  his  Lord  and  to 
'  glorify  his  whole  Commons  by  the  confession  of  their  own 
'  prelate  in  their  presence.'  So  to  confess,  there  to  suffer, 
thence  to  take  his  departure  to  his  Lord,  was  now  his  con- 
stant prayer ^  Beyond  this,  he  fully  felt  that  something 
Divine  might  be  breathed  into  the  last  words  of  a  Confessor- 
Bishop.     Confession  was  more  after  God's  mind  than  the  best 


^  Commentarii    or    Commentarienses  turion  would  have  been  sent,  and  this 

were  military  clerks  in  the  Proconsul's  was   done   the  second  time,    after  the 

Office  who  kept   the  journals  of  pro-  present    failure.       Cf.    Ruinart,    Pass. 

ceedings.     Their   position  was   among  yacobi  et  Mariani,  iv.     At  Lambasse 

the  highest /'r/«tj)>a/if5,  or  officers  below  an  altar  is  erected  by  ...I'vs.  Severmj 

the  rank  of  Centurion.     One  of  their  a    coUMKVr xriis    m.    va/ERl    Etrvj« 

duties  was,   as  we   see   by   later  laws  /eg.  AvG.  Pr.  Pr  (a.D.   152);  another 

(a.d.  371,  380),  to  schedule  prisoners,  names  the  Commentanus  of  the  Ilird 

their  offences,  rank  and  age  ;  and  they  Legion  there.     Corp.  Inscrr.  Lt.  Vlll.  i. 

were  responsible  for  their  safe-keeping.  2613;  cf.  2586. 

(Codex  Justin.   9,    4,    4,    5).      If  any  ^  Ep.  61. 

difficulty  had  been  apprehended  a  cen-  *  Ep.  81. 


496  THE   BIRTHDAY. 

professions.  The  indwelling  God  Himself  might  perhaps  use 
such  a  moment'. 

Doubtless  the  Decian  persecution  had  known  such  inspira- 
tions, and  there  are  striking  contemporary  examples  of  what 
they  were  understood  to  be.  In  the  year  after  Cyprian's 
death  Marianus  at  Cirta,  waiting  blindfold  with  many  others 
for  the  stroke,  and  'now  filled  with  the  prophetic  spirit,' 
'  strengthened  the  envy '  with  which  these  holy  deaths  were 
viewed,  by  foretelling  the  approach  of  God's  avenging 
scourges. 

When,  at  that  same  time,  the  clergy  of  Carthage  suffered, 
Montanus  cried  with  prophetic  voice, '  He  that  sacrificeth  to  any 
Gods  but  the  Lord  alone  will  be  rooted  out'  He  then  charged 
Heretics  to  mark  the  abundance  of  her  Martyrs  as  a  sure  note 
of  the  true  Church  ;  he  charged  the  Lapsed  to  submit  to  the 
Cyprianic  discipline  ;  the  Virgins  to  maintain  their  constancy; 
all  to  be  in  obedience  to  the  Bishops  ;  the  Bishops  to  main- 
tain among  themselves  the  Cyprianic  Unity  as  the  one  true 
bond  of  the  laity.  He  ended,  '  This  is  the  true  suffering  for 
'  Christ's  sake,  namely,  to  copy  Christ  in  discourse,  and  to  be 
'in  one's  own  person  the  great  proof  of  t/ie  faith! 

Now,  should  God  give  Cyprian  any  such  message  it  would 
be  not  for  Cyprian's  sake  but  for  his  people's,  and  they 
should  hear  it.  Whenever  therefore  the  Proconsul  came,  then 
he  would  be  found.  The  Proconsul  came,  and  Cyprian  was 
at  home  in  his  Horti  at  once.  The  Proconsul  of  course  knew 
nothing  of  the  motives  of  his  movement,  and  naturally  deter- 
mining not  to  be  again  eluded,  ordered  a  sudden  descent'' 
upon  the  house. 

The  Thascian  gardens,  as  they  would  be  called,  lay  doubt- 
less in  the  vast  beautiful  quarter  which  has  been  all  gardens 

^  Ep.  8i.     It  is  to  this  dying  inspi-  'in  ilia  hora.' 
ration,  and  not  to  the  apologia  at  the         ^  Pontius  Vii.  15  has  a  platitude  on 

trial,   that   in   the  Epistle  to  Thibaris  his   own    'repente   subitavit'   and    the 

58,   5   Cyprian   applies   Matth.    x.    19  Proconsular  Acts  c.  2  give  the  'repente. ' 


XL 


THE  BIRTHDAY. 


497 


and  villas,  Roman,  Arab,  European,  ever  since  the  'rare,' 
'sparse'  native  kraals  called  Mapalia  disappeared  from  it, 
yet  left  their  name  behind.  Its  rich  trees  and  flowers  have 
seen  the  great  bare  hill  piled  with  marble  Carthage,  then 
stripped  to  build  Tunis  or  shipped  to  Pisa,  and  they  are  still 
there  in  their  glory.  The  Thascian  gardens  then  cannot 
have  been  very  far  from  the  Villa  of  Sextus  where  the  sick 
Proconsul  lay. 

Early  on  the  13th  September  an  unexpected  chariot  drove 
through  them  to  the  villa  door,  while  a  guard  of  soldiers  pre- 
vented other  egress\  The  chariot  brought  two  '  Principes' 
as  they  were  styled, — chief  centurions.  One  was  a  very 
important  officer  of  the  legion,  and  was,  besides,  the  Pro- 
consul's own  strator  or  equerry.  The  other  was  attached 
to  the  prison  department.  They  quietly  fetched  Cyprian 
out,  lifted  him  into  their  chariot  and  drove  away  with  him 
between  them*. 


1  This  only  can  have  been  the  use  of 
bringing  soldiers  to  the  villa. 

-  ...principes  duo  unus  strator  officii 
Galerii  Maximi  proconsulis  et  alius 
equistrator  a  custodiis  ejusdem  officii. 
Acta  Proc.  2. 

Anyone  must  be  struck  with  the  exact- 
ness of  the  terms  used  in  the  A  da  2,  and 
the  more  general  but  quite  correct  usage 
in  Pontius.  The  second  centurion  of  a 
legion  was  called/rm^z?  coho7-tis prhueps 
prior  or  prtnceps  prcEtorii,  C.  I.  L.  HI. 
i.  ■2917,  ii.  5293,  ox  %\m^\y  princeps.  His 
duties  required  the  assistance  of  an  ad- 
jut  or,  a  librarius  and  an  optio.  C.  I.  L. 
VIII.  i.  2555.  The  tabula  inilitares  were 
in  his  hands.  He  was  an  officer  of  much 
consideration.  C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.  2676, 
the  Princeps  of  the  3rd  Legion  builds 
a  temple  to  Invictus  Augustus  'jere 
sue  a  solo'  at  Lambsese.  Ibid.  2841, 
the  Princeps  of  the  3rd  legion  'vix.  an. 
LX...'  and  built  a  mausoleum  at  Rome 

B. 


'in  praediis  suis.'  Here  we  find  him 
able  to  receive  Cyprian  and  his  friends 
in  his  house  for  the  night. 

A  strator  originally  saddled  {sternere) 
the  great  officer's  horse  and  assisted 
him  to  mount.  The  Governors  of  im- 
perial provinces  and  the  Prasfect  of  the 
preetorium  had  stratores  personally  at- 
tached to  them ;  but  not  so  Proconsuls, 
who  were  required  to  employ  soldiers  in 
that  capacity.  (Ulpian,  ap.  Dig.  i,  16,  4, 
'  Nemo  proconsulum  stratores  suos  ha- 
bere potest  sed  vice  eorum  milites  mi- 
nisterio  in  provinces  funguntur.') 

Inscriptions  shew  that  the  dignity  of 
strator  was  valued  and  the  title  retained 
after  the  function  was  laid  down.  Com- 
pare Gruteri,  Corp.  Itiscrr.  I.  p.  631,  n. 
8,  'strator  consulis.'  C.  I.  L.  vii.  78, 
'strator  consularis' ;  viii.  i.  2748,  'prae- 
sidis  stratores,'  2957,  'istra/or  lega/i'; 
VIII.  ii.  9002,  'strator  ejus,'  sc.  of  the 
Prseses  of  both  Mauritanias. 

32 


498 


THE  BIRTHDAY. 


Everything  had  fallen  in  with  Cyprian's  plan.  He  should 
die  among  his  people.  As  he  left  his  door  for  the  last  time 
his  usual  '  serious  joyousness '  of  expression  was  transfigured 
by  *  the  manful  heart '  to  a  lofty  eagerness  and  almost  mirth- 
fulness* — which  was  indeed  to  break  out,  like  Sir  Thomas 
More's,  as  the  hour  drew  near. 

When  they  reached  the  Proconsul's  they  found  he  was 
again  too  ill  to  proceed  with  the  case^  He  remanded  the 
prisoner  till  next  day,  but  would  not  risk  his  returning  to 
his  home  or  even  going  upon  bail  to  friends.  He  was  com- 
mitted to  the  courteous  'free  custody'  of  the  first  Princeps 
himself,  and  in  his  house  within  the  city*  spent  the  evening 
as  usual  with  his  Deacons  and  with  the  higher  members  of 
his  own  household — the  household  of  a  Roman  gentleman  as 
well  as  Bishop  of  Carthage — and  with  other  intimate  friends*. 


In  Bollett.  dell.  Instil,  di  Corrispon- 
denza  Archeol.  i86o,  p.  2'2,  a  monument 
is  erected  'J.  Flavio  Sereno  perfectis- 
simo  viro  a  cognitionibus  Augusti...'  by 
his  'amici  et  stratores.'  C.  I.  L.  viil. 
i.  2792,  a  'signifer'  erects  a  monument 
to  his  brother,  a  'strator.' 

With  this  Princeps... Strator... Officii 
came  another,  princeps  Eqtiistrator  a 
custodiis,  i.e.  attached  to  the  department 
of  prisons.  So  Codex  Justin.  9,  4,  i, 
describes  those  'qui  stratorwxa.  fun- 
guntur  officio'  and  'ministri  eorum'  as 
able  to  inflict  suflFering  on  prisoners  and 
to  protract  their  detention.  This  one 
was  however  in  a  very  different  position 
from  the  first,  and  Pontius  only  mentions 
the  first,  in  whose  house  he  was  enter- 
tained for  the  night. 

1  Compare  Pont.  Vit.  6  and  15, 
•hilaritatem  prseferens  vultu  corde 
virtutem.' 

2  The  sequel  shews  that  Pontius,  Vit. 
15  was  hard  upon  him  in  setting  down 
to  laziness  or  caprice  the  remand  in 
which  he  saw  a  special  providence. 


It  was  expressly  assigned  to  the 
proconsul  to  settle  {cestimare)  whether 
persons  afterarrest  should  be  imprisoned, 
committed  to  sureties,  to  soldiers,  or  to 
their  own  houses,  and  he  was  bound 
to  take  into  consideration  the  office, 
estate,  or  dignity  of  the  person  as  well 
as  the  character  of  the  charge.  Digesta, 

48,  3.  I- 

^  '  In  vico  qui  dicitur  Satumi,  between 
the  Via  Venerea  and  the  Via  Salutaris.' 
Act.  Proc.  2.  We  ought  indeed  to  be 
able  to  identify  a  site  noted  for  us  so 
carefully  and  near  to  two  if  not  three  of 
the  chief  temples  of  Carthage.  But  the 
construction  of  a  vast  precinct  on  the 
crown  of  the  Byrsa  and  the  pursuit  of 
museum  objects,  even  if  the  advertise- 
ments of  'Terrains  k  vendre,  a  batir '  are 
fruitless,  must  long  preclude  the  develop- 
ment of  sites. 

•*  '  Receptum  eum  tamen  et  in  domo 
principis  constitutum  una  nocte  continuit 
custodia  delicata,  ita  ut  convivse  ejus  et 
cari  in  contubemio  ex  more  fuerimus.' 
Pont.  Vit.  15.   Several  interesting  points 


XL  THE  BIRTHDAY.  499 

The  first  convoy  had  passed  so  quickly  through  a  quiet 
quarter  to  the  Proconsul's,  that  none  were  aware  of  it,  until 
Cyprian  was  again  on  his  way  to  the  house  of  the  Princeps. 
Then  the  rumour  ran  fast.  Thascius  the  famous  orator,  the 
benefactor  in  the  plagueS  was  in  custody.  It  was  a  spectacle 
of  regret  to  the  pagans,  of  veneration  to  the  faithful.  A  vast 
multitude  assembled.  The  whole  Christian  '  Commons,'  so  it 
was  said,  watched  the  house  lest  the  least  movement  should 
escape  them.  Afterwards  they  realized  that  they  had  been 
keeping  the  Vigil  of  the  Martyr.  One  message  they  received 
from  within  in  the  course  of  the  night,  a  charge  that  the 
maidens  who  were  abroad  should  be  well  cared  for*. 

The  morrow  rose  with  the  broad  pure  blaze  of  the  African 
sky  without  fleck  of  cloud.  The  bay  was  a  sea  of  glass 
mingled  with  fire.  A  wonderful  walk  lay  before  him  as  he 
turned  away  to  the  north-west.  The  crush  of  public  buildings 
on  the  High  Byrsa,  the  narrow  streets  of  tall  houses  falling 
down  from  it  on  all  sides,  the  mass  and  the  fierce  colouring 
of  the  immense  temples,  the  vast  palaces  of  base  and  savage 
amusement — how  long  would  this  order  of  things  last .''  what 
would  become  of  it,  face  to  face  with  the  Bishops  and 
Councils  when  they  should  come  to  their  strength,  as  even 
now  they  represented  a  New  Order  well  begun  ?  The  City  of 
God  rose  before  him  more  solid  than  those  material  amazing 
bulwarks,  grander  than  the  majesty  of  Roman  Law,  more  real 
than  the  immeasurable  force  behind  it. 

His  path  led  across  the  Stadium.     As  he  crossed  it  his 

appear.      Receptum     (technical    word)  ^  Pont.  FiV.  15;  cf.  ii,  illequi  fecerat 

in   carcerem    {Digesta,  48,  3,    i,  2)  or  boni  aliquid  pro  civitatis  saluti. 

as  here   in  custodiam  (ibid.   10).     Not  '  This  was  the  subject  within  half  a 

merely    *  libera   custodia'   but   delicata,  century  of  a  special  canon.    Cone.  Eli- 

which  refers  to  the  entertainment.    Con-  berit.  can.  xxxv.     Labbe,  Mansi,  Flor. 

viv(E,  in  its  post-classical  sense,  of  the  1759,  ^-  "•  ^^'  "•     -^"S-  Serm.  309, 

higher  rank  of  the  people  of  a  great  4,  treats  this  as  a  marked  instance  of 

household.     Ex   more,    the   style   and  'pastoral  wakefulness.' 
habit  of  Cyprian. 

32—2 


SOO  THE   BIRTHDAY. 

companions  thought,  if  he  did  not,  of  a  race  run  and  an  ex- 
pectant crown.  He  had  left  the  Chief  Centurion's  threshold, 
looking  like  a  Chief  Centurion  himself*  with  a  Diviner  com- 
mission*. He  moved  in  the  centre  of  the  guard  of  officers 
and  soldiers,  followed  by  an  endlessly  gathering  army,  who 
looked,  says  the  eyewitness,  as  if  they  were  '  on  the  march  to 
take  Death  by  storm.' 

The  Proconsul  had  actually  summoned  the  populace  to 
the  villa  of  Sextus',  so  resolved  was  he  that  a  great  blow 
should  be  struck,  a  great  example  made. 

The  smooth  paved  road  was  deep  and  silent  with 
dust,  as  they  emerged  from  the  dark  close  streets  on  the 
luxuriant  plain.  Among  the  date  palms  ripening  for  the 
gathering,  and  high  above  the  silver  olives,  on  whose  fruit  the 
final  bloom  was  just  appearing,  the  cypresses  towered  black 
and  still.  The  stubble  of  the  reaped  corn  was  standing  deep, 
the  vines  had  been  relieved  of  their  burdens,  the  grassy  slopes 
were  white  with  the  long  summer,  and  the  vast  carpets  of 
dazzling  flowers  had  faded,  all  but  the  invincible  dark  green 
asphodel. 

Beyond  the  wide  and  peerless  tract  of  vegetation  were  the 
glowing  hills,  dense  with  brushwood  of  cistus  and  cytisus, 
myrtle  and  lentisk,  gaps  opening  into  the  world's  cornfields, 
and  the  solemn  aqueduct  bringing  rivers  of  living  water  from 
mountains  leagues  away. 

How  much  of  natural  things  filled  the  old  man's  eye  we 
know  not — he  was  beyond  caring  for  little  things,  but  no  man 
knows  whether  those  things  are  little.  Certainly  he  had  not 
lost  that  humorous  observation  which  has  sometimes  caught 
us  unexpectedly  in  gravest  moments. 

^  Egressus  est  domum  Principis  sed  ad  Sexti,  secundum  proeceptum  Galeiii 

Christi  et  Dei  Princeps,  Pont.   Vit.  i6;  Maximi  proconsulis. 

compare  i8.  This  became  later  on,  as  in  Bede's 

2  Ex  omni  parte  vallatus,  Pont.  Vit.  Martyrology  (i8  Kal.    Oct.)   and  else- 

i6.  where,    'sexto   milliario   a    Carthagine 

2  Acta  Proc.  3,  multa  turba  convenit  juxta  mare.' 


XI.  THE   BIRTHDAY.  $01 

They  reached  the  Praetorium.  The  crowd  was  great. 
The  hearing  was  appointed  for  an  open  colonnaded  court 
called  Atrium  Sauciolum}.  Again  the  Proconsul  was  unable 
to  receive  him  at  once  and  a  more  retired  room  was  at  his 
service  to  rest  in.  The  seat,  so  it  happened,  was  covered  with 
a  white  linen  cloth  like  a  bishop's  chair  in  the  apse.  His 
clothes  were  soaked  through  and  through  with  perspiration 
from  such  a  walk.  One  of  the  officers^  whose  business  was 
to  carry  the  Proconsul's  passwords  to  the  posts,  offered  him  a 
change  of  clothes.  Humanely  but,  Pontius  thought,  not  quite 
disinterestedly.  He  was  a  Lapsed  Christian  and  knew  the 
yet  innocent  store  set  by  Relics'.  Cyprian  himself  only 
replied,  '  Cures  for  complaints  that  will  be  over  maybe  in  the 
day ! ' 

At  last  the  Proconsul  asked  for  him.  He  was  hastily 
ushered  in  and  was  face  to  face  with  the  great  governor 
sitting  in  his  civil  dress  between  the  high  officers  of  his 
staff  and  leading  provincials  who  formed  his  council ;  behind 
him  six  lictors  with  the  rods  and  axes*;  before  him  a  small 
tripod,  or  a  chafing  dish  with  live  coals  in  it,  and  a  box 
of  incense.  It  was  a  brief  trial,  for  Roman  courts  were 
rational.  He  was  arraigned  on  the  one  count  of  Sacrilege. 
As    Sacrilege  legally  covered  every  violation  of  or  careless 

^  Atrium  Sancioliim.     Acta  Proc.  3.  not  such  a  place.     Criminals  would  not 

The  only  illustration    I   know  of  this  be   beheaded   within   the  house.     The 

mysterious   name  was   pointed  out   by  appropriation  of  the  name  to  a  death- 

Bp.  Fell.  In  the  great  Frankish  Council  chamber    must   have    been    altogether 

at  Macon  under  king  Guntramn,  A.D.  later. 

585,  any  Cleric  is  forbidden  to  attend  ^  '  Quidam  ex  Tesserariis, '  Pont.  Vit. 

'ad  locum  examinationis  reorum' — {i.e.  16;  see  Diet.  Gk.  and  Rom.  Antt.  vol. 

place  of  torture,  cf.  Tert.  Scorpiace,  7,  i.  pp.  377,  801. 

martyria    fidei    examinatoria) — 'neque  ^  Pontius  too,  Vit.  16,  'sudores  jam 

intersit  atrio  saueiolo  iibi  pro  reatus  sui  sanguineos '  is  a  curious  exaggeration. 

qualitate    quispiam   iiiterficiendus    est.'  *  Acta  Proc.  3,   4.     Pont.     Vit.   16. 

Cone.    Matisconense,  ii.  can.   xix.   ap.  Cf.  Digesta,  i,  16,  14. 

Labbe,  Mansi,  Florentise,  1763,  t.  IX.  On  the  curious  insignia  ('symbola') 

col.  956.    No  Roman  court  would  bear  which   belonged   to   the   Proconsul   of 

a  name  meaning  'place  of  execution';  Africa,  see  Revue  Africaine,  vol.  viii. 

Galerius's '  atrium  sauciolum '  was  clearly  p.  323. 


$02  THE   BIRTHDAY. 

offence  against  the  Divine  Law,  which  Law  included  expres- 
sions of  the  Emperor's  will,  no  Christian  lawyer  would  quibble 
at  the  term  or  pretend  that  he  was  not  daily  and  wilfully  guilty 
of  it\ 

The  imperial  note  had  as  before  particularized  Cyprian. 

Galerius  spoke.       You  are  Thascius  Cyprianus  ? 

Cyprian.     I  am. 

Galerius.  You  have  lent  yourself  to  be  a  pope  to  persons 
of  sacrilegious  views. 

Cyprian.     I  have. 

Galerius.  The  most  hallowed  emperors  have  ordered  you 
to  perform  the  rite. 

Cyprian.     I  do  not  offer. 

Galerius.     Do  consider  yourself. 

Cyprian.  Do  what  you  are  charged  to  do.  In  a  matter 
so  straightforward  there  is  nothing  to  consider^. 

That  was  all.  The  Proconsul  conferred  with  his  council 
to  make  the  process  technically  correct ^  And  then,  a  re- 
luctant and  a  very  ailing  man,  he  with  difficulty  yet  with 
sternest  concurrence,  explained  the  new  criminality  and 
justified  the  new  and  necessary  penalty.  It  was  simply  for 
being  the  Bishop  of  the  modern  and  spreading  union  that  he 
was  to  suffer*. 

1  Qui  Divinae  legis  sanctitatem  aut  observations. — Facio  is  the  sacrificial 
nesciendo  confundunt  aut  negligendo  word.  He  refuses  to  burn  incense. — 
violant  et  offendunt  sacrilegium  com-  In  r^  ^aw  y/w/rt, 'regular,  ordinary':  so 
mittunt.-.Disputari  de  principali  judicio  justum  iter,  j.  anni,  statttra,  altitudo 
non  oportet :  sacrilegii  enim  instar  est  miiri—\\  do  not  know  the  word  cari- 
dubitare  an  is  dignus  sit  quern  elegerit  moniari  elsewhere]. 

imperator.      Cod.   yust.    9,    29,   i,    2.  ^  Any  grave  decision  had  to  be  pro- 

This  is  a  later  exposition  of  the  prin-  nounced  de  consilii  sententia.     The  pro- 

ciple    (Graizan),    but    the   well-known  consul  was  bound  to  consult  them  but 

earlier  definitions  are  more  severe.  not  bound  even  by  a  majority  of  their 

2  Consule  tibi... nulla  est  consultatio,  opinions. 

Ada  Proc.  3.  Quod  caro  et  sanguis  •*  Ada  Proc.  4.  'Sanguine  tuo  san- 
diceret  stolide  (noverat)  hoc  diabolum  «V/wr  disciplina.'  So  Pontius,  Vit.  17, 
dicere  subdole,  Aug.  Serm.  309,  5.  ...quod  sanguine  ejus  inciperet  disci- 
Certain  translations  seem  to  make  plina  sanciri. — '  Prior  in  provincia  mar- 
it  well  to  offer  these  merely  grammatical  tyrii  primitias  dedicavit,'  which  in  19 


XL  THE  BIRTHDAY.  503 

He  said,  'Your  life  has  long  been  led  in  a  sacrilegious 
'  mode  of  thought — you  have  associated  yourself  with  a  very 
*  large  number  of  persons  in  criminal  complicity :  you  have 
'  constituted  yourself  an  antagonist  to  the  gods  of  Rome  and 
'  to  their  sacred  observances.  Nor  have  our  pious  and  most 
'  hallowed  princes,  Valerian  and  Gallien  the  Augusti,  and 
'Valerian  the  most  noble  Caesar^  been  able  to  recal  you  to 
'  the  obedience  of  their  own  ceremonial.  And  therefore, 
'whereas  you  have  been  clearly  detected^  as  the  instigator 
'  and  standard-bearer  in  very  bad  offences,  you  shall  in  your 
'  own  person  be  a  lesson  to  those ' — they  were  present — '  whom 
'  you  have  by  guilt  of  your  own  associated  with  you.  Disci- 
'  pline  shall  be  ratified  with  your  blood.'  He  then  took  the 
prepared  tablet  and  read,  '  Our  pleasure  is  that  Thascius 
Cyprianus  be  executed  with  the  sword.' 

'  Thanks  be  to  God,'  said  Cyprian. 

To  the  bosom  friends  who  had  realized  that  this  was  the 
revealed  '  morrow '  and  this  the  sentence  suspended  in  the 
dream  a  year  ago,  every  word  of  the  judge  seemed  beyond 
himself  and  spiritual  and  prophetic  in  the  manner  of  Caiaphas. 
It  was  all  true — 'standard-bearer'  he  was — 'foe  of  the  gods' 
he  was, — and  a  fresh  'discipline'  of  martyrdom  was  inaugu- 
rated, consecrated. 

But  the  Christian  multitude  broke  out  in  a  more  human 


he    expands    'sacerdotales  coronas   in  gave  him  the  title  of  Augustus,  and  on 

Africa  primus   imbueret,'  &c.  his  tomb  at  Milan  he  was  called   Im- 

^  This  passage  answers  Eckhel,  who  perator.     Treb.    Poll.    Valeriani  Duo, 

says  (vol.  vii.  p.  427)  that  the  young  c.  8.     The  young  Valerian  was  'forma 

Valerian  never  became  either  Augustus  conspicuus,  verecundia  probabilis,  eru- 

or  Csesar.     But  in  the  British  Museum  ditione  pro  setate  clarus,  moribus  perju- 

there  is  a  beautiful  medallion  of  these  cundus,'  a  contrast  to  his  half-brother 

three   heads   with   Salonina,    inscribed  Gallien. 

'  Pietas  Augustorum,  Concordia  Augus-  -  'Deprehensus,'  Acta  Proc.  4:  Cod. 

torum.'     Grueber,  Roman   Medallions,  Theodos.  <),   16,   11,  quicuraque...audie- 

Br.  Mus.   pi.    xlvii.    4.     Several   laws  rit,   deprehenderit,  occupaverit.     Paul. 

of   dates    255 — 260    are    under    their  Smtt.  2,  26,  2,  deprehenderit.    Gaius, 

names  in  Codex  Justinianus.    Gallienus  3,  198,  in  ipso  dehcto  deprehendere. 


504  THE  BIRTHDAY. 

cry,  *  And  let  us  be  beheaded  too — along  with  him.'  There 
was  something  like  the  beginning  of  a  disturbance*.  And 
the  great  company,  whose  presence  had  been  invited,  moved 
onwards  with  him  as  he  left  the  doors,  guarded  by  a  detach- 
ment of  the  famous  Third  Legion,  with  its  centurions  and 
tribunes  on  either  side  of  him. 

Their  short  march,  still  within  the  grounds  of  Sextus,  was 
to  a  level  space  surrounded  with  steep  high  slopes  thick  with 
trees.  It  was  an  amphitheatre^  but  on  a  scale  too  large  for 
distinct  seeing,  while  below  the  multitude  was  one  mass. 
Many  who  were  in  sympathy  (and  there  were  many  besides 
the  Christians^)  with  the  great  old  citizen  and  friend  of  the 
city  had  climbed  into  the  trees  to  see  the  end. 

They  saw  the  halt.  They  saw  the  legionaries  enclose  a  space 
in  the  midst  of  which  stood  Cyprian  with  his  Deacons,  Pontius 
and  others,  the  Presbyter  Julian  and  Julian  the  Subdeacon. 
He  undid  his  shoulder-clasp  and  took  off  his  white  woollen 
cape  ;  then  at  once  knelt  on  the  ground,  and  prostrated  himself 
in  prayer.  When  he  rose  this  seemed  the  moment  in  which  the 
looked-for  prophecy  would  be  uttered. 

He  had  longed,  and  he  had  himself  expected  that  his  last 
words  on  earth  would  be  given  to  him  from  above.  But  now  he 
spoke  not.  He  quietly  took  off  his  dalmatic,  and  gave  it  to  his 
deacons,  and  stood  upright  and  silent  in  his  long  white  and 
girdled  tunic  of  linen.  We  should  know  him  very  imperfectly 
if  we  did  not  think  how  his  yearning  went  out  to  the  yearning 
of  his  people.  No  man  was  more  capable  of  simple  moving 
speech  rich  with  the  truth  he  had  loved,  and  fraught  with  the  full 
significance  of  that  hour ;  and  it  would  have  been  no  wonder 
if,  in  that  exalted  frame  of  mind,  the  thoughts  that  gathered 

''■Ada    Proc.    5,    '  hwmltiis   fratrum  sem  forte  prsetereuntem,  j/^^/acw/i?  the- 

exortus  est. '  atri  prospectam,   hostiliter  invaserunt.* 

"^  Pont.  Vit.  18,  'Ut... sublime specta-  So  spedacula  is  constantly  the  blocks 

culum    prrebeat.'     For  spedacuhun    in  of  seats. 

this  sense  of 'aseeing-place,' cf.  Orosius,  ^  '  Personae  faventes,' Pont.  Vit.  i^. 
Hist.  iv.  I,  '...Tarentini  Romanam  clas- 


XI.  THE  BIRTHDAY.  $0$ 

thick  upon  him  had  presented  themselves  to  him  as  the  ex- 
pected message  of  God.  Nothing  could  so  perpetuate  the  Unity 
which  he  had  lived  for  in  the  Church  as  that  he  should  place 
the  seal  upon  it  now\  But  nothing  came  to  him  which  he 
could  distinguish  from  the  working  of  his  own  mind,  nothing 
which  he  could  recognize  as  '  given  him '  in  that  moment. 
He  knew  that  his  every  word  would  be  accepted  as  an  in- 
spiration. And  he  was  silent.  He  might  disappoint  them 
but  he  would  not  delude  them  for  their  good. 

There  was  a  delay  in  the  arrival  of  the  executioner-. 
When  he  appeared  Cyprian  with  his  usual  largeness  of  ideas 
about  money  desired  his  friends  to  give  him  twenty-five  gold 
pieces  ^  The  grass  before  his  feet  was  now  strewn  by  the 
Christian  bystanders  who  stood  nearest  with  linen  cloths 
and  handkerchiefs*. 

He  took  a  handkerchief,  perhaps  one  of  these ;  folded  it 
and  covered  his  eyes  with  it,  and  began  to  tie  the  ends,  but 

^  So  the  Martyr  Montanus  re-enun-  avrod,  /cat  direXdwv  d.iriK€(p6.\i(Xiv  avrov 

dated    Cyprian's    principles,    Ruinart,  ei>  ry  (pvXaK-^. — In  Senec.  c/e  Ira,  i.    16 

Pnssio  Montani.  the  speculator  is  the  executioner  (infr. 

"  Speculator.     The  form  spictdator  in  p.  506,  n.  2  on  centurion  and  speculator). 

^^A /Vi?r.  5,  is  due  to  a  wrong  derivation  At  Lambffise  are  three  inscriptions  on 

and   is   not  found  in  the  Inscriptions.  speculatorcs  of  the  Third  Legion,  Cmp. 

Livyxxxi.  24, using  the  word  to  represent  Inscrr.  Latt.  viii.  i.  ■2603,  2890,  2989; 

' /i^w^t^^ww^j  ingens  uno  die  emetientes  another,  4381,  at  Seriana  calls  one  of 

spatium  '    incidentally    gives    the    true  the  same  legion  rarissivius  filius. 
derivation,  a  specula — a  look-out  officer.  3  -phe  aureus,  equivalent  under  Au- 

There   were   to   each   legion   ten   such  gustus  to  the  forty-sixth  part  of  a  libra 

officers  of  the  rank  ^principales,'  next  or  126  English  grains  of  gold,  had  sunk 

below  centurions,  who  carried  the  dis-  by  Gallienus'  time  to  about  70  grains 

patches    very    rapidly,    and    as    alert  Troy,  which  in  English  money  would 

athletic  men  were  also  the  usual  execu-  be  about  iis.  8d.,  so  that  the  fee  which 

tioners.     They  carried  Caius' dispatches  Cyprian  gave  was  nearly  ;[^  15.     Maxi- 

in   state  to  the  Senate  on  his  absurd  milian    gave    the    speculator   his    new 

conquest  of  Britain,  Suet.  Calig.  44,  and  military  suit,  Ruinart,  Acta  Sti.  Maxi- 

brought   to  Vitellius   the  news  of  the  miliani  M.  iii. 

submission  of  the  East  from  Syria  and  ■*  Acta  Proc.  5,  linteamina  et  manu- 

Judaea,  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  73.    For  the  other  alia.     Manualis,  not  a  classical  word. 

capacity.seeMarkvi.  27,  28...  (TTreKouXa-  See  infr.  The  dress  of  Cyprian,  4,  la- 

Topa   kiriTa^ev    hexOrivai.   T-qv    Ke<pa\rtv  cinicE  manuales,  p.  516. 


$06  THE  BIRTHDAY. 

this  was  not  easy,  and  the  two  Julians  tied  them,  while  he  held 
it  to  his  eyes*.  He  said  something  to  quicken  the  movements 
of  the  soldier.  Then  occurred  a  singular  circumstance,  missed 
in  every  rendering  of  the  event  which  I  have  seenl  Astonished 
at  the  good-will  expressed  to  him  by  so  generous  a  gift  for 
such  an  office,  or  touched  with  the  sight  of  so  venerable  and 
unusual  a  figure  awaiting  his  stroke,  or  moved  by  the  sur- 
rounding sympathy,  or  it  may  be  by  a  secret  leaning  towards 
the  faith,  the  headsman  dropped  his  hand  and  could  scarcely 
close  his  trembling  fingers  on  the  hilt  of  his  broadsword. 

Seeing  him  utterly  unnerved  the  centurion  in  command  of 
the  party  stepped  forward,  and,  to  those  who  waited  for  the 
very  ripeness  of  the  hour  of  this,  the  promised  '  Morrow,' 
a  preternatural  strength  seemed  to  be  in  his  one  stroked 

'And  so  suffered  the  blessed  Cyprian ^' 

The  demeanour  of  the  populace  was  remarkable.  Augus- 
tine'  indeed  speaks  in  a  conventional  way  of  the    'savage 

^  This  is  what  Pontius  means  by  his  speculator  to  be  the  centurion.    Pontius, 

slight  note  of  correction  to  the  Acta.  who  was  close  to  them  and  saw  exactly 

Up  to  this  point  Pontius  has  left  out  all  what  happened,  here  again  completes 

detail  from  the  moment  that  Cyprian  the  Acts,  which  say  only 'ita  beatus  Cy- 

entered  the  'convallis,'  because,  as  he  prianus  passus  est.'     He  relates  clearly 

says  in  c.   ii,  sunt  Acta  qtue  referatit.  enough;  if  only  it  is  known  that  the 

Buthere  the ^c/j,  5, say, 'beatus  Cypria-  speculator,  or  'camifex,'  'cujus  munus 

nus  manu  sua  oculos  sibi  texit,  qui  cum  est    ferrum,'    and   the   centurion   were 

lacinias  manuales  ligare  sibi  non  potuis-  officers   of  utterly  different  grade  and 

set,  Julianus  presbyter  et  Julianus  sub-  position.     The    headsman    failing,   his 

diaconus  ei  ligaverunt.'     Pontius,  who  superior  officer  acted  so  as  to  close  the 

was  close  to  him,  does  not  wish  this  to  be  painful  scene  {Vit.  18).     See  note,  p. 

understood,  as  it  might  be,  that  Cyprian  h°hi  n.  2,  and  compare  Seneca,  de  Ira, 

merely  placed  his  hand  over  his  eyes,  i-    16,  'Tunc   centurio,  supplicio   prse- 

while  his  friends  put  on  the  handkerchief,  positus,  condere  gladium  speculatorem 

and  so  says  (18)  'ligatis/<?r  mamts  suas  jubet.' 

oculis '  with  the  help  of  his  own  hands —  ^  '  Clarificationis  hora  matura'... '  con- 
he   held  it  from  slipping  down  while  cesso  desuper  vigore,' Pont.  Vit.  18. 
they  tied   it,  which   he  could  not  do.  •*  Acta  Proc.  5. 

All    these   little   touches   put   together  '  S.  Aug.  .SVr///.  310,  2.    ^Calcabatur^ 

mark  the  genuineness  of  the  account.  however  is  metaphorical,  as  it  is  in  his 

-  Marshall,  Tillemont,  Rettberg,  C.  next  sermon. 
Thornton,  Wallis  and  all  imagine  the 


XI.  THE  BIRTHDAY.  $0/ 

multitude '  as  contrasted  with  the  communions  of  after  years 
held  on  that  same  ground.  But  at  the  time  there  was  no 
triumph,  no  molestation.  There  was  evident  surprise.  And 
they  wished  to  gaze  more  closely  on  the  man  who  had  been  an 
acknowledged  benefactor  to  the  city,  and  yet  (so  they  were 
assured)  was  a  deadly  enemy  of  the  State,  head  in  all  Africa  of 
an  unfathomable  society  whose  unity  was  coextensive  with 
the  unity  of  the  Empire ;  a  man  who  would  sooner  die  than 
consider  whether  he  could  honour  the  gods. 

They  came  and  went  while  daylight  lasted.  Through 
the  night  the  Christians,  still  unhindered  \  bore  him  with  wax 
lights  and  torches,  with  '  prayer  and  a  great  triumph,'  to  the 
cemetery  of  Macrobius  Candidianus.  Bearing  the  name  of  a 
former  Procurator  as  its  owner  or  founder,  this  resting-place 
can  scarcely  have  been  appropriated  yet  by  Christians.  It 
lay  within  the  beautiful  region  of  the  Mapalia,  yet  close  to 
the  busy  street  and  gate  of  the  city  proper^  and  near  to  the 
cisterns  of  Maalka  into  which  the  enormous  aqueduct  poured 
its  ceaseless  river. 

The  effect  upon  the  Christian  multitude  assembled  by 
Galerius  was  the  reverse  of  what  he  contemplated.  Their 
Martyr  had  fallen  as  he  resolved,  among  them.  And  he  was 
the  first  Martyr  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  Carthage,  or,  as  they 
believed,  of  Proconsular  Africa^  since  its  foundation  in  the 
Apostolic  age.  There  grew  on  them  also  touches  of  im- 
mediate likeness  to  Christ's  Passion — his  being  carried  to 
judgment  between  the  two  apparitors*,  the  Zacchaeuses  who 

^  The   Proconsul  could  not   at   this  natorum,'  Digesta,  48,  24,   i,  3.     (See 

time  have  refused,  if  he  would,  to  give  De  Rossi,  Bollettino,  ann.  11.  p.  27.) 
up   the  body.     Ulpianus,    libro  ix.  de  '^  I   venture  here   to    assert   vi^hat   I 

officio  proconsulis,  'Corpora  eorum  qui  think  can  be  shewn;  see  p.  509. 
capite    damnantur    cognatis    ipsorum  ^  We  have  Pontius'  clear  statement 

neganda  non   sunt';   but  Paulus  says,  of  this,  Vii.    17,  19,  but  it  is  singular 

'Corpora   animadversorum   quibuslibet  if  there  was  no  instance  in  the  province 

petentibus  ad  sepulturam  danda  sunt.'  during  the  Decian  persecution. 
Ulpian  adds,   '  Nonnunquam  non  per-  *  This    is    significantly    touched    in 

mittitur  maxime  majestatis  causa  dam-  the  Acta^  2,   '  levaverunt  in  medioque 


508  THE  BIRTHDAY. 

had  climbed  the  trees  to  see  him  approach,  the  prophecy  of 
the  Gentile  ruler  like  that  of  the  High-priest.  But  even  such 
glorying  in  him  was  outdone  by  a  sense  of  consecration  in 
themselves.  For  years  he  had  taught  them  that  martyrdom 
was  not  a  mere  opportunity  of  suffering :  that  it  consisted  in 
clear  realization  and  self-devotion \  Never  had  he  expressed 
this  more  forcibly  than  since  it  was  evident  that  the  oppor- 
tunity would  be  his.  The  last  words  of  his  last  manual  were 
to  this  effect — '  If  persecution  finds  God's  soldier  in  this 
'mind... and  he  is  called  away  without  attaining  "martyrdom" 
'the  faith  which  was  ready  to  welcome  it  will  not  lose  its 
'  reward.  The  wages  of  God  are  paid  in  full  without  any 
'  deductions  for  lack  of  opportunity.  The  crown  is  given  for 
'  field-service  in  time  of  persecution  ;  in  time  of  peace  it  is 
'  given  to  him  who  is  certain  of  His  wilP.' 

The  eyewitness  who  confesses  like  a  child  that,  in  his 
own  heart,  sorrow  was  stronger  than  joy,  treats  the  ejacula- 
tions of  the  people — '  let  us  be  beheaded  too ' — as  no  mere 
outburst,  but  as  a  solemn  record  made  before  Christ's  eyes  in 
the  ears  of  His  blindfold  martyr ;  a  message  to  Himself  com- 
mitted to  that  faithful  ambassador  on  the  part  of  many  that 
they  themselves  were  very  martyrs  in  willl  Cynicism  is  cheap. 
But  if  we  recollect  in  how  short  a  time  a  frenzy  of  martyrdom 
possessed  those  regions,  we  may  see  little  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  faith  made  a  forward  bound  that 
hour ;  little  reason  to  question  the  reality  of  the  joy  in  which 
after  their  long  vigil,  the  Christians  left  Cyprian  in  the  pagan 
sepulchre,  and  went  home  in  a  consciousness  that  they  too 
were  'Crowned*'  in  him. 

posuerunt, '  and  somewhat  rudely  forced  his  Ad  Fortunatum. 

by  Augustine,  Serm.   309,  3.  ^  '  Conscientia.'     Ad  Fortunat.  fin. 

^  Demortalitate,\'j.Voxi\:\v&,Vit.\%,  »  Pont.     Vit.    18,    'publicata    voce.' 

says  that  the  people  (whose  will  was  Pontius  refers  again  to  the  Acta  Proc. 

truly  to  suffer  with  him)  'compassus  est ;  5  init.     These  concluding  lines  of  Pon- 

et  sicut  ipso  tractante  semper  audierat,  tius,  c.  18,  are  worth  marking. 
Deojudicecoronatusest.'   There  is  here  *   '  Gaudiumpassionis,' Pont.  F//.  19; 

a  verbal  reference  to  the  quoted  close  of  '  compassus... coronatus,'  Pont.  Vit.  18. 


ENVIRONS  OF  CARTHAGE 


Stanford^  HeogtxiphBccd  Establishment 


London  :  Macmillaji  &  C°L  . 


XI.  THE  BIRTHDAY.  509 


Where  was  Cyprian  Martyr  buried  *  f 

He  was  brought  with  torchlight  procession^  'ad  areas  Macrobii  Can- 
didiani  procuratoris  quae  sunt  in  via  Mappaliensi  juxta  Piscinas.'  Here 
are  three  points.  Tissot  has  translated  the  first  point  to  mean  '  la  maison 
'  du  procurateur  Macrobe  dans  la  cour  extdrieure  de  laquelle  fut  enterre 
'  le  corps  du  martyr ^'  But  Areas  as  usual  means  '  the  burial  place*.'  And 
Macrobius  could  not  well  be  the  procurator  at  that  time,  because  to  wel- 
come Cyprian's  remains  would  have  implied  relations  with  Christianity 
at  least  kindly,  and  for  a  great  official  dangerous,  whereas  during  the 
vacancy  after  Galerius'  death,  which  immediately  followed  Cyprian's,  the 
then  procurator  governed  the  province  with  almost  furious  rigour  against 
the  Christians^  [In  a  proconsular  or  senatorial  province  the  Procurator 
was  over  the  branch  of  the  Fiscus,  and  in  matters  of  inheritance,  legacies 
and  various  Imperial  dues,  had  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  Pro- 
consul himself.  We  have  inscriptions  relating  to  three  'Procuratores 
Africae  Tractus  KarthaginiensisV  as  well  as  to  other  'Tracts,'  Hippo, 
Hadrumetum,  Theveste.]  These  ArecB  then  in  which  Cyprian  was 
buried  were  no  doubt  a  cemetery  provided  or  founded  by  a  former 
procurator,  and  bearing  his  name,  as  those  at  Rome  bore  the  names  of 
their  founders. 

Where  were  these  Arecef  They  were  'in  via  Mappaliensi,'  a  second 
point.  Provided  in  Roman  times,  they  would  probably  be  outside  the 
city  proper.  Old  Carthage  (wrote  Cornelius  Nepos)  'had  the  aspect  of  a 
double  city,'  the  'outer  town'  of  the  Magalia  'embracing'  the  inner 
Byrsa  and  precinct '^.     But  the  limited  space,  the  wall  along  the  bay,  and 

^  Since  the  text  and  following  notes  also  at  Carthage  Montanus desires  '...in 

have  been  in  print  the  third  Livraison  medio  eorum  in  area  solum  servari  jussit 

has  appeared  of  the  magnificent  Atlas  ut  nee  sepulturse  consortio  privaretur,' 

Archeologiqiie   de  la    Tiinisie,    Edition  Passio SS.  Montanihz.c.yi.v.{K\x\Txz.x\.); 

Speciah,  published  by  the  Ministire  de  at  Cirta  people  were  shut  up  'in  area 

la    Guerre,    with   explanatory   text    by  martyrum...in  casa  majore,'  C^j/a  a/?<i^ 

E.  Babelon,  R.  Cagnat  and  S.  Reinach.  Zenophilum,  ap.  Dupin's  Optatus  (Paris, 

Feuille  xiv.  is  La  Marsa,  with  a  sup-  1702),  p.  170.    De  Rossi  explains,  .S^;//^/- 

plementary  chart  and  text.     This  has  tino,  ann.  ll.  p.  27,  that  casa  means  a 

not  necessitated  any  alteration  in  this  sepulchral  cell. 

work,  but  the  plan  in  this  volume  is  '  Ruinart,    Fassio    SS.    Montani   et 

mainly  drawn  from  these  maps.  Liicii,  A.D.  259,  ii.  vi.  &c. 

'  Acta  Proc.  5.  ^  Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.   Vlll.  i.    1269, 

*  Tissot,  vol.  I.  p.  660.  1578,  ii-  10570. 

*  Tertull.  adScap.  3, '...sub  Hilariano  ^  Fragm.  Cornelii  Nep.  ap.  Servium 
prseside  cum  de  areis  sepulturarum  nos-  ad  M,n.  i.  368  (see  Thilo  and  Hagen's 
trarum  adclamassent  Arese  non  sint';  Servius,  Leips.  1878),  'Carthago  antea 


510 


THE  BIRTHDAY. 


the  harbours  must  have  early  squeezed  out  the  Magalia  on  those  sides 
and  left  it  lying  mainly  on  the  north,  but  still  gfiving  the  'aspect  of  a 
double  city.'  North  of  the  double  city,  called  Byrsa  from  the  citadel 
round  which"  it  hung,  Megara,  or  'The  New  Town,'  spread  to  the 
sea,  and  north  to  the  sandy  dunes  between  Kamart  and  Sidi  bou 
Said.  It  was  a  vast  suburb  full  of  gardens  and  villas,  as  it  still  is, 
the  present  El-Marsa,  and  was  not  merely  coextensive  with  the 
region  of  the  Mapalia\  which  bore  to  the  latest  times  the  native 
name  of  the  Hut-farms  whose  circles  once  covered  it 2.  The  Via 
Mappaliensis  was  no  doubt  the  road  or  street  which  ran  out  by  the  west  of 
the  Byrsa  through  the  Mapalia.  Such  a  road  there  is  traversing  its  whole 
length  ;  an  antient  road,  with  its  many  cross  roads  at  exact  right  angles. 
It  was  on  this  street  in  the  Mapalia  itself  that  the  Area  lay. 

Genseric  occupied  a  number  of  churches  outside  the  wall,  and  par- 
ticularly '■two  noble  and  ample  basilicas  of  the  holy  martyr  Cyprian,  one 
'where  he  shed  his  blood,  the  other  where  his  body  was  buried,  the  place 
'which  is  called  Mappalia,'  so  writes  Victor  Vitensis^  The  'wall  outside 
of  which'  the  Basilica  stood  was  probably  either  the  outer  wall  of  Megara 


speciem  habuit  duplicis  oppidi,  quasi 
aliud  alterum  complecteretur,  cujus  in- 
terior pars  Byrsa  dicebatur,  exterior 
Magalia.'  Quoted  by  Tissot,  v.  I.  p.  586, 
as  the  language  of  Servius. 

^  Tissot,  I.  pp.  569,  579  ff. 

^  Magalia  is  the  great  suburb  of  Car- 
thage, one  half  of  Cornelius's  'double 
city,'  in  the  fragment  of  Sallust  ap.  Serv. 
on  yEn.  i.  42 1, '  Magalia  sunt  circumjecta 
civitati  suburbana  sedificia ' ;  in  Plaut. 
Pcen.  Prolog.  86  (Magaribus) ;  and  cor- 
rectly in  Virg.  ^n.  i.  421,  iv.  259,  as 
having  preceded  Punic  Carthage. — Kritz 
on  Sail.  Jng.  18  says  after  Servius  that 
vidpalia  only  differs  from  magalia  in 
quantity  (as  above  in  the  jEneid  com- 
pared with  Georg.  iii.  340,  Lucan,  iv. 
684),  but  mappalia  with  two/'s  is  com- 
mon at  any  rate  later. — The  word  meant 
native  African  tents,  Liv.  xxix.  31, 
which  were  like  inverted  boats.  Sail. 
Jug.  18,  of  herdsmen  and  shepherds. 
Gear.  I.e.,  then  the  whole  kraal,  'map- 
palia quasi  cohortes  rotundse  sunt....' 
Cato  ap.  Fest.  and  Serv.  (cokors  means 
'quod  in  villa  ex  pluribus  tectis  con- 
jungitur   et  quiddam   fit  unum');    the 


Garamantes'  villages  between  CEa  and 
Leptis  were  so  called,  Tac.  Hist.  iv. 
50;  and  so  were  the  war-camps  of 
Tacfarinas  and  the  Numidians,  Ann. 
iv.  25,  iii.  74.  —  Festus  says  they 
were  '  casae  Punicse,'  but  this  is  inaccu- 
rate and  can  only  be  derived  from  the 
name  of  the  quarter  at  Carthage  through 
which  the  Via  Mappaliensis  ran,  as  it 
lay  both  inside  and  outside  the  wall  of 
Megara. — It  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
the  farm  labourers  on  estates  near  Hippo 
were  still  called  Mappalienses  in  Au- 
gustine's time,  Ep.  66  (3)  ad  Crispimim 
Calamensem. 

'^  Victor  Vitensis,  i.  5.  Augustine, 
Se}-7n.  62,  17,  speaks  to  the  people  as 
having  heard  a  Scripture  lesson  read  in 
Mappalibus,  which  refers  no  doubt  to  this 
Basilica.  In  Sermons  311,  312  and  313, 
which  he  preached  in  it,  he  speaks  of  its 
'amplitude,'  and  of  the  '  sublimity  of  its 
Divine  altar,'  and  says  that  the  site  of  it 
had  been  within  living  memory  a  scene  of 
pagan  revelries  with  singing  and  dancing 
all  night  {Serm.  311,  5).  The  present 
Bishop  (/rater  noster)  had  instituted 
the  'holy  vigils'  which  displaced  them. 


XI.  THE  BIRTHDAY.  511 

itself  or  the  great  wall  which,  though  Carthage  was  dismantled,  could  not 
be  destroyed  (and  is  not  destroyed  yet),  which  went  east  from  Ma^ka  to 
the  sea,  shutting  the  city  proper  off  from  Megara^  But  it  may  have 
been  the  wall  on  the  west  of  Megara. 

The  third  point  is  that  the  Area  were  'juxta  piscinas,'  that  is 
no  doubt  the  immense  cisterns  at  Maalka  which  are  just  outside  that 
great  wall.  The  smaller  cisterns  by  the  sea  do  not  fit  the  other  points 
as  these  exactly  do.  I  cannot  doubt  then  that  within  a  few  yards  we  can 
mark  the  site  of  that  Basilica  of  Cyprian's  resting-place — namely  by  the 
Piscinae,  outside  the  antient  north  wall  of  the  Byrsa,  within  the  Mapalia, 
and  on  the  long  street  which  traverses  it. 

There  is  however  a  passage  which  at  first  sight  seems  irreconcileable 
with  this  locality.  Maximilian  of  Theveste,  beheaded  in  A.D.  295 
for  refusing  as  a  Christian  to  serve  in  the  army,  was  buried  sub 
monticulo  juxta  Cyprianum  mariyrem  secus  platum^,  or  in  the  other 
MS.  of  this  passio,  palatium.  Tissot  thence  concludes  that  Cyprian  was 
buried  not  far  from  the  Proconsular  Palace^,  which  he  elsewhere  shews  to 
have  been  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Byrsa-Citadel,  which  was  crowded 
with  buildings.  Intramural  and  Christian  interment  in  such  a  spot  at  either 
date  seems  impossible,  and  that  spot  could  not  be  called  juxta  piscinas. 

This  being  so  I  think  it  possible  thai  palatium  in  the  13th  cent.  MS. 
was  a  correction,  and  that  platum  may  represent  plateam.  Near  to  the 
Platea  Nova,  and  near  the  shore,  there  was  a  third  church  of  S.  Cyprian, 
the  Mefftoria  Sancti  Cypriani,  in  which  Monica  by  Augustine's  per- 
suasion spent  the  night  in  which  he  eluded  her  affection  and  sailed  for 

1  Cf.  Atlas  Archeol.  de  la  Tunisie,  Mt.  S.  Michel  is  now  no.  167  in  the 
note  on  La  Marsa,  Ixxx.  Cf.  C.  I.  Town  Library  of  Avranches.  It  is 
Semiticarunt,  i.  p.  ■243.  only  of  the  13th  century. 

2  The  Passion  of  Maximilian  was  In  the  passage  above  discussed,  the 
first  printed  at  the  end  of  the  Oxford  Sarum  MS.  ha.d  secus  plaittm,  for  which 
Edition  of  Lactantius,  de  Mortibus  Per-  the  Oxford  Editors  conjecture //atew«w 
seciitorum,  I'zmo.  1680, from' membranse  because  Pontius  says  that  the  place  was 
Sarisburienses. '  Mabillon,  Vet.  Ana-  arboribiis  co7isitu?n,  or  else  palatium, 
/<?<:/«,  tom.  IV.  1685,  reprints  it  pp.  565  ff.  because  the  Cotton  MS.  of  the  Acta 
'ex  codice  Sarensi  nuperOxonii  Vulgata  Proc.  says  Cyprian  was  beheaded  in 
post  Lactantii  librum  de  morte  perse-  agro  Sexti  post  prcEtorium  (Lactantii  de 
cutorum,  a  V.  C.  Stephano  Baluzio  MortibtisPersecut.Oy.oxy.\(i%o,'^.^(f<\.). 
primum  edituni :  quam  Passionem  hie  But  both  those  expressions  refer  to  the 
recudere  visum  est  ad  superiora  \scil.  in  place  of  execution,  not  of  burial,  and 
tomo  iv.]  Martyrum  acta  illustranda. '  there  is  no  indication  that  the  Villa 
Ruinart,  Acta  Martyrum  sincera,  prints  where  Galerius  was,  though  properly 
it  *ex  codice  MS.  Montis  S.  Michaelis  cz\\t6.3. PrcBtoriitm,-vizsc3X\tdL Palatium. 
cum  editis  coUato.'  The  late  MS.  Mt.  S.  Mich,  had  pala- 

The    Sarum    MS.    has   disappeared,       tium,  also  Ruinart,  Acta  MM. 
and  we  do  not  know  its  date.     That  of  ^  Tissot,  i.  660. 


512  THE  BIRTHDAY. 

Rome*.  This  locality  further  answers  the  description  of  the  place  in 
which  Maximilian  was  buried,  for  it  would  be  sub  monticulo,  namely 
under  the  low  hill  on  which  was  formed  the  Platea  whose  '  giant-steps ' 
descended  to  the  quays ^. 

[Is  it  moreover  certain  that  platum  itself  could  not  be  used,  though 
traces  of  it  are  later  ?  *  Platos  est  latum  sive  planum  idem  platea,  gloss. 
MSS.  S.  Andreae  Avenion.'  ap.  Ducange',  who  also  gives  (a.d.  15 19)  'super 
quodem  Platto  dicto  le  petit  plat  sito  Lugduni...'] 


Where  was  Cyprian  tried  and  executed? 

The  Acta  Proconsularia  are  explicit.  On  the  ides  of  September 
Cyprian  was  fetched  from  his  gardens  and  conveyed  in  a  chariot  ift 
Sextiy  where  Galerius  was  for  his  health.  That  day  he  was  too  ill  to 
take  the  case.  Cyprian  went  to  the  house  of  the  princeps  for  the  night. 
Next  morning  a  great  crowd  assembled  ad  Sexti.  Cyprian  was  brought 
up  and  heard  by  the  proconsul  in  a  certain  atriu?n,  and  was  taken  in 
agrum  Sexti  to  be  executed*. 

Ad  Sexti,  like  many  other  place-names  in  Africa,  as  ad  Atticillce,  ad 
Cazalis,  ad  Gerinani,  ad  Lali,  represents  a  villa  of  importance,  or  the 
vicus  which  had  grown  up  about  it — a  '  village '  proper.  Corresponding 
to  these  in  meaning  would  be  such  names  as  Vicus  Aureli,  Vicus 
Juliani,  Villa  Marci.  Sextus  (or  Sextius  ?)  then  had  been  the  founder 
or  was  the  well-known  owner  of  a  villa  fit  to  nurse  a  sick  proconsul,  and 
containing  at  least  one  hall  not  unfit  for  a  proconsul's  hall  of  judgment 
in  the  trial  of  a  great  citizen.  It  had  an  ager  or  farm,  in  some  part  of 
which  executions  could  be  held  in  the  sight  of  a  great  multitude,  and  on 
which  there  were  many  trees. 

Pontius  had  these  Acts  in  his  hands.  In  the  trial  before  Paternus  he 
says  he  purposely  omits  details  because  the  Acts  gave  them  fully.  He 
says  that  on  the  first  day  Cyprian  was  remandedyV^w  the  prcetoriuin,  went 
on  the  second  day  to  the  prcetoriuni  to  be  tried,  and  left  the  prcetorium 
doors  condemned  to  deaths 

This  has  led  even  such  authorities  as  Tissot  to  look  for  the  scene  of 

J  Aug.  Conf.  V.  8.     Cf.  Procop.  B.  •*  Bede,    Martyrol.    18    Kal.     Oct., 

Kj«</.  i.  21,  ed.  Dindorf,  vol.  I.  p.  397.  through  a  misunderstanding  about  ad 

2  See  Tissot,  i.  569,  and  Falbe's  map  Sexti  and  of  reports  as   to   Cyprian's 

and   note  on  La  Marsa,  ex.  in  Atlas  third  church,  has  'martyrium  consum- 

Archeol.  de  la  Tunisie.  mavit  se.xto  milliario  a  Carthagine  juxta 

*  More  fully  described  in  his  list  of  mare.' 
authorities.  '  Pontii  Vit.  15  bis,  18. 


XL  THE  BIRTHDAY.  513 

the  trial  near  the  Pratorium  or  Palatium  Proconsulare  which,  as  he 
shews,  stood  on  the  steep  slope  of  the  citadel  and  looked  towards  the 
ports  ^  But  it  is  next  to  impossible  that  a  place  called  ad  Sexti  with  an 
ager  Sexti  and  a  very  large  wood  could  be  so  situated,  even  if  no  reasons 
carried  it  elsewhere.  But  the  error  arises  from  imagining  the  word 
preBtorium  to  be  so  limited  in  use.  At  this  time  pratoriuift.,  'head- 
quarters,' had  passed  into  a  common  name  for  the  residence-house  and 
buildings,  the  urbana.,  of  any  great  estate^.  Pontius'  word  'praetorium' 
would  perfectly  suit  a  villa  '■ad  Sexiz,'  even  if  the  Proconsul  did  not 
occupy  it.     There  is  no  contradiction  between  Pontius  and  the  Acts. 

From  the  house  of  the  Princeps  to  ad  Sexti  is  called  iter  longum^, 
which  scarcely  could  be  applied  to  the  distance  from  near  the  Palatium 
to  the  Cisterns  of  Mailka ;  so  that  ad  Sexti  was  probably  a  good  way 
beyond  that — say  twice  as  far.  Again,  the  body  was  brought  back 
per  nocte7n.  This  was  along  the  Mappalian  Way,  which  probably  was 
also  his  way  out.  Its  being  brought  there  favours  the  idea  that  'Sextus's' 
was  in  that  wide,  healthy,  beautiful  region,  which  has  from  immemorial 
time  been  all  gardens  and  villas,  the  present  El-Marsa  in  which  the 
English  Consulate  lies  among  its  gardens  and  trees.  It  seems  probable 
that  the  trial  and  execution  were  not  far  from  that.  The  sites  marked 
out  under  the  auspices  of  the  Cathedral  do  not  claim  to  be  and  have  no 
interest  in  being  authentic.  They  are  for  the  convenience  of  functions 
and  functionaries.  On  the  spot  where  he  fell  was  erected  the  Holy 
Table  of  one  of  those  Basilicas  which  Victor  speaks  of*,  and  it  was  called 
*  Mensa  Cypriani.^  Augustine^,  while  he  says  that  everyone  knew  it  who 
knew  Carthage,  finds  it  well  to  explain  that  it  had  never  been  used  by 
Cyprian,  but  only  was  marked  by  his  offering  to  be  a  place  for  offerings. 


TJie  dress  of  Cyprian. 

In  preparation  for  the  death-blow  he  took  off  first  the  lacerna  byrrus, 
then  the  dalmatic ;  then  he  stood  in  his  linea.  He  was  unable  to  fasten 
the  lacinicE  manuales. 

^  Vol.  I. p.  660,  p.  649.  Atlas  Archiol.  gentum  vetus.'     Suet.  Tib.  39  'in  pra- 

de  la  Tunisie  does  not  hold  with  any  torio  cui  Speluncaenomen  est,' of  which 

special  identification  of  the  ruins,  note  Tacitus,  Ann.  iv.  59,  speaks  as  '  in  villa 

on  La  Matsa,  xlii.  cui  vocabulum  Speluncse ' — Suet.  Calig. 

*  Digesta,  50, 16, 198,  Ulpian,  'pneto-  37  '  in  exstructionibus  prcztoriorum  et 

ria  voluptati  tantum  deservientia '  come  villarum. ' 

under  the  definition  of  urbana  prcedia,  ^  Pontii  Vit.  16. 

i.e.  estates  in  the  country  with  buildings  ^  Ut  sup.  Victor  Vitensis,  i.  5. 

of  town-fashion.    Juv.  i.  75,  'criminibus  *  Aug.  Serm.  310,  c.  2. 
debent  hortos,  prcztoria,  mensas,   Ar- 

B.  33 


SI4  THE  BIRTHDAY. 

1.  Lacerna  bynrus. 

I  do  not  know  whether  lacerna  byrrus^  occur  elsewhere  in  con- 
junction ;  but  there  is  copious  illustration  of  each  in  Ducange,  and  in 
the  older  antiquarians.  See  also  Diet.  Gk.  and  Rom.  Antiquities,  s.vv. 
The  lacerna  was  a  man's  woollen  cape  or  short  cloak,  fastened  on  the 
shoulder,  open  down  the  side,  worn  over  the  toga  in  chilly  times  or 
places,  and  by  soldiers.  Too  common  originally  for  town  wear;  but  had 
largely  come  in,  when  Augustus  sarcastically  quoted  Romanes  rerum 
dominos  gentemque  togatam.  As  it  grew  fashionable  it  might  only  be 
white  in  the  theatre;  if  the  Emperor  (Claudius)  entered  the  Equites  put  it 
off.  Finally  worn  of  all  colours,  and  costly.  Birrhus  appears  as  syno- 
nymous with  more  than  one  kind  of  cloak.  In  the  Edictum  Diocletiani 
de  Pretiis  Rerum  A.D.  301,  the  birrhus  has  a  large  range  of  price  from 
the  Laodicene,  which  was  very  expensive,  to  the  African,  which  was  cheap. 
The  name  has  nothing  to  do  with  rruppo?,  and  is  probably  barbaric.  Augus- 
tine wore  a  cheap  birrhus  and  sold  more  expensive  ones  given  to  him  for 
his  community.     Serm.  356,  13.  Sulp.  Sev.  Dial.  i.  21  speaks  of  it 

as  rigens,  while  the  lacerna  was  Jluens.  The  lacerna  was  also  thinner 
(Aug.  Serm.  i6r,  10).  Ascetics  disdained  it  in  comparison  with  the  mon- 
astic palliwn  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Council  of  Gangra  anathe- 
matized their  folly  (Can.  xii.^)  in  the  fourth  century.  In  the  seventh  it 
was  made  too  costly  for  monks  to  wear  (Isidor.  Hispal.  Reg.  Mon.  xii.  2, 
cf.  Jo.  Cassian.  de  Co2nob.  Instil,  i.  7).  In  Gregory  the  Great's  time  men 
put  it  on  after  baptism  white,  and  dedicated  it.  The  hood  often  attached 
to  the  birrhus  became  a  'head-dress,'  and  thence  birretta. 

We  see  then  that  Cyprian  wore  the  unpretentious  citizen's  dress  and 
rather  plain,  just  as  Pontius  c.  6  describes  him,  'cultus...temperatus  et 
'ipse  de  medio. ..non  superbia  sascularis...nec  tamen  prorsus  adfectata 
'  penuria.' 

2.  Dalmatica. 

Dr  R.  Sinker  speaks  like  other  learned  authorities  of  the  wearing  of 
the  dalmatic  by  Cyprian  as  an  '  ecclesiastical  use,'  and  this  has  perhaps 
something  to  do  with  a  doubt'  which  he  hints  as  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  Acta  Proconsularia.     The  Dalmatian  tunic  {chiridota  Dalmatarum) 

1  ...panulasque,  lacemas  et  chiro-  ^dkaii^  (Isidor.  Mercat.  pallio;  Dion. 
dotas  Dalmatarum...  ap.  Jul.  Capitol.  Exig.  amictu  pallii)  -xj^o-i,  koX  wy  av 
Pertinax  8,  with  very  similar  meaning,  kK  roirrov  ■rijv  diKai.o<T>jvi}i>  fx.'^"  Kara- 
and  we  shall  note  below  that  lacinitE  ypr)<l>lffoi.TO  tQv  /xer'  evXa^elas  roi/s  /S^pous 
manuales  is  probably  a  similar  com-  ipopovvruv,  kolI  tj  aXX];  koiv^  koI  iv 
bination  in  the  matter  of  dress.  avin}0el</.  oUa-g  iffdiJTi  /cexP^M^wi',  dvd- 

2  Gangra,  a.d.  358  (v.  Ffoulkes,  Diet.  defxa  ((ttu.  Labbe  (Mansi),  II.  col.  noi, 
Christ.   Antiq.    s.v^.   Can.    xii.    it  rts       Florent.  1759. 

dvSpwv    Sia    vofU^oiUvrjv  curKrjcrw   irepi-  '  Seep.  518. 


XI.  THE  BIRTHDAY.  515 

is  never  heard  of  among  Romans  till  the  end  of  the  second  century.  The 
learning  about  it  is  too  extensive  and  accessible  to  repeat  It  was  squarely 
constructed,  of  good  material,  and  being  made  originally  of  one  width, 
had  a  fringe  or  selvage  down  the  joining  of  the  edges  on  one  side  only. 
The  colobion,  otherwise  like  it,  had  no  sleeves.  The  dalmatic  had  large 
stifif  sleeves  as  far  as  the  elbow,  which  were  not  always  sewn  up  under  the 
arm. 

When  we  consider  that  as  late  as  A.D.  222  under  Elagabalus,  a  man 
who  wore  a  dalmatic  in  public  did  something  outri^,  and  that  in  A.D.  301 
the  Edict  of  Diocletian  ^  fixed  the  prices  of  all  sorts  of  dalmatics 
for  men  and  women,  according  to  their  manufacture  (the  African  were 
cheap)  as  regular  articles  of  wear,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  that  about 
halfway  between  these  two  dates  they  had  been  adopted  as  solemn 
ecclesiastical  vestments.  Further,  not  till  under  Silvester  I.  (314 — 335), 
who  in  his  last  Council  of  335  (according  to  Roman  tradition)  certainly 
magnified  their  office,  was  the  dalmatic  adopted  for  Deacons  instead  of 
the  sleeveless  colobion^,  but  this  was  for  the  Seven  Deacons  0/  Rome. 
Two  centuries  later,  A.D.  513,  the  Deacons  of  Aries  receive  licence  to  use 
\t,perinde  ac  Romance  ecclesicB  diaconi'^.  In  A.D.  599  Gregory  {,Epp.  1.  ix. 
Ind.  ii.  Ep.  107)  grants  the  use  of  it  'after  much  consideration'  *as  a 
new  thing'  to  the  Bishop  of  Gap  (Vapincum)  and  his  Archdeacon,  so  that 
the  common  idea  that  it  was  the  proper  episcopal  dress  before  Silvester 
cannot  be  true,  and  the  use  was  still  connected  with  Rome.  But  when 
Gregory  conceded  this,  it  must  be  remembered  that  persons  like  himself 
and  his  father  at  any  rate,  who  were  of  senatorial  rank,  wore  it  laically 
(Joann  .Diac.  Vit.  S.  Greg.  iv.  83, 84).  Gregory's  Sacramentary  (ed.  Bened. 
vol.  III.  col.  65,  Paris,  1705)  is  quoted  in  proof  of  the  early  liturgical  use  of 
it,  the  Pope  and  the  Seven  Deacons  being  directed  all  to  wear  dalmatics 
for  the  consecration  of  oil  '  on  the  Thursday  in  Holy  Week.'  But  what- 
ever the  use  may  have  been,  these  Rubrics  are  not  part  of  the  original ^ 

In  Spain  the  dalmatic  had  not  become  a  clerical  vestment  in  A.D. 
633".  Considering  then  the  lay  use  of  the  dalmatic  in  the  third  century 
and  the  Roman  aspect  of  its  ecclesiastical  use  later,  it  is  out  of  the 
question  that  it  should  have  been  an  ecclesiastical  vesture  in  Africa  in 

1  Lamprid.  Anton.  Helagabaliis ,  26.  early  ninth  century.     They  cannot  be 

2  Edictum  Diocletiani  de  pretiis  traced  earlier  than  the  Ordo  Romanus 
rerum,  Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.  in.  ii.  p.  /.  of  which  Muratori  has  two  recensions 
836.  W.  H.  Waddington,  ^dit  de  {Lit.  Rom.  Vet.)  vol.  II.  992  and  1006, 
Diocletien, -p.  7,0.  and  these  Rubrics  represent  a  third.   The 

^  See  Vita  SilvestriP.,  Labbe  (Mansi)  Ordo  seems  to  have  been  compiled  about 

vol.  I.  col.  444,  Florent.  1759.  A.D.  730  and  describes  the  Roman  rite 

*  Jaffe,  Regesta   Pontificum   s.   ann.  of  perhaps  the  seventh  century.    H.A.w. 

513,  vol.  I.  p.  99.      Vita  Ccesarii,  4.  C.W. 

^  They  are  not  in  Muratori's  Vatican  ®  See  Diet.  Chris.  Anit.  s.v.  Dalma- 

MS.  or  in  Cod.  Ottoboni,  both  of  the  tica. 

33—2 


5l6  THE  BIRTHDAY. 

A.D.  258,  and  worn  with  a  very  long  cape  over  it.    We  see  again  that 
Cyprian  in  fact  wore  the  dress  of  a  quiet  Roman  gentleman. 

Such  questions  are  wholly  unimportant  except  so  far  as  incorrect 
assertions  give  for  any  age  a  perverse  view  of  how  the  world  looked  and 
what  the  world  felt 

3.  Linea. 

We  may  take  it  that  no  particular  change  between  Cyprian's  and 
Augustine's  time  took  place  in  this.  Augustine  speaks  of  the  antient 
idea  of  effeminacy  attached  to  long  and  long-sleeved  tunics.  So  in 
Virgil,  et  tunicce  manicas  et  habent  redimicula  mitrce.  '  It  was  once  a 
'  crime,'  says  Augustine, '  to  have  tunics  to  the  ancles  and  sleeved.  But 
'  now  when  people  of  respectable  birth  wear  tunics  it  is  a  crime  not  to 
'have  them  so^'  Soldiers  were  very  particular  that  they  should  fit  the 
body  close.  The  girdle  was  essential  to  neatness  out  of  doors,  and  the 
tunic  was  shortened  by  being  drawn  up  through  it. 

4.  LacinicE  manuales. 

Words  not  elsewhere  conjoined,  and  certainly  not  meaning  '  the 
sleeve  of  his  robe  at  the  wrist'  (Thornton).  The  lexicons  abundantly 
illustrate  that  successive  meanings  of  lacinia  are  fringed  or  cut  edges 
hemmed  on  to  a  garment,  the  hem  of  the  garment  itself,  the  lappet  of  a 
dress  used  among  other  things  to  wipe  the  face.  Then  of  separate  strips 
of  cloth,  of  skin,  of  land.  The  notion  of  'strips,'  and  hence  of  'folds,' 
runs  through  a  set  of  words,  laciniare,  -atim,  -osus,  -ose,  which  I  should 
observe  are  particularly  affected  by  African  writers.  It  is  not  at  all  clear 
to  me  that  Apuleius  ever  uses  the  word  simply  as  equivalent  to  vestis,  as 
Hildebrand  and  others  say.  Manualis,  or  -e,  is  used  by  itself  as  'a 
handkerchief  When  Montanus  was  blindfolded  he  tore  the  manualis 
in  two  and  said  half  should  be  kept  for  Flavian  qua  oadi post  crastinum 
ligarentur.  Halves  of  it  served  the  purpose  as  well  as  the  whole.  (Com- 
pare nianipulus,  which  came  to  mean  a  long  shaped  towel  or  a  towel 
folded  long  and  narrow.)  Manuales  then  may  be  adjectival,  but  I  should 
rather  think  lacinia  manuales  is  constructed  like  lacerna  birrhus,  and  it 
meant  large  handkerchiefs,  originally  of  substantial  stuff,  narrow,  or  folded 
narrow,  and  perhaps  two  of  them  used,  one  over  the  other. 


The  Soldiers  and  Officers  named  in  the  Trial. 

The  more  we  press  every  detail  in  these  Cyprianic  documents  the  more 
their  truthfulness  stands  out.  It  is  very  interesting  that  we  can  tell 
exactly  who  these  soldiers  of  the  Proconsul  were.     A  single  line  in  a 

^  De  Doctr.  Christiana,  iii.  11,  (20). 


XI.  THE  BIRTHDAY.  517 

striking  inscription  reveals  it  {Corp.  Inscrr.  Latt.  vili.  i.  2532).  On  the 
pedestal  of  a  column  which  formed  part  of  the  west  gate  of  the  camp 
at  Lambasse  the  Third  Legion  inscribed  a  speech  which  Hadrian  ad- 
dressed to  them  on  a  memorable  visit.  He  says  'the  Legate  has 
*  explained  to  him  that  he  may  notice  certain  deficiencies,  and  has  given 
'  the  reasons  for  them.'    Among  these  is 

OMNIA  MIHI  PROVOBIS  \VS'e.I>\\xit  quOcCl 
COHORS  ABEST  QUOD  OMNIBUS  ANNIS  PER  VICES  IN  OFFICIUM  PR[^Ctf«] 
SULIS   MITTITUR. 

That  is  one  cohort  of  the  Third  Legion  from  the  camp  at  Lambasse  was 
always  in  attendance  in  annual  turns  on  the  Proconsul.  If  we  ask  why 
the  whole  Third  Legion  was  not  under  the  command  of  the  Proconsul, 
the  answer  is  in  Tacitus,  Hist.  iv.  48.  Caligula,  insanely  jealous  of  the 
then  Proconsul,  took  away  the  control  of  it  and  established  a  Legate  to 
command  the  Legion  and  (as  we  know  from  elsewhere)  the  fortresses. 

The  soldiers  then  who  appear  in  the  narrative  with  their  tribunes, 
centurions,  and  the  other  officers  so  freely  named  belonged  to  that 
cohort  of  the  Third  Legion  which  for  that  year  was  appointed  to  the 
officium  of  the  Proconsul. 


Of  the  Massa  Candida. 

We  have  seen  how  Cyprian  was  summoned  to  Utica  by  the  Pro- 
consul, undoubtedly  with  a  view  to  his  execution  there.  From  the 
different  mentions  of  the  group  known  by  this  curiosity-wakening  name 
of  Massa  Candida  it  has  been  inferred  by  Tillemont  as  well  as 
others  that  in  258  A.D.,  on  the  iSth  or  24th  August^,  a  great  number 
of  Christians  were  summoned  thither,  and  martyred.  But  the  accounts 
cannot  be  put  together,  or  rather  there  are  none  which  can  be  put 
together.  The  facts  are  these,  (i)  Augustine's  Enarration  of  Ps.  144  (or 
part  of  it)  is  a  sermon  preached  at  Utica  in  the  '  Basilica  of  the  Massa 
Candida-.'  He  preached  Sermon  306  on  the  solemnity  of  their  'Natalis'; 
in  Sermon  311,  preached  at  Carthage,  in  the  Memoria  of  Cyprian  on  his 
'Birthday'  (c.  10),  he  mentions  them  as  '  Uticensis  Massa  Candida,'  and 
apparently  as  having  been  rich  and  poor  together,  but  not  as  being 
specially  connected  with  Cyprian.  That  he  mentions  them  along  with 
Cyprian  is  merely  because  both  illustrate  his  point.  In  his  Enarration  on 
Ps.  49,  c.  9,  he  speaks  of  '  ...sola  in  proximo  quae  dicitur  Massa  Candida ' 

1  Aug.   24th,  IX.  Kal.  Sept.  Uticae  ^  Heading  in  Cod.  Floriac.  'habitus 

SS.    MM.    CCC.   Massa;   Candidce.   Ka-  Uticse  in  basilica  Massae  Candidse.*    No 

Imdar.   Ant.  Eccl.   Carth.;  Aug.   i8th  reason  to  doubt  this,  which  agrees  with 

Hieron.  Martyrolog. ;  24th  Ado  ;  24th  the  allusions. 
Usuard. 


5l8  THE  BIRTHDAY. 

{i.e.  perhaps  in  the  neighbouring  Utica),  and  says  they  were  more  numerous 
than  'the  153  fishes'  which  he  is  expounding.  He  says  {Serm.  306,  c.  2) 
they  were  called  massa  because  of  their  number',  and  Candida  for  their 
martyr-brightness,  which  demands  a  Candida  conscientia  in  us.  It  is 
apparent  that  no  details  were  known  which  he  could  dwell  on. 

(2)  A  sermon  upon  them  tastelessly  attributed  to  Augustine,  but 
possibly  of  his  time,  speaks  oi  cruentus percussor,/errum...,cervicem  as  if 
they  were  then  supposed  to  have  died  by  the  sword^. 

(3)  Of  what  Augustine  on  the  spot  did  not  know  Prudentius  {Peri- 
steph.  1 3)  about  the  same  time  in  Spain  has  full  particulars.  By  him  our 
Cyprian  is  first  confounded  with  Cyprian  the  magician,  Bishop  of  Antioch. 
After  being  brought  before  the  Proconsul  he  is  imprisoned  in  chains  in  the 
dark.  His  prayer  so  nerves  the  Carthaginians  that  300  of  them  being  offered 
their  choice  between  sacrificing  or  being  burnt  in  a  lime-kiln,  open  at 
the  place  where  Cyprian  was  to  be  executed,  all  flung  themselves  into 
the  kiln,  and  are  called  Candida  from  the  whiteness  of  their  bodies  in  the 
lime  as  well  as  that  of  their  souls.  Then  Cyprian  is  brought  before  the 
Proconsul  and  beheaded,  *  rejoicing  in  their  martyrdom.' 

Thus  literally  there  exists  nothing  like  history.  Nothing  to  shew  at 
what  period  or  in  what  way  the  Group  suffered.  The  argument  from  non- 
mention  is  of  positive  value  here.  For,  if  there  had  been  such  a  large 
self-martyrdom  so  early,  the  advocates  of  the  Circumcellions  must  have 
alleged  it.  And  such  is  the  copiousness  of  Augustine  that  we  must  have 
known  both  their  use  of  the  argument  and  his  answer. 

Prudentius'  tale  as  it  stands  is  absurd,  and  where  it  is  attempted  to  give 
it  more  probability  by  separating  it  from  Cyprian's  execution  and  putting 
it  nearer  to  his  exile,  the  attempt,  the  supposition  that  a  mass  of 
people  could  have  been  put  to  death  by  the  Proconsul  of  Africa  im- 
mediately after  Valerian's  Edict  (or  Rescript),  is  a  misconception  of  the 
whole  idea  of  the  legislation  up  to  this  point. 

It  was  entirely  in  the  hope  of  averting  such  large  executions  that 
Valerian's  penalties  were  conceived  and  directed  upon  the  leaders  of 
the  new  Society. 

Acta  Proconsular ia. 

The  Acta  were  certainly  older  than  the  Life  of  Cyprian  by  Pontius, 
who  was  his  constant  companion  and  was  with  him  at  his  death.  Pontius 
quotes  from  them,  and  silently  but  evidently  corrects  two  details  in  that 
brief  document,  so  that  added  to  its  own  accuracy  of  detail  it  is  scarcely 
possible  for  a  document  to  be  better  accredited. 

^  '  De  numeri  multitudine.'  Of.  Optat.       facere.'     Rarely  used  of  people, 
ii.    26   ad   fin.    'massam    poenitentium  ^  Aug.  Serm.  Supposit.  317. 


XI.  THE  BIRTHDAY.  519 

Pontius,  c.  II,  says  'quid  sacerdos  Dei  proconsule  interrogante  re- 
spondent, sunt  Acta  quae  referant.' 

Pontius's  expression  'publtcata  voce^  c.  18,  is  not  intelligible  without 
the  exclamation  of  the  people  as  given  in  Acta  Procons.  5  init. 

The  tying  of  the  handkerchief  is  a  detail  in  which  Pontius  corrects  the 
account  of  the  Acts  (see  Text,  p.  505). 

So  is  also  his  explanation  that  it  was  the  centurion  in  command  and 
not  the  executioner  who  actually  gave  the  death  stroke.  (Pont  18  com- 
pared with  Acta  5.     Text,  p.  506.) 

The  short  Passion  of  Cyprian  which  Fell  gives  p.  14  'ex  MS.  S. 
Victoris  nee  non  Bodleiano  I.'  and  which  Rigault  (and  apparently  Fell) 
thinks  the  more  antient  form  is  nothing  but  a  piece  (c.  2 — 4)  of  the  longer 
one  with  abbreviations  and  interpolations  meant  to  give  a  more  formal 
appearance,  so  that  it  is  best  presented,  as  by  H  artel,  merely  in  the  shape 
of  various  readings  on  the  genuine  Acta.  Pontius  and  Augustine,  Sermm. 
309,  310,  and  c.  Gaudenthim  i.  31,  (40)  quote  only  from  the  longer  one 
phrases  and  words  which  have  been  modified  in  the  shorter  and  later. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


AFTERMATH. 


There  is  not  only  interest,  there  is  spiritual  reassurance 
in  marking  how,  like  a  cloud  from  Atlas  floated  into  the 
bright  air,  Cyprian's  error  disappears  in  the  warmth  of  the 
Church's  atmosphere. 

At  Aries,  where,  in  A.D.  314,  seven  or  eight  out  of  thirty- 
three  bishops  who  signed  were  Africans,  the  African  custom 
was  quietly  overruled. 

At  Nicaea  in  A.D.  325  the  mere  enactment  that  Paulianists 
were  to  be  baptized  shews  how  peaceably  the  enactments 
of  Iconium  and  Synnada  had  died,  just  as  that  of  Agrippinus 
had  died  before  Cyprian  revived  it.  The  Church  has  never 
been  ruled  by  its  canons  except  for  brief  instants.  Men 
collect  themselves  from  time  to  time  and  formulate  for 
eternity  the  standard  of  the  hour,  and  as  soon  as  it  is 
fixed  the  stream  sets  away  from  it  again. 

At  Carthage  in  A.D.  349*  the  successors  of  Cyprian's 
bishops  dispersed  by  acclamation  the  87  reasoned  fallacies 
of  their  fathers.  And  afterwards  Augustine  refuted  one  by 
one  the  suffrages  given  to  the  man  whose  wisdom,  power 
and  love  he  literally  adored. 

That  there  was   a   seed    in   his  teaching  which  fanatics 

^  Cone.  Carth.  I.  sub  Grata. 


XII.  AFTERMATH.  521 

could  foster  to  a  wild  growth,  cannot  be  denied,  although 
Augustine  has  shewn  with  what  exaggerations  the  mistake 
was  urged,  and  what  corrections  he  had  himself  supplied. 
But  it  fell  unhappily  on  a  widespread  temper,  mad  for  laxities 
in  one  direction,  mad  for  exclusion  in  another,  mad  for 
a  ceremonial  materialism  in  a  third,  and  a  temper  charged 
moreover  with  political  revengefulness. 

This  was  Cyprian's  unforeseen  contribution  to  Donatism 
— the  invalidation  of  an  ecclesiastical  act  on  account  of 
subjective  imperfection  in  the  minister.  For  the  modern 
doctrine  of  Intention  he  has  no  responsibility. 

The  last  of  that  string  of  canons  which,  beginning  with, 
those  of  Nicsea,  was  affirmed  in  the  second  canon  of  the 
Quini-Sext  Council  in  A.D.  692,  was  '  the  canon  put  forth  by 
'  Cyprian,  that  was  Archbishop  of  the  land  of  the  Africans  and 
'  Martyr,  and  the  Synod  of  his  time,  which  canon  prevailed  in 
'  the  places  of  the  aforesaid  prelates,  and  only  according  to  the 
'  custom  delivered  to  them.'  The  Greek  acceptance  of  this 
Council  might  seem  to  commit  their  Church  to  Cyprian's 
practice,  unless  the  canon  be  interpreted  as  supposing  the 
practice  still  extant  and  still  limited  to  Africa.  Some  inter- 
pretation must  be  found  for  it  as  it  stands,  for  it  is  in  flat 
contradiction  to  part  of  the  ninety-fifth  of  the  same  Council, 
and  the  usage  did  not  prevail  among  the  Greeks. 

The  canon  was  however  turned  into  Syriac,  accepted  by 
Syrian  Churches,  and  became  the  ground  on  which  Jacobites 
rejected  the  baptism  of  the  orthodox \ 

A  strange  irony  that  the  unanimous  rulings  of  the  African 
episcopate  should  be  swept  away  by  the  resounding  Absit, 
Absit  of  their  own  successors,  too  impatient  of  it  to  speak  or 
vote,  and  that  the  vital  necessity  of  baptism  by  the  orthodox 
should  find  its  final  lodgment  with  the  heterodox. 

Not  that  human  hunger  for  exclusiveness  was  appeased 
even  in  the  greater  Churches.  The  exclusions  that  had  been 
^  Renaudot,  Liturg.  Orient,  vol.  11.  p.  292. 


522  AFTERMATH. 

set  aside  as  untenable  Doctrine  were  revived  on  special  pleas 
of  Form.  The  Greeks  long  denied  the  validity  of  all  other 
baptism  and  accepted  only  '  trine  immersion.'  The  Romans 
rebaptize  all  '  conditionally ' ;  that  is,  upon  a  theory  dating 
only  from  Alexander  III.\  and  rarely  put  in  practice  until 
the  sixteenth  century. 

As  Hero  and  Saint  Cyprian's  personality  went  through 
scarcely  less  strange  experiences.  Gibbon  is  charmed  to  call 
him  'almost  a  local  deity.'  It  was  not  long  before  every 
Mediterranean  sailor  called  the  September  gales  Cypriana 
from  his  '  Birthday.'  It  was  kept  at  Rome  in  the  Cemetery 
of  Callistus  long  before  Cornelius  himself  was  honoured  by  a 
joint  commemoration  with  him.  He  was  and  is  the  one  non- 
Roman  commemorated  in  the  Roman  Canon,  the  one  Latin 
father  really  recognised  by  the  world-contemning  Greeks. 
But  this  recognition  was  more  fantastic  than  their  ignorance. 
Gregory  of  Nazianzus  looses  floods  of  eloquence  upon  him. 
Some  of  his  works  he  knew ;  he  knew  particulars  which  he 
could  scarcely  have  derived  from  anything  but  memoirs  as 
personal  as  those  of  Pontius.  Yet  he  thought  that  he  suf- 
fered under  Decius,  that  his  chief  merit  was  the  restoration 
of  accurate  definitions  of  the  Holy  Trinity  ;  and  he  identified 
him  with  that  Cyprian  of  Antioch,  whose  legend,  a  compound 
of  riotous  fancy,  pagan  theurgy,  and  new  demonology,  exer- 
cised a  depraving  influence  on  the  popular  religion  far  down 
into  the  middle  ages.  Near  three  centuries  later  he  had 
appeared  unto  many  and  quieted  the  indignation  of  African 
Catholics  at  his  sea-side  church  being  in  the  hands  of  the 
Arians — 'he  would  care  for  himself  in  his  own  time.'  On  his 
own  eve  in  A.D.  533  Belisarius  overthrew  the  Vandals  ten 
miles  from  Carthage,  and  was  received  in  the  city  with  a 
triumphal  welcome.  The  '  Christians,'  Procopius  relates,  came 
in,  lighted  the  already  prepared  lamps,  and  celebrated  the 

^  Thomas  Aquinas,  Snmma  Theol.  P.  III.  Q.  Ixvi.  art.  9. 


XII.  AFTERMATH.  523 

day  in  the  sanctuary  which  the  Arian  priests  had  splendidly 
arrayed  for  the  festival'. 

To  his  own  contemporaries  he  seemed  for  a  time  scarcely 
to  have  quitted  them.  The  faces  of  confessors  and  martyrs 
beamed  with  the  remembrance  that  they  had  been  Cyprian's 
disciples^  Almost  his  very  words  rose  to  their  lips  as  at  the 
last  moment  they  spoke  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Church  or 
commended  her  discipline  to  their  survivors'.  One  questions 
Cyprian  in  his  dream  'whether  it  is  pain  to  die^.-*'  Another 
after  torture  saw  him  sitting  by  the  Judge,  helping  him 
mount  the  steps  to  his  side,  and  then  giving  him  water  from 
a  fountain*.  That  he  spoke  as  the  oracles  of  God,  that  he 
was  essentially  a  Ruler,  essentially  a  Comforter — nothing 
could  better  express  the  intense  reverence  for  Cyprian  than 
these  three  martyr-thoughts. 

Nor  is  anything  lost  if  we  bring  that  high-wrought 
emotional  view  into  comparison  with  the  practical  analytic 
measure  of  the  man. 

Cyprian  was  possessed  by  two  overmastering  ideas.  He 
burned  to  make  them  live  and  breathe  for  Christian  men 
as  for  himself  He  did  more  than  any  man  to  house  them  in 
the  life  and  polity  of  the  world.  The  ideas  were  to  each  other 
as  soul  and  body.  To  him  they  were  one  fact,  one  truth.  / 
One  was  the  vital  principle,  the  other  was  the  organism  ofj 
Christendom. 

I.  He  was  certain  that  human  nature  (in  which  Thucy- 
dides  himself  perhaps  thought  that  wickedness  was  not  a 
permanent,  necessary  ingredient)  could  be  changed,  could  be 
perfectly  remoulded.  He  was  convinced  that  it  had  in  Roman 
civilization  taken  the  wrong  bent ;  that  not  only  the  '  superb 
falsities*'  of  religion  but  many  contemporary  institutions  which 

^  Procop.  de  Bella  Vand.  i.   20,  21.  "*  Id.  xxi. 

See  Appendix  on  S.  Cyprian's  Day.  '  Passio  SS.   jfacobi  et  Mariani  et 

2  Passio  SS.  Montani  et  Lucii,  xiii.  aliorum,  vi. 

*  Id.  xiv.  *  Aug.  Serm.  312,  5. 


524  AFTERMATH. 

were  the  life  of  society  were  working  powerfully  for  degrada- 
tion and  destruction.  He  was  assured  to  demonstration  that 
God  had  marked  another  line,  provided  other  institutions, 
offered  powers  sufficient  to  conduct  nature  along  another  road 
to  another  end.  It  had  been  revealed  that  the  individual 
could  be  enabled  to  assume  and  justify  his  true  place  in 
creation,  his  true  dignity,  which  was  that  of  the  'Sons  of  God.' 
This  fact  realized  was  enough  to  dethrone  self,  to  transform 
thought,  to  renovate  society.  In  this  view  all  suffering 
became  probation,  death  often  a  duty,  always  a  triumph. 
Every  virtue  of  the  world  must  be  born  again  and  live  a 
resurrection-life.  His  Custodi puellas  was  felt,  strange  as  that 
now  seems,  to  be  the  utterance  of  a  new  protective  influence^ 
a  new  kind  of  *  shepherding.'  A  plague  city  need  be  no  more 
the  hell  that  it  had  ever  been.  Perfect  altruism  would  perfect 
the  world. 

These  were  no  dreams.  They  were  established  experi- 
mental facts.  He  had  in  his  own  person  tested  the  power  of 
the  'illumination,'  the  'inundation'  of  grace.  In  his  own 
consciousness  he  had  ascertained  ^vhat  it  was  to  be  born  of 
water  and  the  Spirit.  Multitudes  drank  from  the  Chalice  of 
the  Lord  a  strength  without  which  no  man  could  be  expected 
to  stand. 

II.  It  was  no  cloud-land,  this  lofty  spiritual  future.  It  was 
begun.  The  New  City  had  'descended.'  There  had  taken 
place  'the  settlement  of  a  Visible  Church,  of  a  society  dis- 
'  tinguished  from  common  ones  and  from  the  rest  of  the  world 
'  by  peculiar  religious  institutions  ;  by  an  instituted  method  of 
'instruction  and  an  instituted  form  of  external  religion...' 
'The  very  notion  of  it  implied  positive  institutions,  for  the 
'  visibility  of  the  Church  consisted  in  them.' 

'  It  was  mere  idle  wantonness  to  insist  upon  knowing 
*  why  such  particular  (institutions)  were  fixed  upon  rather  than 
'  others V  and  among  those  which  offered  no  justification  for 

^  Butler's  Analogy,  Part  ii.  i.  i. 


XII.  AFTERMATH.  525 

themselves,  but  simply  lay  there  in  evidence,  in  a  universal 
sort  of  way,  with  the  uniformity  and  with  the  variety  of  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  was  the  institute  of  the  Overseership,  the 
episcopacy,  of  the  Church.  When  Cyprian  became  a  Christian 
and  placed  himself  under  it,  its  authority  was  no  new  object, 
either  when  vesting  in  the  individual  or  in  the  union  of  con- 
ciliar  action.  The  individual,  elected  by  the  communicant 
'commons'  of  Christ's  Church,  was  their  representative  as 
truly  as  the  Tribune  was  the  representative  of  the  commons 
of  Rome.  But  he  was  no  Bishop  until  he  had  received  the 
office  through  bishops  by  transmission  from  regions  and 
times  in  which  (as  Bp.  Lightfoot  clearly  shewed  in  his  ex- 
tremely cautious  and  discriminating  essay)  '  its  prevalence 
*  in  its  maturer  forms  cannot  be  dissociated  from  their  (the 
'Apostles')  influence  or  their  sanction V  He  was  Baptizer, 
Offerer,  Teacher,  Judge.  No  one  fulfilled  any  of  these  func- 
tions but  as  his  delegate  with  no  further  right  of  transmission, 
no  power  to  confer  even  the  humblest  Orders. 

The  Office  carried  the  thoughts  of  men  (whether  con- 
sciously or  not)  back  to  the  Origines  of  the  three  ruling 
principles  of  constitutional  governments ;  to  Democracy,  to 
the  power  of  the  Aristoi,  to  Hierarchy — Levitic  or  earlier. 

Up  to  this  point  we  are  dealing  only  with  what  Cyprian 
received.  And  Cyprian  made  no  fresh  invention,  introduced 
no  novel  action,  modified  no  method.  Yet  he  did  more  than 
any  man.  Far  more  than  Hildebrand  with  his  inventions  of 
investiture  and  celibacy.  It  was  not  that  he  summoned 
Councils  and  set  them  to  solve  Church-problems.  Councils 
had  met  before  and  determined  questions.  But  so  to  speak 
they  had  worked  in  the  dark. 

Cyprian  formulated  the  'Theory,'  as  Brahe,  Copernicus 
or  Newton  gave  the  'Theory'  of  the  Solar  System.  He 
'  constructed  the  Hypothesis ' ;  he  '  superinduced  the  con- 
ception upon  the  facts.'     The  conception  was  that  the  one 

^  'The  Christian  Ministry,'  Lightfoot's  Ep.  to  the  Philippians,  p.  226. 


526  AFTERMATH. 

undividedepiscopate  constituted  not  the  authorityj)nl^^^^u|__ 
the_umtj^_ofthe  Church.  Then  that  followed  which  follows 
always  in  science.  The  conception  '  is  a  secret,  which,  once 
'uttered,  cannot  be  recalled,  even  though  it  be  despised  by 
'  those  to  whom  it  is  imparted.  As  soon  as  the  leading  term 
'  of  a  new  theory  has  been  pronounced  and  understood,  all  the 
'  phenomena  change  their  aspect.  There  is  a  standard  to 
'which  we  cannot  help  referring  themV 

Why  Cyprian  never  formulated  his  seemingly  serious  and 
palpable  purpose  of  consulting  the  laity  more  sedulously,  and 
what  would  have  been  the  effect  of  so  doing  is  hard  to  say, 
but  what  he  did  leave,  his  leading  term,  his  standard,  remains. 

And  now,  whatever  exceptions  may  be  taken  to  his  illus- 
trations, his  analogies,  his  interpretings,  whatever  qualifica- 
tions may  assert  themselves  in  practice,  whatever  safeguards 
or  subsidiaries  may  be  required  to  preserve  equilibrium, 
whatever  encroachments  may  have  limited,  whatever  corrup- 
tions endangered  the  institution,  still  tkat  is  the  'Theory' 
which  underlies  Christendom  to-day. 

In  much  of  Europe  it  was  overridden  by  a  usurpation 
which  secular  events  favoured  and  no  scruples  impeded, — the 
usurpation  by  the  principal  see  of  a  monarchical,  autocratic 
attitude  toward  the  episcopate,  obliterating  it  except  in  name, 
only  multiplying  phantom  names  when  votes  are  required. 

In  North-west  Europe  intense  reaction  threw  up  in  some 
of  its  countries  a  counter  system  which,  for  the  first  time, 
deliberately  dispensed  with  the  Episcopate ;  a  hardy  venture, 
a  risky  asseveration  that  Episcopacy  is  not  necessary  even  to 
itself,  that  it  amply  resides  in  Presbytery.  But,  once  per- 
suaded that  there  was  no  Apostolic  survival  in  the  Church, 
successive  varieties  of  management  have  successfully  dotted 
the  globe  with  truncate  communities,  generating  Ministries 
for  themselves  spontaneously,  energetic,  expansive,  sincere. 
Some  of  them  have  sought  a  Unity  in  their  common  repulsion. 

^  See  Whewell's  Philosophy  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  vol.  ii.  pp.  59,  50,  53. 


XII.  AFTERMATH.  $27 

We  are  not  now  to  enquire  whether  in  either  case  insta- 
bility of  doctrine  has  had  any  connexion  with  the  subversion 
of  the  primitive  preservative  organization.  In  the  later 
instance  there  are  not  wanting  voices  of  anxiety,  either  from 
within  or  from  those  without  who  love  them  unloved,  lest 
even  that  DidacJie,  that  Doctrina,  that  '  Instruction '  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  faith,  which  it  was  the  first  object  of  Primitive 
Institutions  to  secure,  should  tremble  unsafely  or  slide  upon 
the  down-grade. 

But  in  either  case  where  should  either  that  Usurpation  or 
this  Revolution  look  for  historic  justification  ?  Where  but  to 
the  age  in  which  the  conception  of  a  united  Christendom  was 
formulated }     ' 

Yet  on  the  one  hand  the  mind  of  Cyprian,  dwelling  on 
all  the  phenomena  which  were  to  be  co-ordinated,  was  found 
to  have  been  such  a  blank  on  that  one  central  point  of  Roman 
supremacy  that  a  determined  and  sustained  attempt  had  to  be 
made  to  remodel  his  language.  The  authorities  had  their  will, 
and  yet  Cyprian  remains  a  hopeless  difficulty.  Even  the  glozed 
extract  is  inadequate  without  glozing  comments.  Or  let 

the  supposed  teaching  be  tested  by  the  conduct  which  it 
formed.  If  Cyprian  meant  Roman  Unity  in  principle,  then 
at  least  the  next  succeeding  stage  of  the  history  of  the 
Church  of  Carthage,  which  was  devoted  to  him,  must 
have  exhibited  some  approximation  to  that  form  of  unity, — 
especially  as  one  of  its  first  acts  was  the  removal  of  a  barrier 
by  the  dropping  of  his  obstinate  opinion.  But  what  was  the 
fact }  The  great  scholar  and  critic  whose  erudition  and 
accuracy  adorn  the  Roman  Communion  of  to-day  shall  tell 
us  in  his  own  words,  '  By  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  the 
'Africans  were  already  organized,  and  formed  around  the 
'Bishop  of  Carthage  a  close  serried  phalanx  {faisceau  tresserri). 
'Carthage  was  scarcely  less  autonomous  than  Alexandria^' 
On  the  other  hand,  whither  should  the  extreme  reactionaries 

^  M.  I'Abbe  Duchesne,  Pastes  ^piscopaux,  i.  p.  91. 


528  AFTERMATH. 

turn  but  to  the  same  times  of  Cyprian  in  order  to  find 
earliest  expression  given  to  their  views,  if  Cyprian  was  really 
innovating  ?  If  Cyprian's  theory  was  a  creation  of  his  mind, 
violently  fitted  upon  phenomena  which  did  not  correspond  to 
it,  where  should  we  find  the  protest  and  the  contradictory 
phenomena  but  as  the  readiest  armature  of  the  strong  parties 
which  so  long  opposed  him  ?  The  ecclesiastical  circumstances, 
the  action  of  his  contemporaries,  must  have  yielded  some 
refutation  of  his  postulates.  Step  by  step  we  have  explored 
the  rock.  And  we  find  no  ledge  whereon  may  lie  the  very 
egg  of  a  presbyteral  fancy. 

Cyprian  and  his  times  were  as  innocent  of  presbyterian 
and  of  congregational,  as  they  were  of  papal  catholi- 
city. 

We  saw  that  in  the  first  order  of  the  Christian  Ministry, 
as  it  then  subsisted,  the  strongest  threads  of  primitive  consti- 
tutions were  singularly  woven  together.  The  Empire  felt 
how  strong  that  leadership  was,  though  it  knew  not  why, 
and  believed  that  if  only  this  were  eradicated  the  Christian 
commons  might  safely  be  left  their  cidtus.  As  time  went  on 
it  was  perceived  that  the  Imperial  magistracy  was  powerless 
against  a  jurisdiction  which  rested  on  moral  and  spiritual 
convictions  in  conflict  with  which  its  own  material  sanctions 
were  utterly  despised. 

If  that  perception  had  not  been  taken  up  and  acted  on, 
the  Christian  Ministry  would  have  remained  a  magistracy  to 
this  day,  always  either  dominant  or  persecuted.  The  prospect 
was  impossible.  Alliance  with  the  Imperial  rule,  with  all  its 
justice  and  all  its  lawfulness,  became  an  impending  necessity. 
Then,  all  history  would  predict  that  alliance  with  the  State 
could  not  become  an  accomplished  fact  without  a  practical 
outburst  and  shock  of  worldliness  probably  of  a  terrific  sort. 
So  it  was.  But  the  worldliness  was  a  violence  to  the  principle 
and  motive  of  the  alliance,  whose  strength  was  its  purity,  and 
Reform  would  henceforth  be  the  salt  of  every  age. 


XII.  AFTERMATH.  529 

But  the  maintenance  of  a  position  unallied  with  the  State 
and  outside  it,  independent,  indifferent,  unaggressive,  would 
have  involved  a  faithless  worldliness  inaccessible  to  reform. 
'  The  external  bonds  may  be  severed  for  a  time,'  says 
Bp.  Lightfoot,  'but  the  State  cannot  liberate  itself  from  the 
'influence  of  the  Church,  nor  the  Church  from  the  influence  of 
'the  State.... Where  there  is  not  an  alliance  there  must  be  a 
'collision.  Indifference  is  impossible,  and  without  indifference 
'there  can  be  no  strict  neutrality \' 

The  Donatist  cry,  *  Quid  christianis  aim  regibus^,'  was 
the  earliest  and  earthliest  real  sectarianism.  It  gives  up 
Christianity  and  it  gives  up  the  world.  It  is  content  to 
leave  one  of  the  world's  '  three  measures  of  meal '  un- 
leavened. It  is  content  that  States  should  have  no  profession 
of  the  Truth  of  Christ,  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  must 
perish  without  ever  becoming  the  kingdom  of  God  and  of 
His  Christ. 

It  gives  up  Christianity.  For  it  confesses  that  there  are 
powers  in  the  world  which  Christianity  cannot  and  dare  not 
deal  with,  gates  of  hell  which  must  be  left  to  prevail. 

For  the  development  of  the  two  overmastering  ideas  in 
which  he  dwelt  Cyprian  possessed  marvellous  qualifications 
of  character,  of  trained  literary  power,  of  position. 

The  character  which  endeared  him  to  the  laity,  and 
which  excited  warmer  and  more  affectionate  feeling  than  that 
of  any  leader  in  the  antient  Church,  has  been  noted  again 
and  again  in  these  pages. 

Exact  habits  of  business  suiting  a  lively  innate  courtesy 
kept  every  authority  informed  of  facts.  He  was  ready  to 
discuss  doubts  and  differences  with  every  earnest  and  capable 
enquirer.  The  generosity  possible  only  to  a  wealthy  man 
was  not  curbed  by  the  limits  of  his  wealth  until  he  had 
denuded  himself  of  his  estates.  His  passion  was  to  work 
like  God  in  nature  '  for  good  and  for  bad '  alike.      In  political 

^  Historical  Essays,  p.  38.  ^  Optat.  i.  22. 

B.  34 


530  AFTERMATH. 

and  party  life  within  the  Church  he  had  a  singular  power  of 
self-recal.  In  dealing  with  the  pretentious  '  martyrs,'  the 
puritans  and  the  lapsed,  he  was  in  each  instance  on  the  edge 
of  going  too  far.  In  each  he  recovered  himself  with  dignity 
and  carried  the  Church  along  with  him  by  his  charity.  At 
last  the  calm  settling  for  himself  when  and  where  he  would 
not  be  martyred,  and  where  he  would,  and  his  silence  in  the 
last  hour  when  he  and  all  expected  a  Divine  utterance 
through  him,  help  us  to  realize  that  grave  and  sweet  serenity 
which  his  contemporaries  thought  that  his  manners,  his  face, 
his  very  dress  betokened. 

His  trained  literary  power  appeared  not  only  in  his 
sympathetic  approaches,  his  marshalling  of  arguments  weak 
or  strong,  his  antithetic  point,  his  rising  periods,  but  in  the 
variety  of  topics  in  ethics,  doctrine,  policy  which  are  grasped 
and  handled  by  him  so  lightly,  yet  so  definitely. 

/We  said  we  might  not  find  in  him  one  of  the  well-springs 
of  scientific  theology.  Yet  Jerome,  that  profound  and  exact 
critic,  considers  that  he  was  not  a  great  commentator,  only 
because  he  was  in  incessant  conflict  with  the  practicalities  of 
so  many  different  situations.  The  inexhaustible  memory  of 
Scripture,  the  prolific  illustrations  and  adaptations  of  its 
language,  were  to  his  contemporaries  admirable,  and  to  us 
would  be  incredible  if  they  were  not  actual.  Of  course  he 
contributed  to  the  misleading  pile  of  verbal  and  mechanical 
discoveries  of  symbol.  It  was  almost  as  true  of  him  as  of  the 
Donatists  that,  as  Optatus  says,  they  saw  Baptism  in  every 
mention  of  water.  But  were  all  those  fancies  cut  away,  his 
argument  would  seldom  disappear.  And  it  was  impossible 
that  this  error  of  judgment  should  not  be  committed  largely 
when  it  first  began  to  dawn  on  men  that  the  world  of  things 
and  words  was  all  a  temporary  expression  of  the  eternal. 
As  to  theology  itself,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  simple 
yet  learned  straightforwardness  of  his  interpretations  made 
for  Augustine  a  very  mine  of  testimonies  against  later 
Separatists  as  they  arose. 


XII.  AFTERMATH.  S3 1 

The  equable  grace  of  his  eloquence,  'the  calm  fountain- 
like flow,'  which  the  same  great  judge  marks  as  his  character- 
istic style,  almost  impedes  the  recognition  of  his  genius. 

He  was  so  thoroughly  what  we  call  a  scholar  that  he 
edited  for  Christians  a  phraseological  lexicon  of  Cicero \ 

His  diction  is  not  unworthy  to  be  read  beside  the 
classical  writers  of  antiquity ;  stronger  than  any  who  had 
come  between  him  and  them,  purer  and  clearer  than  any 
contemporary ;  and  that  not  because  his  ideas  were  simpler 
and  easier  to  render,  but  because  no  sort  of  affectation 
had  lodging  in  his  soul.  He  left  what  he  had  not  found,  a 
language  which  Divinity  could  use  as  a  facile,  finely  tempered, 
unbreakable  instrument. 

When  Tertullian  began  to  write  Theological  Latin  had  to 
be  formed.  His  free,  unhesitating,  creative  genius  rough- 
hewed  a  new  language  out  of  classical  literature  and  African 
renderings  of  Hellenistic  Greek.  It  stands  like  the  masses  of 
a  fresh-opened  quarry.  Out  of  it  Cyprian  wrought  shapely 
columns,  cornices,  capitals  in  perfect  finish.  It  was  like  the 
Eocene  record  opening  into  the  Pleiocene  with  more  arti- 
culate forms  and  forecasts  of  more  to  come.  Again  he  had 
that  gift  of  gifts,  the  breathing  of  life  into  dead  or  languid 
phrase.  A  fiery  tongue  sat  on  his  brow  as  on  Tertullian's, 
but  of  a  purer,  tenderer  radiance.  Every  Christian  Church  has 
learnt  of  him.  The  lamp  which  all  runners  in  the  sacred 
race  have  received  is  that  which  Tertullian  lit  and  Cyprian 
trimmed. 

These  gifts  of  character  and  of  genius  met  in  a  man  who 
came  to  Christ  from  a  Pagan  position  not  very  analogous  to 
anything  in  modern  life — a  foremost  man  among  the  great 
and  wealthy  rhetoricians. 

They  had  the  most  refined  and  varied  culture  of  their 
times,  experiences  of  life  in  every  condition.  Their  reputa- 
tions were  won  before  the  generals  as  well  as  the  lawyers 

'  V.  Hartel's  PrcEfatio,  pp.  Ixviii,  Ixix. 

34—2 


532  AFTERMATH. 

of  the  Empire,  and  before  the  whole  populace.  Their  leaders 
were  at  home  with  Proconsuls  and  Emperors. 

For  the  devotion  of  his  gifts,  acquirements  and  position 
to  the  work  and  life  of  the  New  People  as  they  grew  in 
Christ,  Carthage  offered  a  fairer,  larger  field  than  Rome, 
because  it  was  at  once  less  officialized  and  less  hopelessly 
split  into  classes  ;  and  so  it  continued,  until  at  last  the  mis- 
management of  subject  races  and  the  degradation  of  a  capital 
daily  reflooded  with  fresh  tides  of  vice,  threw  open  every 
door  to  the  barbarian. 

Of  his  great  gifts  the  greatest  was  his  Charity.  His 
Charity  was  no  purple  patching.  In  the  letters  which  are 
sent  for  the  business-like  purpose  of  keeping  authorities 
informed  there  is  always  visible  the  affectionate  desire  that 
they  should  be  in  the  heart  of  affairs.  That  on  the  other 
hand  it  was  no  mere  good  nature,  appears  by  the  vigour 
with  which  he  can  chastise.  A  quiet  amusement  lies  sup- 
pressed below  the  encouragement  which  he  gives  to  Cornelius 
in  his  nervousness  about  Felicissimus.  The  dignity  with 
which  he  returns  the  presuming  letter  of  the  Roman  pres- 
byters, declining  to  think  it  can  be  genuine,  and  the  immor- 
tality which  his  sarcasm  and  indignation  have  conferred  on 
Florentius  Puppianus,  make  it  plain  that,  if  he  was  charitable, 
his  was  charity  with  a  will.  He  was  regarded  as  a  special 
manifestation  of  that  Grace.  So  Augustine',  'Praise  be  to 
'  Him !  Glory  to  Him  !  who  made  this  man  what  he  was,  to 
'  set  forth  before  His  Church  the  greatness  of  the  evils  with 
*  which  Charity  was  to  do  battle,  and  the  greatness  of  the 
'goodnesses  over  which  Charity  was  to  have  precedence, 
'  and  the  worthlessness  of  the  Charity  of  any  Christian, 
'  who  would  not  keep  the  Unity  of  Christ.  To  him  that 
'  Unity  was  so  dear  as  to  make  him  for  very  charity  not 
'spare  the  bad,  and  yet  for  peace'  sake  endure  the  bad. 
'  A    man   as    free    in   expressing  what    he    felt    himself,    as 

^  Aug.  Serm.  312,  6  et  passim. 


XII.  AFTERMATH.  533 

'he  was  patient  in  listening  to  what  he  knew  his  brethren 
'felt' 

But  when  we  try  to  estimate  the  working  of  that  Charity 
of  his  on  the  great  scale  the  incongruous  puzzle  seems  at  first 
to  be  that  the  same  man  who  so  evolved  and  so  used  the 
Theory  of  Unity  should  have  been  the  man  who  afterwards 
went  so  near  to  breaking  up,  by  an  opinion,  the  unity  that 
then  was. 

But  indeed  in  the  way  of  providence  that  doctrine  of  his 
was  an  actual  test  of  the  stability  and  durableness  of  his 
*  Unity.'  For  certain  it  is  that,  however  uncatholic  that  one 
opinion  was,  however  uncatholic  the  Roman  Bishop  in  his 
tone  concerning  it,  Cyprian  was  never  parted  from  the  very 
heart  of  the  Communion  of  Saints  in  Christendom.  This 
was  the  fullest  example  possible  of  that  great  truth  which  in 
word  and  conduct  he  enunciated  :  '  That  Christian  men  must 
'be  able  to  differ  in  opinions  without  forfeitfng  or  withholding 
'from  each  other  the  rights  of  intercommunion\' 

Wearied  and  weakened  by  separations  of  which  the  guilt, 
the  loss,  and  even  the  suffering  can  never  be  truly  apportioned 
as  between  those  who  triumph  and  those  who  are  defeated, 
the  spirit  of  Christendom  has  feebly  begun  to  yearn  for 
Reunion  in  some  form,  to  recognize  that  a  fractured  force 
cannot  complete  the  conquest  of  Heathendom.  Yet  each 
Church  is  rightly  aghast  at  the  thought  of  purchasing  Unity 
at  the  cost  of  Truth. 

Cyprian  does  not  recommend  such  barter  to  his  '  most 
loved  colleagues.' 

What  Cyprian  meant  is  summed  by  Augustine  and 
rounded  into  one  exact  and  perfect  phrase.  Salvo  jure  coni- 
vnmionis  diversa  sentire.  He  means  that  Schools  of  Thought 
are    not    Communions.      He    means   that   the   Apostleship 

1  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donat.  vi.  vii.  10.  Cyprian  :  Ep.  72.  3  ;  Sentt.  Epp. 
Salvo  jure  communionis  diversa  sentire.  proam,  Ep.  68,  fin.  The  spirit  breathes 
The  actual  words  are   gathered   from       through  all  Cyprian. 


534  AFTERMATH. 

and  the  Apostolic  Creed  are  enough.  He  means  that 
the  harmony  of  mankind,  in  a  world  which  is  a  world  of 
Beginnings,  never  will  be  a  harmony  intellectual  or  meta- 
physical, but  that  it  may  even  now  be  a  harmony  spiritual 
and  sacramental. 

Such  Unity  as  the  Lord  prayed  for  is  a  mysterious 
thing.  It  is  no  fantasy,  but  it  answers  in  no  way  to  the  idea 
that  'one  Lord,  one  Faith,  one  Baptism '  can  be  condensed 
into  one  Rite,  one  Code,  one  Chair.  A  mysterious  thing. 
Nothing  formal,  mechanical,  or  limitable  by  words.  That  is 
evident  in  His  very  comparison  and  apposition  of  that  Unity 
to  the  relations  which  subsist  within  the  Holiest  Trinity. 
No  intellectual  expression  can  embrace  these  relations ;  so 
neither  can  intellectual  Articles  of  Faith  express  that  Unity 
which  He  defines  only  by  likening  it  to  those  Divine  relations. 
Nothing  can  reach  it  but  some  mystery,  compact  of  visible 
and  spiritual  ;  nothing  but  a  Sacrament. 

A  true  Unity  has  to  take  account  equally  of  Christ's  Prayer 
and  of  Christ's  Laws :  of  the  Prayer  which  He  offered  over 
the  sacrifice  of  Himself,  and  of  the  Laws  which  Himself,  our 
Creator,  impressed  on  the  intellectual  existence  of  our  race. 
One  centre  we  have,  but  the  approaches  to  it  from  without, 
the  radii  of  thought,  are  infinite. 

In  that  saying  lies  enfolded  the  germ  of  Christ's  Prayer — 
'jus  coinnitmionis' — and  the  germ  of  Christ's  natural  Law 
'  divers  a  sejitire.' 

The  Church  which  masters  that  saying,  which  roots  it  as 
the  principle  of  the  thought  which  itself  cherishes  and  en- 
courages, which  fructifies  it  in  the  action  that  itself  enterprises, 
that  Church  was  and  is  the  Church  of  the  Future. 


APPENDICES. 


537 


APPENDIX   A. 


Principalis  Ecclesia.     Note  on  the  meaning  of 
Principalis  (p.   192). 

It  is  matter  of  grief  when  one  finds  a  scholar  like  Duchesne  led  by  the 
logic  of  his  position  to  Xxd.ri^2X& principalis  ecclesia  '  I'dglise  souveraine' 
{Origines  Chretiennes,  vol.  II.  c.  xxiv.,  sect.  6,  pp.  427,  436). 

Postponing  the  question  whether  the  principalitas  originated  in  the 
Urbs  {Civitas)  or  the  Ecclesia,  with  other  questions  not  belonging  to  the 
plan  of  this  book,  we  should  do  well  to  learn  accurately  first  what  the 
word  principalis  meant  to  Romans  under  the  Empire. 

The  word  is  ixom.  princeps,  the  ordinary  title  of  the  Emperor  in  daily 
use,  and  mediaeval  or  later  students  may  be  excused  for  vaguely  con- 
cluding that  it  held  in  it  all  that  was  imperial  and  dominating,  the  highest 
idea  of  authority  on  earth.  But  why  was  it  the  title  of  the  Emperor.?  and 
■what  notion  did  it  convey  to  the  Roman  world .''  Constitutional  and 
philological  research  leave  no  doubt  on  these  questions. 

The  theory  of  the  Roman  Emperor  was  that  all  his  powers  were  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  virtue  of  the  separate  republican  offices  with  which 
after  his  nomination  he  was  invested,  at  first  each  by  itself,  but  afterwards 
by  one  statute  {Journal  of  Philology,  xvii.  p.  45).  This  mass  of  powers 
was  conferred  on  a  person  who  bore  the  most  unpretending  constitutional 
title,  'a  title  of  courtesy  pure  and  simple'  {Diet.  Gk.  and  R.  Antt.  v.  11. 
p.  483^). 

The  Republic  itself  had  been  familiar  with  the  idea  of  a  princeps 
civitatis  or  '  pre-eminent  single  citizen,'  '  the  foremost  man  of  the  state,' 
'  and  of  placing  at  the  head  of  the  Republican  system  a  constitutional 

^  In  these  two  paragraphs  I  have  pre-  abbreviated  from,  or  in  any  way  repre- 

ferred  to  make  no  statement  of  my  own  seating   the   latter).     Journal  of  Phi- 

but  to  define  the  princeps  solely  from  lology,  viii.  pp.  323  ff. ;  'On  some  dis- 

Professor  H.  Pelham's  learned  and  com-  puted  points  connected  with  the  "im- 

prehensive  papers,  written  without  any  perium"   of  Augustus  and  his  succes- 

■ecclesiastical  reference,  viz.,    '■Princeps  sors,' zdid.  xvii.  pp.  2^  ff.  ;  'Princeps,' 

or  Princeps  Senatus '  (proving  that  the  Dictionary  of  Gk.  and  Rom.  Antt.  3rd 

former   was  an   independent   title  not  ed.  vol.  11.  pp.  483  fF. 


538  APPENDIX    A. 

*  primate — a  first  citizen — as  the  best  means  of  securing  administrative 
'stability  and  Republican  freedom'  (/.  of  Phil.  Vlil.  p.  329).— 'The  sig- 

*  nificance  of  the  term  as  accorded  by  popular  consent  to  Augustus  and 
'his  successors  was  the  same.'  And  still  in  the  time  of  Ulpian,  'The 
'princeps  was  only  a  citizen  invested  by  senate  and  people  with  certain 

*  powers.'  '  The  title  did  not  connote  the  tenure  of  any  special  office  or 
'prerogative.'  'It  implied  not  only  a  general  pre-eminence  as  distinct 
'  from  a  specific  official  function,  but  a  constitutional  pre-eminence  among 
'free  citizens  as  opposed  to  despotic  rule  (Tac.  Hist.  iv.  3,  ...Ceterum  ut 
'princeps  loquebatur,  civilia  de  se,  de  republica  egregia.  Plin.  Paneg. 
'  55,  sedem  obtinet  principis  ne  sit  domino  locus).'  *  It  involved  an  ex- 
'  plicit  recognition  of  the  continued  existence  of  a  free  commonwealth.' 
'The  position  was  created  only  for  each  princeps  for  his  life.'  'The 
'  principate    died  with   the  princeps '  {Diet.   Gk.   and  R.  Antt.   v.   11. 

pp.  484,  485)- 

The  term  principalis  ecclesia,  r^yejxoviKrj,  was  the  best  and  most  exact 
possible  to  make  plain  to  the  constitutional  subjects  of  the  Roman 
Empire  what  was  the  position  claimed  by  the  Roman  Church  among 
Churches.  First  and  highest  in  a  great  Republic  of  Churches,  securing 
administrative  unity  and  freedom,  possessing  a  general  pre-eminence  as 
distinct  from  a  special  function,  a  constitutional  pre-eminence  as  opposed 
to  despotic  rule. 

That  was  the  meaning  of  pri?icipalitas,  ptincipaius  to  any  Roman 
lawyer  or  citizen.  '  Sovereignty,'  '  Ruling  power '  is  exactly  what  was  not 
included,  implied  or  allowed  in  the  term.  All  itnperium  ox potestas  had 
to  be  separately  and  solemnly  conferred.  So  long  as  the  public  felt  that 
they  had  the  conferring  of  each  high  authority  as  so  many  offices,  while 
they  called  the  one  who  held  the  many  offices  nothing  but  princeps,  the 
first  citizen,  this  name  enabled  them  to  believe  that  they  were  a  republic, 
not  a  monarchy. 

In  the  case  of  the  See  its  principatus  was  undoubted.  The  pre- 
rogatives of  which  the  sum  was  autocracy  were  never  conferred  on  it, 
and  at  first  not  only  not  claimed,  but  repudiated  by  it.  The  assumption 
of  them  came  later,  but  with  that  assumption  came  wide  and  deep  dis- 
regard for  X^io.  principatus  itself. 

Let  us  add  some  illustrations  of  the  true  sense.  Princeps  Senatus 
was  a  well-known  position  in  Rome.  At  no  time  did  it  imply  power  or 
authority  :  simply  '  the  privilege  of  delivering  his  sententia  before  the  rest 
of  the  assembled  Fathers.'  The  Princeps  Jiiventutis,  first  of  the 

Equites,  had  not  a  tinge  of  authority. 

In  Africa  itself  the  Principales  were  a  rank  to  which  Sovereignty 
by  no  means  appertained.  They  are  mentioned  after  Decwiones  and 
before  Gives  (probably  because  they  had  no  special  jurisdiction)  in  an 
inscription  from  Sitifis  {C.I.L.  vill.  i.  nn.  14,  4224;  ii.  n.  8480).  Augustine 


PRINCIPALIS   ECCLESIA.  539 

EP-  139,  4,  commends  to  Marcellinus  'our  son'  Ruffinus  as  Cirtensis 
Principalis^ 

Augustine  in  his  Epistle  43  to  Glorius,  Eleusius...lays  much  stress 
on  the  principate  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  '...Romanse  ecclesiae  in  qua 
semper  apostolicae  cathedrae  viguit  principatus'  {s.  7),  and  urges  the 
Donatists  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  Pope  Melchiades  and  his  col- 
league Bishops  given  on  appeal  at  Rome  (j.  14).  Then  he  points  out  that, 
supposing  that  Roman  judgment  to  be  wrong,  there  was  still  an  appeal  to 
a  General  Council,  which  might  reconsider  and  reverse  the  judgment 
of  the  Pope  and  Bishops.  '  Ecce  putemus  illos  episcopos,  qui  Romse 
'  judicarunt,  non  bonos  judices  fuisse  :  restabat  adhuc  plenarium  universae 
*  Ecclesiae  concilium,  ubi  etiam  cum  ipsis  judicibus  causa  posset  agitari, 
'ut  si  male  judicasse  convicti  essent,  eorum  sententiae  solverentur '  {s.  19}. 
That  distinctly  expresses  the  nature  of  the  principatus.  It  was  exactly  not 
'  sovereign '  in  its  decisions,  great  as  was  the  respect  to  be  paid  to  them. 

Tertullian,  de  Anima,  cc.  13 — 15,  has  to  determine  the  purely  abstract 
metaphysical  question  of  whether  the  anima  or  the  animus  in  man  has  to 
fjyefioviKov,  principalitas  ubi  sit?  quid  cui  prcsestf  'where  resides  the 
principalitas ?  which  is  over  which?'  He  renders  to  TjyenoviKov  hy prin- 
cipaie,  the  only  possible  term,  fj-yefMcov  being  the  equivalent  for  princeps. 

He  decides  of  course  that  the  principa/e  is  in  the  anima,  of  which  the 
animus  with  its  senses  and  operations  is  in  one  view  a  function  '  officium,' 
in  another  its  furniture  or  apparatus  '  instrumentum.'  Next  he  proceeds 
to  enquire  in  what  '  recess  of  the  body '  the  principa/e  has  its  shrine,  '  esse 
consecratum.' 

There  is  no  analogy  drawn  or  resemblance  existent  between  the 
metaphysical  relations  in  this  most  abstract  discussion  and  the  practical 
relations  of  political  or  civil  ranks,  and  no  one  would  pretend  that  the 
Church  is  in  any  sense  '  a  function,'  or  '  the  furniture,'  or  '  the  apparatus ' 
of  a  See.  No  definition  of  principalis  is  sought  or  given  by  Tertullian. 
The  meaning  of  the  word  is  assumed  to  be  known  by  any  Roman  reader. 
What  is  here  supposed  to  be  ascertained  is  the  pre-eminent  place  of  the 
anima.  It  is  simply  shewn  that  the  principale,  the  foremost,  chiefest, 
pre-eminent  rank,  belongs  to  the  atiima. 

This  however  is  the  passage  of  which  the  Rev.  L.  Rivington  writes 
{Pritnitive  Church  a?id  See  of  Peter,  1894,  p.  58),  'Since  Irensus  wrote 
'  those  words  about  Rome,  Tertullian  {de  Afiim.  13)  had  defined  the  word 
'  as  meaning  "  that  which  is  over  anything"  as  the  soul  presides  over  and 

^  [Cf.   C.  I.  L.  vol.  V.  ii.  n.  7786,  Apuleius,  in  Africa,  in  this  century,  it 

viro  innocent!  principali  civitatis. — vol.  is   similarly  used   of  men  and    of  the 

I.x.nn.  259, 1540,  1683.   InCod.yusttn.  god    Serapis,     Aletantorph.    xi.    (261), 

7,  r6,  41  ;  10,  32  (31),  33,  40,  42,  and  viii.    (175)  ;    Florid,    iv.    21.      In     no 

in  some  inscriptions,  it  seems  like  a  rank  case    is    there    a     trace    of    rule     or 

belonging    often    to    a    decurion.      In  sovereignty.] 


S40  APPENDIX    A. 

rules  the  body.'  There  is  (as  I  have  said)  no  attempt  to  define^ ;  the 
translation  and  application  of  quid  cut  prceest  is  too  shocking ;  there  is 
not  a  trace  of  the  illustration  of  soul  ruling  body. 

As  to  'those  words  of  Irenaeus'  c.  Hceres.  iii,  3,  2,  Mr  Rivington 
observes  that  'this  expression  "principal  Church"  and  its  Greek  equiva- 
lent occurring  in  S.  Irenaeus... means  the  ruling  Church.'  There  is  a 
little  slip  here,  as  the  passage  of  Irenaeus  does  not  exist  in  Greek,  but  the 
potentior principalitas  which  he  assigns  to  the  Church,  not  the  Bishop,  of 
Rome,  means  of  course  what  it  means  everywhere.  It  means  what  Strabo 
xvii.  3  calls  17  npoaraa-la  ttjs  fj-ye^ovias,  the  precedence,  the  presidency, 
the  pre-eminence  belonging  to  the  position  of  princeps.  What  this  was 
we  have  seen. 

Principatus,  principalitas  embodied  the  tradition  and  the  hope  of 
Rome.  They  expected  to  maintain  the  idea  of  undisputed  pre-eminence 
and  to  exclude  inherent  autocracy,  making  all  authority  and  jurisdiction 
to  be  only  the  exercise  of  various  offices  specially  conferred.  They  ex- 
pected.    So  did  the  Christians. 

^  When  Tertullian  de  PrcBscriptiofii-  the  word  as  meaning  'priority  in  time,' — 

bits  H(zretic.  3 1  claims  principalitas  for  '  sed  ab  excessu  revertar  ad  principali- 

Truth    as   against    Heresy,    he    might  tatein  veritatis  et  posteritatem  menda- 

equally  well  be  said  to  have  '  defined '  citatis.' 


541 


APPENDIX  B. 


Additional  note  on  Libelli  (pp.  8 1 — 84). 

The  account  of  the  Libelli,  pp.  81 — 84,  was  constructed  many  years  ago 
from  the  various  extant  references  to  them.  We  little  thought  then  to  find 
such  actual  documents  extant  after  sixteen  centuries  and  a  half.  But  in 
1893  ^"d  1894  there  appeared  two,  one  in  the  Brugsch  Collection  of  the 
Berlin  Museum,  the  other  in  that  of  the  Archduke  Rainer,  brought  from 
the  province  of  Faioum,  S.W.  of  Cairo.  The  former  is  a  papyrus  leaf, 
about  8  inches  by  3,  much  damaged  but  most  skilfully  deciphered  by  Dr 
Krebs,  who  acknowledges  Dr  Harnack's  learned  assistance  in  illustrating 
it ;  the  fragments  of  the  other  have  been  skilfully  pieced  together  by  Prof. 
K.  VVessely^ 

These  documents  give  us  a  sharpened  sense  of  the  suppression  planned 
by  Decius — a  policy  of  '  Thorough,'  an  application  of  the  great  Roman 
administrative  forces  to  any  and  every  individual  in  the  Empire.  The 
scheme  extends  formally  to  little  villages  (Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  42,  i),  and  takes 
in  country  folks  outside  them,  and  their  wives.  The  form  in  Africa  is  not 
likely  to  have  differed  from  that  in  Egypt.  The  date,  we  shall  see,  is  of 
the  year  we  are  describing. 

I  had  concluded  formerly  ^  that  besides  the  process  of  Registration 
there  were  two  kinds  of  libelli  or  certificates  of  sacrifice,  one  an  allowed 
protest  or  declaration  of  innocence  put  in  {traditus)  by  the  person  accused 
of  Christianity,  the  other  a  certificate  received  by  him  {acceptus)  from  the 
magistrate  that  he  was  satisfied  of  his  paganism.  Our  second  papyrus 
might  have  seemed  one  of  the  former  sort,  if  it  had  stood  alone,  and  our 
first  a  similar  one,  attested  by  the  magistrate.  But  their  being  in  dupli- 
cate, except  for  the  personal  particulars  filled  in,  and  their  both  praying 
for  attestation,  shews  that  what  I  thought  might  be  different  documents 
were  combined  in  each  libellus,  the  two  parts  being  what  was  conjectured. 

^  The  former  is  described  and  illus-  The    second    is    described    by    Dr 

trated  with   a   facsimile    by   Dr   Fritz  A.  Harnack  in  the  Theolog.  Literatur- 

Krebs  in  the  Sitzungsberichte  d.  Kongl.  zeitung,  Leipzig,  17  March,  1894  [from 

Pretiss.  Akademie  d.  IVis sense  haft  en  zti  Sitzungsb.d.Kaiserl.Akad.d.Wissensch. 

Berlin,  1893,  30  Nov.,  xlviii.  p.  1007;  Phil. -Hist.  Classe  131  B.     Wien,  1894] 

and  there   is   an    article   on  it    in  the  and    by   [Dr]    A.    J.    M[ason]   in   the 

Theolog.   Literaturzeilung,  Leipzig,   20  Guardian,  March  21,  1894,  p.  431. 

Jan.  1894,  by  Dr  A.  Harnack,  and  one  ^  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiquities,  s.v. 

by  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  in  the  Guar-  ■Col.  Ii.  p.  981. 
dian,  Jan.  31,  1894,  p.  167. 


542 


APPENDIX   B. 


I  admit  also  that  if  there  was  Registration  (which  seems  essential)  it 
would  be  the  registering  of  these  documents  and  not  a  different  process. 


II  (Rainer). 

TOis  fiTi  tav  dvaioiv  rjprjyifvois 

K(t)fjiT)s  <})i\a8(\(t)ias 
irapa  avprfKicov  crvpov  km  iracr^dov  tov 
aSeX0ou  KOI  8t]p,Tirpias  Kui  crapaniahos 
yvvaiK(i)u  [rj^fjiciv  t^ajrvXetrav 
aei  ^woi'[Tej]  ro«r  dfois  fiifTtXt 
aafxtv  Kai  pvv  tm  TTapovT(ov  v/xa)i» 
Kara  ra  iTpo(TTa-)(6(vra  ncai  famcrapfv 
Kai  [roi^v  i[fpetci)»']  f[yfv(rapfda  Kai] 
[a^iovfxfu  Vfias  Vffocij/xetoj] 
<ra<rBai  rfp.iv  5teuT[u;^(tr€] 

avpt}^  <Tvpos  Kai  -rraa^ijs  fTrtSeSo)* 
KTidwpos  eyp  I  V     av'^  ayp  | 


I  (Brugsch). 
TOis  eJTt  Ta>v  6v(Tia>v  rjprf- 
pfvoLS  Ku>{pr}s)  aXf^{av8pov)  vrjaov 
napa  avpr}\{iov)  8ioy(vov{i)  (rara- 
jSovrof  OTTO  »c(a(/iijr)  aik(^av8{pov) 
■5  VTjcrov  a>s  Lo/3  ov\{t]) 
o^pvi  Be^{ia.)  Kai  ati 

dvWV  TOIS  dfOlS  8lfT€- 

\f<ra  Kai  wv  ctti  rra- 
povariv  vp,€iv  Kara 
sic 
10  TO  TTpooTeraTc^ypf] 

va  (6v<Ta  [xajt  67r[...] 

[.].  (  T<i>V  l\t\pfia)V  [...] 

trafirjv  Kai  a^ia  v[pai] 
viro(rtjpi(o<Ta<Tdai 

avpi7X[toj]  [Pt\oyfVT)s  e7rt8[«(5ci)Ka)] 

aypni^ios)  o-..  p. ..[...] 

dvovra  /Livo-[...] 

...yavos  afa-(T]pfi<i)pai) 
^  [La]  avTOKparopo^s]  Kai[crapos^ 
[■yajtov  peacriov  *c[o]ii'[tou] 
[rp]ai[ai'ou  S^Jkiou  «uc^[f^ousJ 
[€]vt[u;(OVs]  0"e[^]a[(r]roi; 
f7r[€t(^]  ^ 

I.  To  the  commissioners  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  village  of  Alexander's 
island  from  Aurelius  Diogenes  [son  of]  Satabus  of  the  village  of  Alex- 
ander's island.  About  72.  Scar  on  right  eyebrow.  I  was  both  constant 
in  ever  sacrificing  to  the  gods  and  now  in  your  presence  according  to 
the  precepts  I  sacrificed  and  drank  and  tasted  of  the  victims  and  I 
beseech  you  to  attach  your  signature. 

May  you  ever  prosper. 

I  Aurelius  Diogenes  have  delivered  this. 

/  Aurelius [?saw]    him    sacrificing    /  Mys[thes   son    of]....non 

have  signed. 

[first  year]  of  the  Emperor  Caesar 

Gaius  Messius  Quintus 
Trajanus  Decius  Pius 
Felix  Augustus 

2^  day  of  Epiphi. 


LIBELLI.  543 

II.  To  the  commissioners  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  village  of  Phila- 
delphia from  the  Aurelii  Syrus  and  Pasbeius  his  brother  and  Demetria 
and  Serapias  our  wives,  Dwellers  outside  the  gates,  We  were  constant 
in  ever  sacrificing  to  the  gods  and  now  in  your  presence  according  to 
the  precepts  we  both  poured  libations  and  tasted  of  the  victims  and 
we  beseech  you  to  attach  your  signature  for  us.     May  you  ever  prosper. 

We  Aurelius  Syrus  and  Pasbes  have  delivered  this. 
I  Isidorus  wrote  for  them  as  unlettered. 

The  date  (11.  20 — 24)  is  not  so  well  written  as  the  declaration,  but  the 
signatures  of  the  magistrates  (17 — 19)  are  hurriedly  scribbled  with  a 
thick  reed  pen.  Round  brackets  ( )  indicate  abbreviations  in  the  original, 
square  []  indicate  holes  in  the  papyrus. 

1.  I.  01  Tjprjfifvoi  are  the  local  commissioners  added  to  the  local  magi- 
strates, the  quinque primores  illi  qui  edicto  nuper  magistratibus  fuerant 
copulati  of  Ep.  43.  3,  sup.  p.  76,  probably  selected  by  higher  courts. 
Cf.  turba  eorum  quos  ad  investigandos  Christianos  Polemoni  judicia 
majora  sociaverant.     Ruinart,  Passio  SS.  Pionii  et  sou.  iii. 

2.  *  Alexander's  Island '  in  one  of  the  former  lakes  of  the  Faioum,  so 
called  from  the  veterans  settled  there  by  Ptolemy  I. 

3.  Atireliiis  from  Caracalla,  who  gave  the  Civitas  to  the  Orbis  Ro- 
manus,  Dion.  Cass,  "j"]^  9  and  cp.  60,  17.  Dig.  i,  5,  17.  Cf  ovofiua-rl  re 
KoXovfifvot  Tals...dv(Tlaii  npocrijfa-a}^,  Dionys.  ap.  Eus.  vi.  41.  Note  that  the 
magistrate  is  an  Aurelius  too. 

7.  Nothing  indicates  whether  these  Aurelii  were  genuine  pagans  or 
lapsing  Christians,  cf.  laxvpiCopevoi  rfi  Opaa-vrr^Ti  ru  p,7^8e  npoTfpov  Xpiariavol 
ycyopevai,  Dionys.  ap.  Eus.  vi.  41. 

10.  ra  npoa-TfTaypipa  &c.  i.e.  the  provisions  of  the  irpoaraypa,  Eus.  vi.  40, 
41  ;  the  Edict,  Ep.  43.  3,  or  the  Prceceptiim  (see  pp.  465,  n.  4;  492,  n.  2). 

11.  Decipherers  hesitated  between  e7r[ioi/]  and  ea-TreLva  ku),  but  the 
latter  is  verified  by  the  second  libellus. 

12.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  right  reading  is  (yevcraprju, 
which  constructs  with  Updav.  Cf  Passio  Pionii,  ii.,  'sicut  ceteros  qui 
degustabant  sacrificia.'  Acta  S.  Theodori  Amas.  (Surius,  Nov.  9),  *si 
execrandos  cibos  gustassent.'  '  Ora  maculare,  polluere,'  is  the  constant 
expression  about  the  sacrificati  as  an  essential  part  of  the  test,  e.g. 
Ep.  20.  2  ;  31.  7  ;  55-  14;  59.  12,  13  ;  Ep.  30.  3  ;  de  Lapsis,  10.  15,  22, 
24,  25. 

17,  18.     The  reading  of  18  is  not  certain.     These  are  thought  to  be 

the  names  of  the  Magistrate  Aurelius and  of  his  Secretary  Mys[thes] 

(not  an  uncommon  name),  with  the  name  of  his  father.  Are  they  not 
likely  to  be  the  signatures  of  one  Magistrate  and  one  Commissioner? 
However  for  Myc  Harnack  would  read  ^^-^iopLtvov). 

24.     2  Epiphi  in  Egyptian  kalendar  is  26  June.     By  that  time  in  a.d. 


544  APPENDIX   C. 

25 1  the  persecution  was  over.     Hence  the  date  of  the  libellus  must  be 
26  June  250,  Decius'  first  year. 

11.  2,     Philadelphia.     Unknown. 

12.  13  written  in  another  hand. 

13.  (ypw^a  vnip  avrap  dypafifiarav  is  Harnack's  ingenious  reading. 


APPENDIX   C 

Tke  hitrigue  about  Manutius'  Text — Visconti's  Letter. 
(Note  on  p.  212,  nn.  i  and  2.) 

The  language  of  these  intriguers  at  Trent  and  Rome  is  so  clever  and 
so  self-conscious  that  it  is  worth  while  to  look  at  the  originals. 

Visconti's  letters  are  printed  in  Mansi's  Appendix  to  Baluzii  Miscel- 
lanea (4  vols.  fo.  Lucae,  1761 — 4),  'from  a  MS.  in  the  public  library  at 
Siena';  not  in  the  first  edition  1678 — 83.  Also  in  'Lettres,  anecdotes  et 
*  mdmoires  historiques  du  Nonce  Visconti...dont  plusieurs  intrigues  inouies 
'se  trouvent  dans  ces  relations,  mises  au  jour,  en  Italian  et  Frangois,  par 
'  Mr.  Aymon.'  2  vols.  12°.  Amsterdam,  17 19.  Mansi  indicates  his  sources, 
Vol.  III.  Index,  p.  xviii.     Aymon  does  not  name  his  MS. 

(i)  Mansi  {Baluz.  Misc.  ill.  p.  472),  1.  xlv  (from  Trent,  Visconti  to 
Borromeo). 

Di  xxii.  Giugno,  1563^ 

Fii  scritto,  questi  di,  da  Roma  che  le  Opere  di  San  Cipriano,  ristam- 
pate  nuovamente  da  M.  Paolo  Manutio^  non  erano  state  date  fuori  con 
quelle  correttioni  che  i  correttori  havevano  notate;  ma  nel  trattare  de 
aiithoritate  Ecclesice,  dove  si  parla  de  Prijnaiu  Papce^  erano  state  mutate 
alcune  parole  le  quali  non  si  truovano*  citate  nelli  Decreti,  n^  da  gli 
authori,  che  ne  fanno  mentione,  in  quel  modo  che  sono  date  fuori,  & 
essendomi  stato  detto,  che  Monsignor  Agostino  haveva  havuto  sovra  di 
cio  littere  da  Roma,  parendomi,  che  fosse  di  molta  importanza  il  non 
lasciare  a  questo  tempo,  che  si  tratta  dell'  auttoritk  del  Papa,  spargere 
cotali  voci,  procurai  con  buona  occasione  d'  intendere  dal  sodetto  Mon- 
signore  1'  avviso,  ch'  egli  ne  haveva,  il  qual  mi  disse  che  molti  giorni  sono 
M.  Latino  un  de  correttori  scrisse  a  Monsignor  Siglicello^  sopra  di  questo 

^  Aymon,    vol.   II.    p.   84,  reads   at  dove   si    tratta    de  Primaiu   Pontijicis 

end  of  letter  di  Trento  a'  21  di  Giugno  Romani  (pp.  78 — 80). 

1563.  ■*  Aym.  trovavano. 

2  Aymon  (p.  78)  1'  opere. ..da  Men-  ®  Aym.  Sighuello ;  lo.  Baptista  Sin- 

signore  Paulo  Manucio.  ghicello,  Latino,  Ep.  ad  Andr.  Masiutft, 

2  Aymon,  dell'  Autorita  Ecdesiastica  li.  p.  loi  (Hartel,  Prcef.  p.  ix). 


MANUTIUS'  TEXT.  545 

affine,  che  ne  havesse  a  parlar  col  Sig.  Cardinal  Varmiense  [Hosius, 
Bp.  of  Varmie,  Poland]  awertendolo,  che  '1  Manutio  non  haveva  in  quel 
luogo  detto  di  sopra  seguita  la  correttione  fatta  dal  Faerno  &  da  lui, 
&  che  il  Faerno,  il  quale  haveva  sopra  di  cio  rincontrato  molti  essem- 
plari  e  particolarmente  uno,  che  fu  della  santa  memoria  di  Marcello  [il] 
haveva  notate  le  sodette  parole  diversamente  da  quel  che  V  haveva 
poste  il  Manutio,  soggiungendomi  il  predetto  Monsignore,  che  sendole 
stata  mandata  una  di  queste  opere,  gli  fu  scritto  anco  a  lui  il  medesimo. 
Di  che  ne  ho  avvertito  il  Sig.  Cardinal  Simoneta,  &  crederei  che  non 
fosse  se  non  bene,  prima  che  tale  opinione  si  andasse  confirmando,  trovar 
modo  di  levarla,  il  che  si  potria  fare,  se  cosi  piacesse  a  V.S.  lUustriss., 
con  dare  auttoritk  a  quelle  parole  che  sono  date  fuori,  autenticandole 
col  Testimonio  &  approbatione  di  persone  che  havessero  visto  e  con- 
frontato  i  codici  antichi. 

(2)  The  following  is  the  Note  at  the  end  of  Manutius'  Cyprian, 
Romas,  M.D.  LXlll. 

The  few  notes  follow  the  Index  and  this  is  on  the  last  page  but  one 
signed  TTiii.  It  is  on  the  words  ' loquitur... ecclesia'  in  Ep.  ix.  (Ma- 
nutius) to  Floientius  Puppianus,  Hartel,  E/>.  66.  8,  p.  732,  25. 

'Pag.  106,  V.  -i,^  Loquitur  Petrus  siiper  quern  fundata  [text  sedificata] 
fuerat  ecclesia.  Quantum  Petro  &  illius  Cathedrae  tribuendum  censuerit  B. 
Cyprianus,  hie,  &  multis  aliis  eximiis  probat  testimoniis.  Nee  quidquam 
illi  deperit  si  extant  diversae  doctorum  ad  verba  Christi  expositiones. 
Omnium  tandem  Catholicorum  scopus  &  finis  eo  tendit  ut  recognoscant 
unum  Christi  loco  in  ecclesia  esse  relictu  pro  quo  &  illius  sede  & 
successoribus  rogavit  ne  deficeret  fides  illius,  &  universum  gregem  domi- 
nicum  pasceret.  Nee  quemquam  tnovere  debet  quod  alicubi  dicat  hoc 
fuisse  ceteros  apostolos  quod  /nit  &^  Petrus,  pari  consortio  prceditos 
honoris  5^ potestatis,  [de  unit.  4.  Manut.  p.  139,  32,  Hartel,  p.  213,  2]  quod 
de  cequalitate  apostolatus  est  omnino  intelligendum,  qui  cum  apostolis 
morientibus  cessavit  nee  ad  episcopos  trasiit  qui  succedunt  apostolis  in 
ministerio  episcopalis  dignitatis  pro  sua  quisque  portione.  In  solo  Petro 
remansit  omnis  plenitudo  potestatis  ad  universalem  ecclesiae  totius  guber- 
nationem,  ut  catholici  doctores  acutissime  viderunt  et  comprobarunt.  Nee 
est  alienum  si  priscorum  patrian  scriptis  pice  dr'  catholicce  adhibea?itur 
interpretationes,  Qr^  veri  sensus,  ad  conseruandam  semper  EcclesicB  uni- 
tate>H,  qua  B.  Cypriano  nil  fuit  in  scribendo  optabilius.  alioqui  hcereseum 
<S>-»  schismatum  nullusjinis.' 

Thus  in  1563,  instantly  after  and  notwithstanding  the  interpolations, 
the  papal  warning  against  the  teaching  of  the  De  Unitate  has  still  to  be 
raised. 

As  there  could  be  no  more  thorough  exposition  and  example  of 
Roman  practice,  so  there  can  be  no  keener  comment  on  its  futiHty. 

B-  35 


546 

APPENDIX   D. 

The  Intrigue  about  tlie  Benedictine  Text — Additional  note 

on  du  Mabaret  (p.  213). 

The  Abb^  du  Mabaret  was  from  1720  to  1733  Professor  of  Philosophy 
and  then  of  Theology  at  Angers.  In  1725,  at  the  age  of  28,  in  a  work 
called  Veritatis  triumphus  he  refuted  Spinosa,  'Protestantism'  and  Jan- 
senism, and  proved  Papal  Infallibility.  To  the  age  of  86  he  was  a  pious 
patient  student  of  'vast  erudition'  without  a  touch  of  critical  method  or 
power.  He  disallowed  the  genuineness  of  Lactantius  'on  the  deaths  of 
persecutors';  was  the  compiler  of  enormous  works  which  never  found 
editor,  publisher  or  patron,  and  complains  that  his  contributions  to 
Moreri's  Dictionnaire  Historique  are  inadequately  acknowledged.  His 
one  literary  success  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  spoiling  of  Baluze's 
Cyprian.  His  feeble  'arguments'  on  the  Interpolation  survive  among 
Freppel's.  They  chiefly  rest  on  the  'Citations.'  M.  I'Abb^  Arbellot 
published  at  Limoges  1867  a  pamphlet,  now  rare,  which  collects  the 
particulars  of  his  writings,  and  as  far  as  possible  admires  him. 

The  following  interesting  illustrations  of  the  state  of  feeling  at  the 
time  were  pointed  out  to  me  by  M.  le  Vicomte  de  Cormenin. 

The  'Sgavant  d'A...'  of  Oct.  1726  {Mhn.  de  Trevoux  for  that  year, 
p.  1902)  says,  '  Personne  n'ignore  avec  combien  d'dclat  et  de  force  M. 
'I'Abbd  du  Plessis  d'Argentr^,  aujourd'hui  Eveque  de  Tulles,  a  soutenu 
'  I'authenticite  de  ce  passage.'  In  Feb.  1743  du  Mabaret  published  in  the 
same  memoirs  his  ^loge  on  du  Plessis  d'Argentr^. 

When  du  Plessis  was  a  young  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne  he  had  pub- 
lished in  quarto  at  Paris  in  1702,  '■  Eleiiienta  Theologies  in  quibus  de 
'autoritate  et  pondere  cujuslibet  argumenti  theologici  diligenter  et 
'accurate  disputatur...autore  Carolo  du  Plessis  d'Argentrd,  socio  Sor- 
'bonico,  e  Sacra  Facultate  Parisiensi  Doctore  Theologo  et  Abbate  a 
'  S.  Cruce  juxta  Quinquainpum  in  Armorica.'  The  author's  estimate  of 
his  work  was  not  generally  accepted.  And  in  the  copy  at  the  Bibliothhque 
Nationale  (Inv.  D  3616,  D  384)  is  preserved  a  printed  letter  of  8  pp.  dated 
27  Dec.  1707  which  describes  the  Archbishop  of  Reims  (Charles  Maurice 
Le  Tellier,  1668 — 1710)  administering  to  Dr  du  Plessis  what  he  called  a 
^Corrections  before  a  great  company  at  his  nephew's,  the  Abbd  de 
Louvois.  *  He  did  it  for  him,'  he  said,  'in  his  quality  of  fellowship  with 
him  in  the  Doctorate.'  The  Controller  of  his  Household  revealed  that,  if 
he  had  not  thus  met  him,  the  Archbishop's  intention  had  been  to  dine 
on  Christmas  Day  at  the  Sorbonne  and  there  correct  him  before  the 
Doctors.  '  His  book  was  full  of  ignorance  and  false  principles.  Never 
'  had  he  read  a  worse.  He  had  written  it  only  from  motives  of  policy 
'to  pay  court  to  the  Jesuits,  and,  having  attained  his  object  of  getting 
'  himself  an  Abbey,  to  get  a  Bishopric.  He  himself  had  been  much 
'  scandalized  by  the  book.  The  Cardinal  de  Noailles  still  more.  He  ought 
'to  suppress  it.' — He  did  not.     And  in  1725  he  obtained  his  bishopric. 


APPENDIX    E. 

TEXT   OF   THE   INTERPOLATION   OF 
CYPRIAN   DE   UNITATE   C.   IV. 


35-2 


'Bod  I,'   (Fell)  Bodleian  Library  Oxford,  Laud.  Misc.  451  loth  century 

fo.  AT  199,  double  columns,  well  written.  'Of  same  class  as  T  (Hartel 
xlv,  xlvi)  if  not  a  copy  of  it.'     F.  M. 

•  Bod  2,'  Bodleian  cod.  110  12th  cent. 

fo.  ff  208,  double  columns,  '  a  better  MS  in  some  respects  than  451 
(Bod  i)  though  written  by  a  careless  scribe  and  afterwards  much 
corrected.'  J.  W.  'The  order  of  contents  resembles  fx  (H.  p.  xlvi) 
and  /3  (Ivii).*     F.  M.     It  is  older  than  either. 

'Bod  3,'  Bodleian  Laud.  Misc.  217  15th  cent, 

small  4to.  ff  129  rather  closely  written,  full  page.  '2nd  Family. 
Follows  M  Q  as  against  T,  and  Q  as  against  M.'     F.  M. 

'Bod  4,'  Bodleian  Laud.  Misc.  105  loth  or  nth  cent. 

4to.  ff  163  'seems  to  be  a  selection  from  T  M  and  to  agree  with  the 
first  corrector  of  T.  Considering  its  resemblance  to  M  Q,  with 
purer  readings  like  T,  it  may  seem  a  better  though  more  recent 
representation  of  the  archetype  of  M  Q,  coordinate  with  Hartel 
<  X  >  and  <  Y  >  . 

*Bod  5 '  (so  I  venture  to  call  it).     Bodleian  MS  add.  C.   15    early  loth  cent, 
'acquired  at  the  Libri  sale  1859  :  a  beautiful  MS:  has 
ep.  ad  Thibarilanos  twice  over  with  different  texts.' 
F.  M. 

*  Ebor,'  not  in  Library. 

'Lam,'  Archbishop's  Library  at  Lambeth,  Codd.  Lamb.  106       13th  cent. 

'  Epistols  et  tractatus Ixxxv... Codex  perpulcher'  H.  Wharton  (ms  catal. 
i688)  rubricated,  several  fine  illuminated  initials.  '  Liber  Lanthoni- 
en^is  Ecclie.     Qui  detinuerit :  anatemasit* 

'Lin,'  Lincoln  College  Library  Oxford     n.  47  15th  cent. 

fo.  ff  231.  Order  same  as  B  (v.  Hartel  p.  Ivi)  In  fronte  '  Vespasianus 
librarius  Jlorentimcs  hunc  libnini  Jiorentie  transc ribendum  cu- 
ravit'  '?copied  from  one  at  Florence  described  by  Bandini  i.  268, 
viz.  MS  laureiit.  plut  16  cod  22.  Has  some  good  II.  but  by  a  care- 
less scribe  as  these  beautiful  mss  often  are.'    J.  W. 

'NC  I,'  New  College  Oxford     130  12th  cent, 

fo.  ff  245,  2  col.,  well  writ,  'very  interesting  MS;  seems  coordinate 
with  those  of  the  3rd  family,  though  perhaps  independent  enough 
to  be  regarded  as  alone  of  its  kind.'     F.  M. 

'NC  2,' New  College  Oxford     131,2  15th  cent. 

131,  sm.  fo.  ff  155.  132,  sm.  fo.  ff  137.  These  two  thought  to  be 
really  one  ms  ;  but  some  treatises  occur  in  both  parts ;  the  order  of 
treatises  in  132  is  mainly  that  of  Q;  the  epp.  in  131  do  not  answer 
in  order  to  any  of  Hartel's.     F.  M. 

*Pem,'  Pembroke  College  Libraiy  Cambridge     C  20  (1935)       early  13th  cent, 
small  fo.  ff  89,  2  columns,  36  lines,  pale.     Italian  MS.    The  initials  re- 
markable.    Given  by  Abp  Rotheram,  Master  in  a.d.  1480  to  Pem- 
broke Hall.     Has  a  note  '  istuni  Ubntni  enii  in  Messana  X  %d' 
Vetutiis.' 

'Pem2,'Pem.Coll.  Lib. Camb.,  no  press  mark, 'Petri  Blesensis'     12th  cent, 
pencil  in  marg.  catal. 
not  known  to  Fell;  ff  189,  of  which  143  contain  "Passio  Cypriani  et 
Epistoiae  Ixxiiii,'  of  which /)f  Unitate  is  one  among  other  treatises. 
Large  beautiful  folio,  double  columns,  finely  writ,  40  lines  to  page. 

'Sar,'  Cathedral  Library  Salisbury    n.  9.  12th  cent, 

'oblong,  well  written,  injured  on  outer  margin  by  damp.' 

For  convenience  in  following  the  description  in  Chapter  IV,  ill  I  have  placed  the 
readings  of  M  Q  Bod  3  Bod  4  and  Pelagius  together.  New  collations  are  given  of 
the  English  manuscripts  (on  which  see  Hartel  p.  Ixxxvi)  because  Fell's  are  not 
accurate.  For  the  collations  of  Bod  i.  Bod  2,  NC  1,  I  have  to  thank  the  Rev. 
John  Wordsworth  (now  Bishop  of  Salisbury) :  F.  Madan,  Esq.  of  the  Bodleian 
for  those  of  Bod  i,  Bod  2  also,  as  well  as  of  Bod  3,  Bod  4,  NC  \  and  Line,  and  for 
the  notes  on  classification:  for  transcript  of  Pern  E.  H.  C.  Smith,  Esq.,  for  tran- 
scripts also  of  Pern  and  Pern  2,  the  Rev.  E.  J.  Heriz  Smith,  Fellow  of  the  College ; 
of  ^arum,  the  Rev.  H.  G.  White,  Chaplain  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Salisbury. 


549 


Text  of  the  Interpolated  Passage  in  Cyp.  de  Unitate  iv.  as  given  in  the 
edition  of  Paulus  Manutius,  A.D.  1563  (p.  139).  The  clause  in  [  ] 
is  from  PamHe  ed.  1568  (p.  254),  Rigault  1648,  and  Baluze  (Maran) 
1726. 

Loquitur  Dominus  ad  Petrum :  Ego  tibi  dico,  inquit, 
quia  tu  es  Petrus,  &  super  istam  petram  aedificabo  Eccle- 
siam  meam,  et  portae  inferorum  non  vincent  earn.  Tibi 
dabo  claves  regni  caelorum,  &  quae  ligaveris  super  terram, 
erunt  ligata  &  in  caelis  :  &  quaecunque  solveris  super  terram,  5 
erunt  soluta  &  in  caelis.  Et  eidein  post  resurrectionem  suam 
dicit :  Pasce  oves  nieas.  Super  ilium  unum  aedificat  Ecclesiam 
stiatn,  &  illi pascendas  inandat  oves  snas.  Et  quamvis  apostolis 
omnibus  post  resurrectionem  suam  parem  potestatem  tribuat 
&  dicat :   Sicut  misit  me  pater,  et  ego  mitto  vos,  accipite  10 


Readings  of  M  (Monacensis)  from  Hartel  with  which  Q  (Trecensis)  agrees  precisely  even  in 
corrections ;  of  Fell's  Bod  3,  Bod  4  {  =  Laud  Misc.  217  &  105)  and  of  £>.  Pelagii  Papae  ii 

1.    Et  ego  B  3.     dico  tibi  M.    inquit  petre  B  4         2.    hanc  petram  edificabo  B  3         3.    porte 
{et  sic  semper  e  pro  ae  vel  oe)  4.    ligaberis  B  4,  legaveris  M  6-   legata  M.     cells  B  3 

6.  Et  idem...meas  M  B  3  {om.  suam  B  3),  et  eidem...meas  B  4  7.  ilium  M  2  B  3.  dicit]  illi  (illi 
perlineatum)  B  4.  om.  unum  B  3  B  4.  edificavit  B  3  8  om.  suam  M  B  3  B  4.  et  illi  pascendas 
oves  mandat  suas  M  B  3  B  4  {om.  suas  B  3  B  4)  9.  om.  post  resurrectionem  suam  M  B  3  B  4. 
tribuat  potestotem  M  B  4,  tribuit  potestatem  B  3         10.    om.  et  dicat... manifestaret,  insert i?ig 


Readings  of  Bod  i,  Bod  2,  Bod  5,  Lambeth,  Lincoln  Coll.,  New  Coll.  i,  2,  Pembroke  Coll. 
Cam.  1,  2,  and  Sarum 

1.  dico  tibi  Line,  in  quid  petre  Pem  2.  hanc  B  5  Line  Sar.  edificabo  La  Pern  Pern  2,  hedificabo 
Line  3.  porte  Sar.  inferiorum  Line,  tibi  dabo  B  i  Line,  et  tibi  B  2  Pem  Pem  2  NC  i,  dabo 
tibi  NC  2ut  ff  4.  celorum  Sar  La  Pem  Pem  2.  quecunque  Pem,  que  Sar  6.  cells  Sar  Pem, 
caelo  B  5.  quecunque  Sar  Pem  6.  cells  et  idem.. .measB  2  La  Pem  Pem  2  NC  i,  cells  Sar,  caelo 
B5,  celis  et  eidem...meas  Pem  Line,  om.  et  Pem,  om.  et  eidem...meas  B  i  Sar  7-  om.  ilium 
B  I  B  2  B  s  NC  t  Line  Sar  La  Pem  2.  om.  unum  Pem.  edificat  Line  Sar  La,  edificat  {ma  i 
-avit)  ille  delet.  Pem,  aedificavit  B  2,  edificavit  NC  i  Pem  2  8-  om.  suam  B  2  B  5  La  NC  i  Pem 
Pem  2.     om.  suam. ..suas  B  i  Sar,  et  illi  pascendas  (tuendasque  B  5)  oves  mandat.  Et  B  2  NC  i 


5  so  APPENDIX   E. 

Spiritum  sanctum :  Si  cui  remiseritis  peccata,  remittentur 
illi :  si  cui  tenueritis,  tenebuntur  :  tamen  ut  unitatem  mani- 
festaret,  unam  cathedratn  constituit,  et  unitatis  ejusdem 
originem  ab  uno  incipientem  sua  auctoritate  disposuit.     Hoc 

15  erant  utiq,  et  caeteri  apostoli,  quod  fuit  &  Petrus,  pari 
consortio  praediti  &  honoris  &  potestatis,  sed  *exordium  ab 
unitate  proficiscitur,  &  primatus  Petro  datur,  ut  una  Ecclesia 
Christi  et  cathedra  una  monstretur  :  &  pastores  sunt  omties,  et 
grex  unus  ostenditiir,  qui  &  apostolis  omnibus  unanimi  con- 

20  sensione pascattir**  \  ut  Ecclesia  Christi  una  monstretur,  quam 
unam  Ecclesiam  etiam  in  cantico  caticorum  Spiritus  Sanctus 
ex  persona  Domini  designat  et  dicit :  Una  est  columba  mea, 
perfecta  mea,  una  est  matri  suae,  electa  genitrici  suae.  *  Hanc 
Ecclesiae  unitatem   qui    non   tenet,  tenere   se  fidem  credit  ? 

25  Qui  Ecclesiae  renititur  et  resistit,  \_qui  cathedram  Petri  super 
quam  fundata  est  Ecclesia  deserit,]  in  Ecclesia  se  esse  confidit? 


Readings  of  M,  Q,  Boii  3,  Boti  4  and  £p.  Pelagii  Papae  ii 

iAe  tamen  between  unam  atid  cathedram   M  B  3  B  4  13    om.  et  B  3.     om.  ejusdem 

M  B  3  B  4  14.  originem]  atque  orationis  suae  (atque  erased  by  a  second  hand)  M,  atque 

rationem  sua  B  3  B  4.     om.  ab  uno  incipientem  M  B  3  B  4  15.  utique  M  B  3  B  4.     om.  et 

B4.  om.  apostoli  M  B  3  B  4.  om.  fuit  et  M,  otn.  et  B  4,  om.  fuit  B  3.  om.  pari... proficiscitur 
M  B  3  B  4         16.    *  \st  citation  in  Pelag.  begins.  17.     sed  primatus  M  B  3  B  4.    et/>ro  ut 

B  4  18.  om.  Christi  M  B  3  B  4.     Xti  eccl.  Pel.    ut  M  B  3,  et  M  2  B  4.     om.  una  Pel. 

monstretur  M  B  3,  monstratur  B  4.  sed  grex  M  B  3  B  4  Pel.  19.  ab/or  et  M  B  3  B  4  Pel. 
o>n.    omnibus   Pel.  20.     "*  in  B  4  genuine  form  begins  here,  v.   inf.       otn.    ut  Ecclesia... 

genitrici  suae  M  B  3.  om.  ut  Ecclesia. ..confidit  B  4  23.  *  ind  cit.  in  Pelagius  commences. 
24.    et  Pauli  /or  Ecclesias  M  B  3  25.    Qui  Ecclesiae  renititur  et  resistit,  om.  Pel.  M  B  3. 

Qui  Cathedram  Petri. ..deserit  ins.  M  B  3;  Qui  Cath.  P.  super  quam  Ecclesia  fundata  est 
deserit  et  resistit  Pel.  Here  follows  in  M  B  3  the  repetition  from  line  2  of  words  super  unum 
aedificavit  ecclesiam,  and  then  the  wlwle  passage  once  more  in  its  genuine  form  without  the 
in  terpola  tions. 

Gretser's  collation  of  his  Bavarian  Codex  {supra  p.  206)  gives  ego  dico  tibi ;  et  idem...meas ; 
<7/«.  ilium;  otn.  [Eccl]  suam;  suas;  om.  post  resurrectionem  suam;  parem  tribuat  potestatem: 
om.  dicat...manifestaret;  tamen  bettueen  unam  a;i^  cathedram  ;  om.  ejusdem;  orationis  suae ; 
o>n.  ab  uno  incipientem;  om.  apostoli;  et  for  ut ;  sed  (grex);  ab  for  ct;  om.  ut  Ecclesia... 
genitrici  suae — alliti perfect  correspondence  with  M  (Munich). 


Pern  La  Pern  2.  apostolus  Sar  9.  otn.  post  resurrectionem  Pem.  om.  suam  Line,  tribuat  potes- 
tatem B  2  La  NC  I  Pem  2  11.  cujus  remiseritis  B  i.  si  cujus  B  2  B  5  La  Pem  2.  et  si  cui 
Pem.  remittuntur  B5  NC  2  Pem  12.  om.  illi  Sar.  illis,  cujus  B  i.  si  cujus  Pem.  ei;  si  cujus 
La  B  2  B  5  Sar.  ei  si  cui  Pem  2.  retinueritis  retenta  erunt  B  2  La  Pem  2,  retinueritis  retenta 
sunt  NC  I.  tenebuntur  !«  rrti  Line.  <5>h.  ut  Pem.  manifestarent  NC  i  13.  w«.  unam  cath... et 
B  I  B  2  B  5  La  Line  NC  i  NC2  Pem  2  Sar.  unitatis  ejus  B  i.  ejus  idem  (idem  in  rasiira 
dem  ut  udtur  scriptuni)  Sar  14.  originem  atque  rationem  B  2  Pem.  incipiente  B  5  Line, 
incipientes  Sar.  om.  ab  uno  incipientem  Pem  16-  erasure  of  a  letter  betw.  caeteri  atui  apostoli 
B  2.  fuit  Petrus  B  5  La  Pem  2  16.  ab  unoprof.  B  i  NC  2  17  om.  et  prim...pascatur  Bi 
B2  Bs  La  Line  NC  i  NC  2  Pem  2  Sar.  MS  of  Card.  Hosius  ap  Pamel  hie  for  et.  Christi 
ecclesia,  Line  18.  monstratur  Pem,  monstraretur  Line,  monstretur  bis  Sar.  sed  grex  Pem 
19.  qui  ab  Pem  20.  om.  ut  Ecc... genitrici  suae  Pem.  dei  NC  2.  om.  quam. ..genitrici  suae 
NC  2  21.  in  cantica  B  i  22.  de  ecclesia  pro  designat  et  Sar  23.  matris...genitricis 
B  I  B  2  B  5  La  Line  NC  i  Pem  2.  electa  est  ex  Line,  electa  est  B  2*  La  NC  i  Pem  2 
24.  Petri/i>r  Ecclesiae  Pem.  si  Pem.  ^w.  fidem  B  2  La  Pem  2  26.  <7»j.  qui  cathedram. ..deserit 
B  I  B  2  La  Line  NC  i  NC  2  Pem  2  Sar  26.  quem  fundata  Ecclesia  est  Pem.  aecclesia  B  i 
[Note  Pem  om.  from,  confidit  to  corrumpat  c.  5  oj  does  also  a  MS  at  Bologna  not  othertvise  muck 
like  Pem  in  this  passage,  see  p.  352]. 


INTERPOLATION  OF  DE  UNITATE,  C.  IV.      55 1 

So  ends  the  interpolated  passage  in  Manutius,  and  here  in  the 
manuscripts  M  Q  B  3  the  whole  passage  is  repeated  in  its  genuine 
form,  following  the  word  confidit.  In  B  4  the  repetition  follows  pascatur 
but  this  Codex  leaves  out  the  genuine  '  qui  Ecclesiae  renititur  et  resistit ' 
and  replaces  it  by  the  inteipolated  sentence.     Thus  (Hartel's  text) 

super  unum  aedificat  ecclesiam  et  quamvis  apostolis  om- 
nibus post  resurrectionem  suam  parem  potestatem  tribuat 
et  dicat :  sicut  misit  me  pater  et  ego  mitto  uos.  accipite 
Spiritum  sanctum  :  si  cuius  remiseritis  peccata,  remittentur 
illi :  si  cuius  tenueritis,  tenebuntur,  tamen  ut  unitatem  mani-  s 
festaret,  unitatis  eiusdem  originem  ab  uno  incipientem  sua 
auctoritate  disposuit.  hoc  erant  utique  et  ceteri  apostoli  quod 
fuit  Petrus,  pari  consortio  praediti  et  honoris  et  potestatis, 
sed  exordium  ab  unitate  proficiscitur,  ut  ecclesia  Christi  una 
monstretur.  quam  unam  ecclesiam  etiam  in  cantico  canti-  10 
corum  Spiritus  Sanctus  ex  persona  Domini  designat  et  dicit : 
una  est  columba  mea,  perfecta  mea,  una  est  matri  suae,  electa 
genitrici  suae,  hanc  ecclesise  unitatem  qui  non  tenet  tenere 
se  fidem  credit .''  qui  ecclesiae  renititur  et  resistit  in  ecclesia 
se  esse  confidit  .■'  i , 


Readings  of  M,  Q,  Bod  3,  Bod  4  and  Ep.  Pelagii  Papae  ii 

1.  aedificavit  M,  edificavit  B  3.  ecclesiam  et  quamvis  super  liinra  B  4.  otn.  et  B  3  2.  resur- 
reccionem  B  3  4-  quorum  B  3.  sicut  B  4.  remittuntur  B  4,  dimittentur  B  3  5.  ilHs  M  B  3, 
eis  B  4.  quorum  B  3.  unitatem  ut  B  4.  monstraret  B  3  6.  em  in  rasura  B  4.  in- 
cipiente   B  3  B  4  7.    erunt  Et  ceteri   B  4.     om.  et   B  3.      erat   B  3  8.    prediti  B  3  B  4 

9.  exoritur  B  4  10.  ecclesiam  in  cantica  B  4  12.  perfecta  una  B  4.  matris  B  4.  sue  B  3. 
electa  est  M,  electa  e  genitrice  sua  contraction  mark  over  e  erased  B  3  13  genetricis  B  4 

14-  ecclesie  B  3.  pro  'qui  ecciesitp... resistit,'  qui  cathedram  petri  super  quera  fundata  ecclesia 
de.-erit  B  4. 

//artel's  collations. 
1.   dicotibiMR.    inquit^w.  G     3- dabotibi  S,  tibi  dabo  WGMVR     5.  &ii.ante\j\)  om.S.  super] 
in  S  6.  om.  //art.  et  eidem...meas  cum  SWGVR  7.  ovt.  //art.  ilium  cum  SWGM'RV 

8.  om.  //art.  suam...oves  suas  cum  SWGVR  10.  sicut  bis  R',  si  cui  bis  R^.rem.  accipe  S 
11.    remittuntur  R  12.  illis  M,  om.  G.     manifestet  R         13.   //art.   om.   unam  cathedram 

constituit  et  cz<w  SVVGRV.  ejus  R  14.  ab  uno  incipientem]  atque  originem  V  teste  Rigaltio 
15  et  om.  R.  fuit  et  G  17.  //art.  om.  et  primatus... pascatur  cutn  SWGVR.  ut  s.  I.  m.  2  R 
18.  om.  Christi  V  20  mostretur  S  21  etiam  om.  S  22.  designat  et]  de  ecclesia  G. 

dicat  S        23  electa  est  M,  om.  S  24  tenet  0}n.  R        25  //art.  om.  qui  cathedram. ..deserit. 


It  will  be  seen  that  Bod  i  NC  2  Sar  (and  Ebor  by  Fell's  collation),  have  entirely  escaped 
interpolation :  Bod  2  La  Line  NC  i  Pem  2  have  only  the  insertion  about  the  post-resurrection 
charge  to  Peter. 

The  curious  corruption  in  B  3  B  4  as  to  rationon  and  orationis  seems  to  me  to  have  their 
rise  in  Ep.  Ixx.  c.  3,  super  Petrum  origine  unitatis  et  ratione  fundata. 

Pelagii  Papje  ii  Ep.  vi  Labbe  (ed.  1729)  vol.  vi  p.  631 

...Sed  et  beatus  Cyprianus  egregius  martyr  in  libro  quern  de  unitatis 
nomine  titulavit  inter  alia  sic  dicit  :  Exordium  ab  unitate  proficiscitur : 
et  primatus  Petro  datur,  ut  una  Christi  ecclesia  et  cathedra  monstretur : 
et  pastores  sunt  omnes,  sed grex  unus  ostenditur,  qui  ab  apostolis  unanimi 
consensione  pascatur.  Et  post  pauca  :  Hanc  ecclesise  unitatem  qui  non 
tenet,  tenere  se  fidem  credit  ?  Qui  cathedram  Petri,  super  quam  ecclesia 
fundata  est,  deserit  6>»  resistit,  in  ecclesia  se  esse  confidit. 


552  APPENDIX   F. 

A  transcript  by  J.  W.  from  a  MS  in  University  Library  Bologna  (no.  2572,  sm.  4°, 
sac.  xiv  or  first  half  xv  in  Italian  hand),  which  belonged  formerly  to 
S.  Salvadore  di  Canonici  Lateranensi,  shews  the  same  curious  omission 
from  cottjtdit  to  corntmpat  as  Pern,  which  it  does  not  otherwise  resemble. 

e.g.  it  has:  petram  istam — ^post  resurrectionem — tribuat  potestatem— et  cui  remiseritis — et  si 
ctii  tenueritis— tamen  ut  unitatem — et  ceteri  quod  fuit  et — monstraretur — animi — pas- 
cantur — super  quam — fundata  est  ecclesia— [/^  has:  et  tibi — et  idem — originem  atque 
rationem — sed  exordium]. 


APPENDIX   F. 

On  paints  in  the  CHRONOLOGY  of  VALERIAN'S  reign 
(pp.  456  sqq.). 

The  confusions  of  events  in  Valerian's  reign  were  such  that  Tillemont 
felt  obliged  to  take  them  geographically,  not  chronologically.  The 
following  observations  may  serve  the  cause  of  clearness  : — 

I.     The  end  of  Valerian's  reign. 

Niebuhr  {Lectt.  Rom.  Hist.  ill.  p.  279,  London,  1850)  is  unable  to  decide 
whether  the  catastrophe  which  ended  Valerian's  reign  was  in  a.d.  256  or  260. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  looking  at  the  varied  indications,  that  it  was  in  260. 
(i)  The  persecution  lasted  42  months  (Dionys.  ap.  Euseb.  vii.  10)  until 
Gallienus  repealed  the  edict  after  Valerian's  disappearance.  Supposing 
Cyprian,  on  Aug.  30,  A.D.  257,  to  have  been  the  first  confessor  as  is 
probable^  in  Africa,  the  edict  can  scarcely  have  appeared  earlier  than 
July,  when  Valerian  made  his  arrangements  for  the  empire,  departed 
for  the  East,  and  left  Macrian  to  administer.  This  brings  the  end  of 
Valerian's  power  to  the  end  of  A.D.  260.  (2)  Valerian  was  proclaimed 
Augustus  in  Rhaetia  before  the  end  of  253,  since  his  second  year  of 
Tribunitian  power  dates  from  Jan.  i,  254.  This  makes  his  reign,  ending 
in  his  8th  year,  to  end  in  260  (cf.  Clinton,  F.  R.  I.  p.  284).  (3)  There  are 
coins  of  Valerian  struck  in  his  eighth  Tribuneship,  i.e.  in  260,  at  Alex- 
andria in  August,  and  in  Cilicia  after  October,  and  enactments  bearing  his 
name  issued  through  that  year  up  till  September  24th 2  (see  Clinton,  I.e.). 

How  long  he  lived  in  captivity  is  not  known.  His  son  Gallienus  made 
no  effort  to  recover  him.  He  was  reported  dead  at  Rome,  and  deified 
while  still  alive  in  captivity.  (Treb.  Poll.  Gallieni  duo.,  c.  10.)  Whether 
the  headings  of  two  laws  which  bear  his  name  in  262  and  265  are  genuine, 
and  if  so  whether  they  prove  that  he  was  still  living  is  doubtful  {Cod. 
fust.  3,  8,  3  ;  5,  62,  17). 

1  ...Quidnos...diceredeberemus prior  ^  Codex  Justinianus.     They  maybe 

apud  Acta  Proconsulis  pronuntiasti  et  found  by  the  Index  to  the  Corpus  Juris 

tuba  canens  &c.  in  acie  prima. ..primos  Civilis  (Berlin,  1880),  v.  II.  p.  494. 
impetus,  Ep.  77.  ^, 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  VALERIAN.  553 

2.     The  date  of  the  capture  of  Antioch. 

The  main  cause  of  confusion  is  difference  as  to  the  date  of  the  capture 
of  Antioch  by  Sapor,  Gibbon  (c.  x.  p.  284,  ed,  Mihnan,  1846)  and  Niebuhr 
(/.  c.  p.  295)  place  this  event  after  Valerian's  capture,  in  260,  following  (they 
believe)  Ammianus  Marcellinus  (xxiii.  5,  3),  who  adds  a  special  note  to  his 
particular  tale,  *  These  events  were  in  the  times  of  Gallienus,'  i.e.  260  on- 
ward. 

Zosimus  (i.  32)  relates  how  Valerian  engaged  himself  with  Succes- 
sianus  in  resettling  Antioch  after  its  ruin^  The  fall  of  Pityus  in  258 
was  attributed  to  his  withdrawing  for  that  purpose  Successianus,  who  had 
saved  Pityus  the  year  before.     Antioch  had  therefore  fallen  before  258. 

Tillemont  tries  a  hopeless  compromise  by  placing  its  fall  late  in  258. 

There  is,  however,  no  real  contradiction  between  these  late  but  not 
careless  authorities^.  The  fact  is  that  Antioch  was  twice  captured  by 
Sapor,  once  in  A.D.  252-3,  and  again  in  260  (v.  inf.),  having  been  in  the 
interval  restored  by  Valerian.  To  this  restoration  we  may  refer  his  coins 
with  the  legend  restitut.  orientis,  restitutor  orbis^. 

Zosimus  himself  (in  i.  27,  a  passage  which  almost  seems  to  have  been 
overlooked)  relates  the  capture  of  Antioch  by  Sapor  in  the  time  of  Callus, 
A.D.  252  or  before  May  253  when  vtmiUan  was  proclaimed.  Antioch  was 
unprepared  and  offered  no  resistance,  and  on  this  occasion,  after  a  great 
massacre  and  the  destruction  of  'every  building  private  or  public,'  the 
Persians,  '  while  the  conquest  of  all  Asia  lay  in  their  power,'  returned 
immediately  home  to  deposit  their  masses  of  captives  and  spoil.  Their 
method  often  was  destruction  and  abandonment. 

The  same  author  writes  (i.  36)  that,  at  the  later  time  when  he  captured 
Valerian,  Sapor  'was  ranging  over  the  East  and  subduing  all  before  him' 

1  TO.    irepl    tV    'AvTi6xei.av    Kal    tov  Eusebii  Chronicon  is  dated  A.D.  325, 

ravrrji  oIkkt/iov  oIkovohovvtos.  Jerome's  edition,  378. 

^  Considering   the   lateness  of  their  Aurelius  Victor  wrote  after  350. 

dates,  the  evident  paucity  and  fragmen-  Ammianus  Marcellinus  wrote  before 

tary   character  of  their  materials  and  380. 

the  brevity  with  which  generally  they  Zosimus  fornii  after  420. 

wi-ite,  the  old  historians  scarcely  merit  Georgius    Syncellus    wrote   between 

the  Livish  abuse  they  receive.     It  can  780  and  800. 
scarcely  be  said  that  the  moderns  have  Zonaras  foruit  11 18. 

been  more  successful  as  critics  in  digest-  *  \_Restit.  orientis;  a  'turreted  female ' 

ing  even  their  materials.    Consider  that  (i-e.  a  city)  presents  the  Emperor  with 

Dionysius  Magnus  is  the  only  contem-  a  crown.     Restitutor  Orbis;    the  Em- 

porary  \vTiter.  peror    raises    a    turreted    female.     No 

TrebelUus  PoUio  wrote  his  later  work  ground    for   the   statement    that   these 

under  Constantine.  were  struck  ':«  anticipation  of  success,' 

Vopiscus  began  to  write  in  291  or  292  as    Stevenson,    Diet.   Rom.    Coins,    p. 

and  refers  to  TrebelUus  {Divus  Aureli-  687.]    They  commemorate  the  actual 

anus,  ii.).  restoration. 


554  APPENDIX  F. 

(firiav  TTjv  i^av  airavra  KOTcoTpe^ero)  and  (iii.  32)  that  after  his  (second) 
capture  of  Antioch,  which  this  time  he  had  to  take  by  storm  (Kara  Kpiros), 
he  had  *  marched  across  as  far  as  to  the  Cilician  Gates,'  when  Valerian 
advancing  against  him  fell  into  his  power  (v.  infr.  sect.  4). 

The  earlier  chronicle  of  Eusebius  places  the  capture  of  Valerian  in 
260,  and  the  ravaging  {depoptdatur)  of  Syria,  Cilicia  i.e.  within  'the 
Gates,'  and  Cappadocia  in  261  (j.  anno).  This  is  not  inconsistent  with 
Zosimus.  Sapor  entered  Syria  not  from  the  south,  but  from  Meso- 
potamia, made  direct  for  Antioch,  and  having  taken  it  the  second  time, 
ravaged  the  Syria  adjacent  to  the  other  two  countries  and  north  of 
Antioch. 

Thus  the  earlier  authorities  agree  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  century. 
But  when  we  come  to  the  ninth  century  we  find  that  Georgius  Syncellus 
(ed.  Dind.  p.  716)  thought  this  'ravaging  of  Syria'  in  261  must  in- 
clude the  taking  of  Antioch.  So  he  makes  the  capture  of  Valerian 
precede  the  taking  of  Antioch,  as  well  as  of  Tarsus  in  Cilicia  and  Caesarea 
of  Cappadocia.  This  is  against  the  earlier  testimonies  so  far  as  Antioch 
is  concerned.  And  it  is  improbable  in  itself  that  Valerian,  considering 
what  we  know  of  his  dilatory  tactics,  should  anticipate  the  approach 
of  Sapor  and  throw  himself  in  his  way  outside  Antioch.  But  Syncellus 
himself  indicates  that  there  was  something  wrong  in  his  story,  for  a  few 
lines  earlier  he  says  {I.e.  p.  715)  'Sapor  overran  Syria,  came  to  Antioch, 
and  ravaged  all  Cappadocia'  before  the  capture  of  Valerian.  He  could  not 
have  'come  to  Antioch'  and  marched  on,  leaving  such  a  place  in  his  rear. 

In  the  twelfth  century  we  find  that  Zonaras  gives  first  an  account, 
which  agrees  with  Zosimus  and  Eusebius  ; — the  overrunning  of  Syria 
followed  by  the  ravage  of  Cappadocia  and  then  by  the  siege  of  Edesa,  in 
attempting  to  relieve  which  city  Valerian  is  taken  (xii.  23)  ^  He  then 
gives  another  version,  which  is  nothing  but  a  paraphrase^  of  Syncellus, 
and  puts  together  the  capture  of  Antioch,  Tarsus  and  Caesarea  as  all  after 
Valerian's  seizure. 

The  only  discrepancy  then  which  remains  on  close  comparison  arises 
from  Syncellus's  late  misinterpretation.  It  is  clear  that  the  two  campaigns 
of  Sapor,  in  each  of  which  Antioch  was  taken,  at  an  interval  of  eight 
years,  were  quite  differently  conceived.  The  object  of  the  first  was  the 
sack  of  Antioch  itself.  But  in  the  second  the  annihilation  of  the  re- 
colonized  and  restored  city  was  the  basis  of  a  vast  invasion  of  the  countries 
north  of  it. 

^  So  Aurel.  Vict.  Epit.  32  'in  Meso-  Oifievo^  koL  ttjv  tov  irXrjdovs  irpodoffiav, 

potamia  bellum  gerens.' — Of.  de  Casa-  ^y  al<rd6fj.evoi"P<i}iJ.cuoi  fwXis  di.4<l>vyov  6\L- 

ribus,  32.  yuv  dvcupedivTwv.     Compare  Zonar.  xii. 

^  In  one  or  two  places  not  even  a  2^,  ■jrpoB€5(j)K<jKiavThv...6XKcLyv6vTeiTyiv 

paraphrase  but  the  very  words.  Syncell.  irpo5o<xlav  8i.i<f>vyov,  6\lyuv  avaipedivTuv. 
Dind.  ed.  p.  715  iavrbv  irpoiSdu}K€...<7vv- 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  VALERIAN.  555 

To  the  second  assault  belongs  (it  is  said)  the  picturesque  story  in 
Ammianus  (xxiii.  5,  3)  of  the  actress  suddenly  exclaiming  from  the  stage 
*  Is  it  a  dream,  or  do  I  see  the  Persians,'  and  of  the  instant  overwhelming 
of  the  gathered  population  by  the  archery  ^ 

3.  Fall  of  CcBsarea  of  Cappadocia. 

Dr  Peters^  says  'Valerian  hurried  to  Cappadocia  against  Sapor  in 
A.D,  258.' 

No  antient  authority  gives  an  idea  that  Valerian  'hurried'  (inertia  was 
his  characteristic)  either  in  that  year  or  any  other,  or  that  Sapor  was  at 
that  time  anywhere  near  Cappadocia. 

Valerian  set  out,  as  Zosimus  says  (i.  36),  with  the  view  of  meeting  the 
*■  Scythians,'  then  ravaging  Bithynia ;  only  he  got  no  further  than  Cappa- 
docia, and  returned  'having  done  nothing  but  just  damage  the  cities  by 
his  transit^.' 

The  fall  of  Cassarea  belongs  to  that  wide  sustained  campaigning  of 
Sapor  (Zosim.  i.  36),  spoken  of  under  the  last  head,  when,  after  Antioch 
■was  taken  for  the  second  time,  Valerian,  as  the  Eusebian  Chronicle 
rightly  gives  it,  was  captured  in  A.D.  260,  and  Syria,  Cilicia  and  Cappa- 
docia were  overrun  in  261. 

4.  The  Treachery  in  the  capture  of  Valerian. 

The  capture  of  Valerian  was  a  tragic  but  not  a  politically  significant 
event.  It  was  accompanied  by  no  loss  to  the  Roman  armies  or  adminis- 
tration. It  is  agreed  by  historians  that  it  was  effected  by  treachery, 
but  not  so  agreed  where  or  what  the  treachery.  It  is  variously  attributed 
to  Sapor,  to  an  unknown  general,  to  Macrian,  and  to  Valerian  himself. 
There  is,  however,  no  real  difficulty  in  determining  the  fact. 

In  the  fragment  of  a  contemporary  dispatch  from  some  potentate  to 
Sapor  with  which  Trebellius'  memoir  on  '  The  Two  Valerians '  begins  the 
capture  is  treated  as  simply  Sapoi-'s  craft, '  Look  to  it  lest  ill  befall  you  for 

^  '  Et  hac  quidem  Gallieni  temporihiis  incursaverunt  is  not  adequate  to  such 

evenerunt^  unless  Gallieni  is  a  mistake  events,  and  the   text   shews   sufficient 

for  Gain.     The  features  of  the  story, —  reasons  for  placing  this  earlier, 

the    time    of   peace,    the    burnt    city,  -  Peters,  p.  573. 

the  retiring  with  vast  booty, — exactly  fit  ^  ...Koi  ry  irap68({)  ixbvov  iirirpl^l/ai  ris 

the  former  fall.     But  the  second  does  voKus  vTri(xrpc\l/€v  et's  rovviffw. 

not  absolutely  refuse  them.  Moses    Chorenensis    (cent.    iv. — v.), 

Clinton  places  this  sack  of  Antioch  ffisl.     Armeti.   1.    ii.    c.    72,    73    (ed. 

in  262  (j.  anno)  from  the  notice  of  that  Whiston,   1736,  pp.  1967,  8)  states  on 

year  in    Hieronymus'   Chron.    Parthi  the  authority  of  Firmilian  that  Valerian 

Mesopotamiatn  tenentes  Syriam  incursa-  was  informed  of  the  danger  in  which 

verunt.    But  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  Armenia  stood,  but  did  not  help,  'ad 

that  the  raids  of  years  had  been  carried  regionem  nostram  tutendam  Valerianus 

on  in  Syria  with  the  restored  Antioch  non  pervenit,  nee  diu  vitam  traxit.' 
intact  in  the  midst  of  it.     The  mere 


556  APPENDIX  F. 

having  seized  the  aged  emperor  and  that  too  by  fraud  ^.'  So  Aurelius 
Victor,  *  circumvented  by  the  treachery  of  the  king  of  the  Persians,  whose 
name  was  Sapor^.'  Zosimus  developes  the  nature  of  the  treachery.  In 
iii.  32  he  mentions  that  Valerian  advanced  with  his  troops  against  Sapor, 
but  in  i.  36  relates  that  he  was  not  inclined  to  fight,  but  proposed  by 
ambassadors  to  buy  off  the  enemy'.  Sapor  requested  to  see  the  emperor 
for  personal  conference  on  some  essential  points.  Valerian  unreflectingly 
and  uncircumspectly  set  out  with  a  few  attendants,  thinking  to  discuss  a 
truce  with  Sapor,  and  was  suddenly  seized*. 

Thus  there  is  no  question  among  the  earlier  batch  of  writers  as  to 
whose  was  the  treachery. 

Still  the  'fraus'  in  Trebellius  was  misunderstood,  and  in  an  interpola- 
tion in  his  text,  quoted  as  genuine  by  Gibbon  (c.  x.  iv.  p.  283)  and  Clinton 
(l.  p.  284)  we  read  *  victus  est  enim  a  Sapore,  rege  Persarum,  dum  ductu 
'  cujusdam  sui  ducis,  cui  summam  omnium  bellicarum  rerum  agendarum 
'  commiserat,  seu  fraude  seu  adversa  fortuna  in  ea  esset  loca  deductus,  ubi 
'  nee  vigor  nee  disciplina  militaris  quin  eaperetur  quicquam  valere  potuit^* 
Here  the  fraud  has  been  transferred  to  one  of  the  Roman  officers.  Then 
Tillemont  {Emp.  ill.  p.  313)  and  Pearson  {s.  anno  260),  taking  the  Trpoe- 
iiivoK  of  Dionysius  (Euseb.  vii.  23)^  to  mean  'betrayal,'  regard  Macrian 
himself,  who  was  far  enough  away,  as  the  betrayer.  Tillemont  observing 
that,  though  the  passage  of  Trebellius  may  not  be  genuine,  it  fits  the  history 
and  Macrian's  character  ! 

Yet  again  the  later  historians  formed  another  misconception  of  the 
treachery.  They  attach  it  to  the  unfortunate  Valerian  himself.  Ac- 
cording to  Georgius  Syncellus  (p.  715),  it  is  he  who,  terrified  at  the 
mutinous  spirit  of  his  hungry  troops  in  Edessa,  pretends  a  battle,  and 
gives  himself  up  to  Sapor,  having  arranged  also  the  betrayal  of  all  his 
men,  but  they  understood  the  case  in  time  to  escape.  Zonaras  (xii.  23) 
gives  both  stories,  paraphrasing  the  second  from  Georgius. 

Thus  the  two  latest  authors,  who  placed  the  siege  of  Antioch  wrongly, 
also  make  the  treachery,  which  was  purely  Sapor's,  to  be  a  plot  of 
Valerian's  to  betray  the  Roman  army. 

^  Vide  ne  quod  senem  itnperatorem  /SovXijucfos.] 

cepisti  et  id  quidem  fraude  male  tibi  ^  I.    36:    6  U  ciiv   ovdefiiq.   <ppov^<r€L 

cedat.     Treb.  Poll.  Val.  duo,  4.  Karavevaas  roli  alrovfi^vois,  direpiffKiv- 

^  Cum...bellum   per   Mesopotamiam  twj  ytter  oXiywv  opu-^crai  iwi  "Zairufnjv  us 

anceps  diuturnumque  instruit,  Persarum  Sr]  irepi  ffvovSuv  avn^  SiaXe^/xevoi,  a<t>v(it 

regis,  cui  nomen  Sapor  erat,  dolo  circum-  avWafi^dverai  napd  tQv  iroKeiduv. 

ventus....     Aur.  Vict,  de  Cess.  32.  *  Sic  ap.  Csesarum  vitae  post  Sueto- 

3  [So  also  Petrus  Patric.  (6th  cent.,  nium    Tranquillum   conscriptse,   Lugd. 

Fragni.  9  ap.  C.  MUller,  Fragmm.  His-  155 1 ;  Historiae  Rom.  Scriptores  Latini, 

toricorum  Grisc.  Paris  185 1,  vol.  IV.  p.  de   la   Roviere    1609;    Hist.   Augustae 

186)    xP^'^^o"    o4>aTov    avvayaywi'...iirl  Scriptt.  Latt.,  Sylburg  15S9. 

/xeydXais  56<reat  rbv  v6\€fjiov  KaraXOffai  *  Sup.  p.  458,  n.  i. 


55; 


APPENDIX   G. 


On  the  nameless  Epistle  Ad  Novatianum  atid  tJie  attribution 
of  it  to  Xystus  (p.  476). 

Since  the  chapters  on  Xystus  were  in  print,  Dr  Adolf  Harnack  has 
published  an  essay  on  'A  hitherto  unrecognised  Writing  of  Pope  Sixtus  II. 
of  the  years  257 — 8^'  Whether  his  view  is  accepted  or  not,  the  treatment 
and  the  by-learning  of  the  essay  are  full  of  interest  and  suggestiveness. 
If  true  his  view  is  so  important,  that  I  select  those  main  points  which 
touch  our  history,  and  must  add  the  lights  in  which  they  appear  to  me. 

His  Excursus  (pp.  54 — 64),  comparing  the  Versions  of  Scripture  used 
in  Cyprian  and  in  this  author,  will  not  come  within  our  scope,  but  it  is  of 
capital  interest  and  value. 

The  'writing'  is  the  well-known  Ad  Novatianum^  taken  hitherto 
to  be  (as  described  by  Hartel)  'The  work  of  a  bishop  who  was  on 
'  Cyprian's  side  as  against  Stephen  (see  H.  Appendix,  p.  55,  4),  and 
'against  the  schism  of  Felicissimus  (54,  12),  shortly  after  the  Decian 
'persecution  (57,  25) 2.' 

Stephen  is  not  mentioned  in  it,  but  the  comparison  of  the  Church  to 
the  one  saving  Ark  (as  Hartel)  and  the  '  domus  una  id  est  Christi 
ecclesia'  {ad  Novat.  c.  13,  H.  63,  8),  are  no  doubt  references  to  this 
controversy,  and  the  whole  tenor  of  the  tractate  is  clear.  But  the  reference 
to  Felicissimus  is  in  the  supposed  pun  'quid  ad  ista  respondeant...in- 
Felicissimi  pauci,'  and  is  in  my  judgment  impossible-'. 

'  V.Gebhardt and  Harnack, 7>jr/^««^  147 /•      Hartel  had  corrected  previous 

Untersuchungen,  xill.    Band,    Heft    i,  texts  by  MS.  K,  and  at  the  latter  page 

Leipzig,     1895.       'Eine    bisher    nicht  adds  the  readings  of  Ed.  Dav.     It  was 

erkannte  Schrift  des  Papstes  Sixtus  II.  first  marked  as  not  Cyprian's  in  Eras- 

vomjahrea.sj — 8...  von  Adolf  Harnack.'  mus'  ed.  1520.     Cf.  Pamel.  Gyp.  1568, 

-  Hartal's  Cyprian,  vol.  in.,  Pars  iii.  Antv.  pp.  434 — 5. 

Appendix,  Opera   Spuria,  &c.,  p.    52.  ^  There  is  no  other  reference  to  the 

The  Ad  Novatianum  first  appeared  not  action  or  tenets  of  Felicissimites,  Ap. 

in  Erasmus'  ed.  15 19,  as  Hartel's  note  54,   12.     Ed.  Dav.  has  '  infelicissime, ' 

there,  but,  as  he  corrects  it  {Pntfatio,  which  certainly  cannot  be  (as  Harnack, 

pp.  Ix,  Ixi),  in  the  Editio  Daventriensis,  p.  '23  n.)  a  vocative  case. 


558  APPENDIX  G. 

Hamack.         I.    I  shall  try  to  represent  accurately,  but  of  course  shortly,  Hamack's 
Ltl^or'of    argument, 
'ad  Nova-        The  Treatise  opens  thus  : 

tianum'?  (H.  p.  52,  9)  'Cogitanti  mihi  et  intolerabiliter  animo  aestuanti  quid- 

*nam  agere  deberem  de  miserandis  fratribus  qui  vulnerati  non  propria 
'voluntate  sed  diaboli  saevientis  inruptione  adhuc  usque,  hoc  est  per 
Mongam  temporum  seriem,  agentes  poenas  darent,  ecce  ex  adverso 
'obortus  est  alius  hostis  et  ipsius  paternae  pietatis  adversarius  haereticus 
'  Novatianus.'    Ad  Novat.  \. 

This  language  is  appropriate  from  a  highly  responsible  Bishop 
who  was  anxious  to  restore  such  Lapsed  persons  as  had  remained 
Penitents  a  very  long  time,  but  who  found  himself  confronted  by  sudden 
action  on  Novatian's  part.  The  words  vulnerati  ff.  shew  that  he 
took  a  more  compassionate  view  of  their  temptation  than  was  possible 
earlier. 

That  he  took  Cyprian's  view  of  the  Church  itself  as  the  one  Ark  of 
Salvation  appears  in  the  words 

(H.  p.  55,  3)  '  Quae  area  sola  cum  his  quse  secum  fuerant  liberata 
est  in  aqua,  at  caeteri  qui  in  ea  inventi  non  sunt  diluvio  perierunt.' 
Ad  Novat.  2, 

and  as  the  only  valid  authorized  baptizer  in 

(H.  p.  55,  23)  '...sacramentum  baptismatis,  quod  in  salutem  generis 
humani  provisum  et  soli  ecclesias  caelesti  ratione  celebrare  permissum ' 
(permissum  add.  H.).     Ad  Novat.  3. 

The  limits  of  date  are  fixed  from  the  following  : 

(H.  p.  56,  18)  '  Cataclysmus...ille  qui  sub  Noe  factus  est  figuram 
persecutionis  quae  per  totum  orbem  nunc  nuper  supereffusa  ostendit.' 
Ad  Novat.  5. 

(H.  p.  57,  24)  '  Duplex  ergo  ilia  emissio  [columbae  ex  area]  duplicem 
'nobis  persecutionis  temptationem  ostendit  :  prima  in  qua  qui  lapsi  sunt 
'vieti  ceciderunt,  secunda  in  qua  hi  ipsi  qui  ceciderunt  victores  extiterunt. 
'NuUi  enim  nostrum  dubium  vel  incertum  est,  fratres  dile^tissimi,  illos 
'qui  prima  acie  id  est  Deciana  persecutione  vulnerati  fuerunt,  hos  postea 
'  id  est  secundo  proelio  ita  fortiter  perseverasse,  ut  contemnentes  edicta 
'sascularium  principum  hoc  invictum  haberent,  quod  et  non  metuerunt 
'exemplo  boni  pastoris  anitnam  suajti  tradere,  sanguinem  fundere  nee 
'ullam  insanientis  tyranni  saevitiam  recusare.'    Ad  Novat.  6. 

secundo  proelio  must  mean  the  persecution  of  Gallus,  which  was  not 
over  before  Aug.  253,  but  was  over  when  this  treatise  was  written.  It 
can  be  described  by  'nunc  nuper,'  yet  the  Penitent  Lapsed  have  been 
Penitents  'per  longam  temporum  seriem V  which  would  be  adequately 
met  by  allowing  three  years  or  even  two  since  the  persecution  of  Gallus. 
Even  so,  some  would  have  been  in  that  condition  five  years  since  the 

^  Cyprian  thought  a  triennium  sufficient.     Ep.  56.  2. 


*AD   NOVATIANUM.'  559 

beginning  of  the  persecution  of  Decius.  The  persecution  of  Valerian 
is  plainly  not  begun.  It  began  Aug,  257,  but  not  in  earnest,  and  for 
Rome  not  at  all  till  Aug.  258.  We  have  then  the  limits  fixed  between 
Aug.  255  and  Aug.  (257  or)  258. 

The  locality  is  interestingly  fixed  by  considering  who  these  Lapsi 
must  have  been.  They  fell  in  the  persecution  of  Decius  ;  many  retrieved 
their  honour  in  that  of  Gallus,  but  none  have  been  restored.  Now  the 
Carthaginian  penitents  were  restored  by  the  Council  of  May  252,  to  arm 
them  for  the  threatened  persecution  of  Gallus.  But  there  is  no  indication 
of  any  such  restoration  at  Rome.  Cyprian  was  pressed  by  a  lax  party 
who  would  have  absorbed  the  penitents  if  these  were  kept  out  of  the 
Church  much  longer.  But  Stephanus  was  pressed  by  the  Puritan  party 
of  Novatianists,  who  would  have  absorbed  many  Catholics  if  his  action 
had  been  indulgent.  Stephanus  had  in  the  case  of  Marcian  of  Aries 
shewn  himself  unwilling  to  be  hard  on  Novatianists,  and  was  ready  even 
to  admit  their  Baptism.  The  Roman  policy  had  been  to  keep  penitents 
long  waiting. 

There  are  strong  touches  of  Roman  colour  also  in  the  Christology 
which  writes  that  Judas  '■  Deum  prodtdit'  (H.  64,  22.  Ad  Novat.  14); 
and  in  the  assumption  implied  in  quoting  the  baptismal  charge  as  given 
by  Christ  ^  Petro  sed  et  ctitris,  discipulis^'    (H.  56,  i.     Ad  Novat.  3.) 

Our  author  then  is  a  Bishop  at  Rome  between  Aug.  253  and  Aug.  257 
or  8,  anxious  to  restore  meritorious  penitents  of  long  standing,  his  efibrts 
frustrated  by  Novatian's  action. 

It  being  shewn  that  neither  Stephanus  nor  Lucius  could  have  written 
the  treatise^  it  remains  by  process  of  exhaustion  that  the  Bishop  in 
question  is  Sixtus  II.,  and  he  had  opportunity  to  write,  for  it  is  almost 
certain  that  during  his  eleven  months  and  six  days'  reign  the  Christians 
and  he  were  unmolested  at  Rome  :  he  and  Roman  presbyters  were  in 
fact  peacefully  corresponding  all  the  time  with  Dionysius. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  Harnack's  argument,  and  we  certainly  are 
grateful  to  him  for  taking  us  on  so  interesting  a  quest. 

II.     The  historic  results  which  he  deduces  are  still  more  remarkable.    Historical 

Thus:  (i)  There  must  have  been  in  the  time  of  Sixtus  a  new  and  '^°"' 

^  '  sequences 

forceful  outbreak  of    Novatianism,  led  by  Novatian  himself — 'ecce  ex  of  Sixtus 

adverso  obortus  est  alius  hostis...Novatianus.'     Ad  Novat.  i.      It  was  H.  being 

sufficient  to  stem  the  charitable  policy  of  the  Church,  or  at   least   to  ^  ^  ^"'  °'' 

compel  it  to  parley  on  the  question  in  argument  with  the  '  haereticus.' 


1  The  words  of  the  charge  itself  are  though  the  arguments  adduced  against 

here  compounded  of  Matth.  xxviii.  19  the  authorship  of  Lucius  are  not  very 

and  Mark  xvi.  15.  strong,    yet    they   are    satisfactory    in 

^  Argument   against   the   authorship  the  absence  of  any  probabihty  on  the 

of    Stephanus    was    superfluous,    and  other  side. 


560  APPENDIX  G. 

(2)  It  becomes  clear  how  the  Baptismal  Controversy  ended  at  Rome 
— which,  as  Harnack  says  (p.  39),  was  not  known  to  Augustine  himself, — 
namely  by  Sixtus'  adopting  the  policy  and  even  the  formula^  of  Cyprian. 
This  further  explains  the  remark  of  Dionysius^  to  Sixtus  that  the  Roman 
presbyters,  Dionysius  and  Philemon,  )\3.di  formerly  sided  with  Stephen 
{(rvfiylnj(f>ois  irporepov  l,T((f>av(o  yevofievois). 

(3)  Sixtus  II.  becomes  much  more  than  the  'bonus  et  pacificus 
sacerdos'  of  Pontius  {Vii.  14)  (an  expression,  we  may  remark,  to  which 
in  his  mouth  it  is  possible  to  attach  too  much  significance). 

(4)  A  comparison  of  passages  (Ham.  pp.  35  ff.)  shews  the  closest 
dependence  of  the  cu/  Novatiamitn  on  the  de  Unitate.  Twenty  places 
at  least  are  distinct  quotations.  Besides  this  there  is  (pp.  50  ff.)  a  constant 
near  resemblance  to  Cyprian's  style  and  use  of  words.  Sixtus  II.  was 
in  fact  a  'Scholar  of  the  great  African  Bishop,'  a  'slavish  copyist'  of  his 
treatises  'on  Unity'  and  'on  Work  and  Almsdeeds'  and  of  some  of  his 
Epistles,  and  he  adopted  his  policy  in  every  particular. 

In  fact  in  A.D.  257 — 8  Cyprian  'by  his  writings  spiritually  lorded  it 
over  the  Roman  See'  (pp.  67  f.). 

The  above  are  Hamack's  principal  historical  inferences. 

Difficulties        I^I-  This  is  beyond  question  a  strikingly  new  aspect  of  Rome  exhibited 

in  accept-   to  the  eyes  of  the  historical  student,  and  it  requires  reflexion.     Meantime 

^"^th  ^^  "^  certain  difficulties  present  themselves. 

author.  !•     If  the  Baptismal  controversy  ended  in  so   round  and  simple 

a  manner  as  by  Xystus  adopting  entirely  Cyprian's  views  and  language, 
it  is  strange  that  Augustine  did  not  know  it,  and  that  others  should  have 
given  such  wild  accounts  of  the  reversal. 

2.  It  is  strange  that  no  trace  of  intercourse  between  Cyprian  and 
Xystus,  no  mention  of  either  by  the  other,  should  have  survived  or,  so  far 
as  we  know,  have  ever  been  known  to  exist.  Cyprian  had  agents  in 
Rome,  and  Xystus  was  corresponding  with  Dionysius  in  exile. 

3.  It  is  yet  more  strange,  if  Xystus  thus  adopted  Cyprian's  treat- 
ment of  heretical  baptism,  that  the  treatment  which  prevailed  and 
continued  in  the  Western  Church  should  have  been  not  that  of  Cyprian 
and  Xystus  but  that  of  Stephen. 

4.  The  Roman  inclination  to  appropriate  to  Peter  language  of  our 
Lord  which  is  addressed  to  others  is  traced  by  Harnack  in  the  'rnandat 
Petro  sed  et  ceteris  discipulis '  noticed  above.  But  there  is  a  much  more 
extraordinary  instance  of  that  proclivity  which  for  some  reason  he  does 
not  notice.  In  c  II  the  ad  Novatianum  quotes  at  length  the  conversation 
between  our  Lord  and  Simon  the  Pharisee  over  the  penitent  woman. 
Three  times  over  our  author  in  his  quotation  of  S.  Luke  vii.  vv.  40, 
43,  47  substitutes  the  name  of  Peter  for  that  of  Simon,  in  the  last  verse 


^  Ham.  p.  66.  ^  Euseb.  vii.  5. 


*AD   NOVATIANUM.'  $61 

inserts  it.  Can  this  be  really  Xystus  the  typical  Doctor,  he  of  the  Chair, 
who  either  confuses  Simon  Peter  with  Simon  the  Pharisee,  or  thinks 
to  honour  the  See  of  Rome  by  the  change  ? 

IV.    But  there  are  also  other  passages  which,  if  this  is  a  genuine  letter  Indica- 
of  those  times,  might  seem  to  fall  in  with  an  earlier  year  and  person.  e^°fer 

1.  The  language  about  Novatian  seems  more  appropriate  to  his  date, 
first  rise  than  to  a  recrudescence.    While  our  author  was  considering  how 

the  Lapsed  should  be  reconciled,  *  ecce  ex  adverse  abortus  est  alius  hostis 
et  ipsius  paternae  pietatis  adversarius  haereticus  Novatianus,'  c.  i,  H.  52, 
12.  This  is  not  the  phraseology  which  would  be  used  about  one  who  had 
now  for  over  six  years  been  pursuing  the  same  policy. 

2.  In  c.  14  Novatian  is  scarcely  addressed  as  if  his  sound  teaching 
in  the  Church  belonged  to  years  ago;  and  the  writer  proceeds  'hodie 
retractas  an  debeant  lapsorum  curari  vulnera,'  H.  64,  10,  as  if  his 
discussion  of  the  question  were  new,  not  of  such  old  standing  as  by 
Xystus'  time  it  would  have  become. 

3.  In  c.  I,  H.  53,  12  his  adherents  are  called  'suos  quos  colligit,' 
not  as  if  they  were  a  long-standing  formidable  congregation.  In  c.  2,  H. 
54, 12  they  are  '  vel  nunc  infelicissimi  pauci,' just  as  Cornelius  (Euseb.  H.  E. 
vi.  43)  says  that  Novatian  yeyvfivaa-dai,  koI  epr^ixov  yeyovevai,  KaTaKifinavovrav 
avTov  Kad'  ^fxtpap  eKaanjv  rav  abiK(^m>. 

4.  Compare  the  already  quoted  'ecce  ex  ad  verso  obortus  est  alius 
hostis  &c.'  and  the  exclamation  of  surprise  at  the  attitude  of  Novatian, 
'mirum  quot  acerba,  quot  aspera,  quot  perversa  sunt,'  c.  i,  H.  52,  13  with 
what  Cornelius  writes  of  him  (Euseb.  I.e.),  a.l<j>vibi.ov  eVtV/KOTroj  aairep  «'< 
fiayydvov  rivos  els  to  fxeirov  pii^deis  dvafpaiverai  and  ap.ri)(^avov  ocn]v....Tpo7rT]v 
<at  fxera^dX^p  iv  ^paxet  Kaipa  edeacrap-fda  eV  avrov  yeyevrjfieinjv. 

5.  Compare  c.  I,  H.  53,  9'luporum  more  tenebrosamcaliginem  op- 
tare. ..ferina  sua  crudelitate  oves...laniare' with  Cornelius'  rqv  aKoivavrjcriav 
avTOv  Koi  \vKO(^CKiav. 

6.  Compare  what  is  said  c.  14  of  his  former  position  as  a 
teacher,  sound  on  this  very  subject  of  penitence,  with  Cornelius'  sneer 
at  him  as  6  BoyparioTi]!,  6  t^s  eKK\r]tTi,aa-TiKfjs  fmcmjpTjs  vnepaa-nia-Ti]!. 

7.  Compare  c.  8,  H.  59,  i,  on  their  intentional  superseding  of  the 
name  Christiani  by  Novatiani  with  what  Cornelius  relates  of  the  personal 
pledges  taken  to  Novatian  in  the  Eucharist  itself  by  his  followers  ^ 

In  all  these  passages  the  point  of  view  is  identical.  The  personal 
angles  may  be  different,  for  c.  13  treats  him  as  having  been  a  tender 
pastor,  which  Cornelius  does  not.  But  the  point  of  view  is  the  same.  It 
cannot  be  said  that  one  describes  the  rise  of  an  enemy,  the  other  the 
revival  of  a  heretic  of  several  years'  standing. 

8.  The  passage  'Duplex  ergo  &c.'  from  c.  6,  H.  p.  57,  24  does  No  proof 
not  require  (as  Harnack  thinks)  that  the  persecution  of  Callus  should  be  of  ^^te 

^  Euseb.  vi.  43. 
B.  36 


S62  APPENDIX  G. 

later  than   over  when  it  was  written.     It  at  least  admits  of  an  earlier  application. 

the  begin-   It  only  says,  in  that  secundum  proelium}  some  who  had  before  lapsed, 

!^^  g         'victores    extiterunt,'    that    they   'fortiter    perseverassc.nec    ullam  in- 

secution  of  saevientis    tyranni    saevitiam    recusare.'      But   these    noble    recoveries 

Gallus.        vvere  of  frequent  occurrence.     One  of  the  strongest  arguments  of  Cyprian 

and  the  Council  'de  pace  maturius  danda,'  A.D.   252,  even  before  the 

persecution   of  Gallus,  was  the  cases  of  the  Lapsed  who   in  a  second 

trial  'fortiter  steterint   et  adversarium   nobiscum   in   congressione  pro- 

straverint'  {Ep.  57.  3)  and  Epistle  56  is  occupied  with  the  case  of  three 

such  persons  whose  endurance  was  marvellous. 

The  passage  contains  no  indication  that  the  secundum  proelium  was 
more  than  begun,  and  we  know  that  it  was  not  considered  to  be  ended. 
No  second  9.    Harnack  thinks  (p.41)  that  the  newoutbreak  of  Novatianism  in  the 

outbreak  Wmo,  of  Sixtus  II., which  he  infers  from  ad Novai.,  is  indicated  by  Dionysius 
tianism  de-  ^^'^j  ^^  writing  to  his  namesake  the  Roman  presbyter  (Euseb.  H.  E.  vii.  8), 
scribed  by  gives  these  reasons  for  hostility  to  Novatian,  namely  as  biaKoipavri  rfjv  (kkXi]- 
Uionysius    g-jQ^^  ^q/  rivas  rcov  d8fX<f)a>v  fit  dcrefieias  koI  ^Xaacprjfxias  ehKvcravTL,  koi  TTfoi  rov 

Alex.  -tvfc-v^>  '>  N'  ^^  <  / 

Qeov  oioaaicaKiav  avodiaraTrjv  fnficrKVK\r)aavTi-  Kai  rov  ;(pt;(rTOTaTOj'  Kvpioi' 
TjiiStv  '\r)crovv  H-picrrov  as  avrjkef)  avKO(f>avTovfri,  fn\  Trairiv  Se  tovtois  to  Xovrpoi/ 
ddfTovvTi  TO  dyiov,  koi  t^v  t(  npo  avToii  TviaTiv  koI  ofioXoyiav  dvarpfirovTi.  to  re 
TTvevfia  TO  dyiov  i^  avrav,  fl  Kai  Tis  rju  fXiriS  tov  irapapLflvat  rj  (TraveXdelf  irpos 
avTovs,  ircwreXas  (pvyaSevoirri. 

1  am  obliged  to  quote  the  whole  passage  in  Greek  because  all  turns 
upon  the  participial  tenses,  which  are  surely  most  carefully  kept  apart, 
and  lead,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to  a  conclusion  contrary  to  Harnack's. — The 
continuous  result  is  distinguished  from  the  outbreak  of  the  schism.  The 
violent  cleavage  of  the  Church,  the  perversion  of  a  body  of  believers  to 
irreverent  and  even  blasphemous  acts  (such  as  the  Eucharistic  pledges  by 
which  Novatian  compacted  a  following^),  the  introduction  of  a  doctrine 
dishonouring  to  God, — these  are  told  in  aorists  ;  they  were  one  group  of 
actions  past,  the  formation  of  the  heretical  schism.  But  the  misrepre- 
sentation of  Christ's  compassionate  character,  the  contempt  of  the  font, 
and  perversion  of  the  baptismal  confession,  the  keeping  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  at  a  distance  from  those  who  would  repent  but  are  not  allowed  : 

^  We  do  not  doubt  the  application  of  holds  that  it  may  be  a  version  of  his 

these  words.     Cyprian  shews  that  there  altering  the  Baptismal  Creed.     But  let 

was  a  short  interval  before  it  after  the  us    observe    that    the   account    is    the 

Decian     persecution,    which    he    calls  original   of    Cornelius,   describing    the 

'quies  et  tranquillitas,'  but   they  were  very  gestures  and  words  of  Novatian. 

even  then  under  the  fear  'impendentis  Cornelius   had   such  particulars  of  his 

prcelii,'  'urguente  certamine,'  £p.   57.  rexi/dcrAiaTa  Kai  Troi'T/peiJ/iiaTa  from  Maxi- 

2,  3,  5.  mus,  Urbanus,  Sidonius  and  Celerinus 

2  Harnack,  p.  42,  thinks  this  account  (Eus.  i.e.). 
of  Novatian's  Eucharist  incredible,  but 


'AD   NOVATIANUM.'  563 

these  are  the  continuous  operation,  not  new  strokes,  of  Novatianism,  and 
so  are  related  in  the  present  tense.  The  passage  distinctly  differences 
from  each  other  the  first  energetic  movement  and  the  continuous 
result.  The  former  it  places  in  past  time,  but  gives  no  sign  of  new 
development  or  even  revival  in  the  time  of  Xystus. 

V.  There  remains  one  external  argument  for  the  book  being  by  Sixtus.  The  testi- 
The  Prcedestinatus,  which  belongs  to  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  {^g°/>° 

(so  Hamack,  pp.  44—49)^,  has  in  its  Part  I.,  The  Catalogue  of  Heresies,  destinatus. 
this  notice. 

'  XXXVIII.  haeresis  est  Catharorum  qui  se  ipsos  isto  nomine  quasi 
propter  munditiam  superbissime  appellarunt,  secundas  nuptias  non 
admittunt,  paenitentiam  denegant,  Novatum  sectantes  haereticum,  unde 
etiam  Novatiani  appellantur.  contra  hunc  beatus  Xystus  martyr  et 
episcopus  et  venerabilis  Cyprianus  martyr  Christi  tunc  Carthaginiensis 
pontifex  scripsit  contra  Novatum  librum  de  lapsis  quod  possint  per  paeni- 
tentiam recuperare  gratiam  quam  labendo  perdiderant,  quod  Novatus 
adserebat  fieri  omnino  non  posse.' 

This  description  of  the  book  '■contra  Novatum'  is  an  account  exactly 
to  the  point  of  this  fragment  ad  Novatianum,  but  has  no  relation  to 
Cyprian's  de  Lapsis.  I  suggest  that  it  was  the  occurrence  of  these  two  words 
de  lapsis  which  caused  some  erudite  scribe  to  insert  all  the  words  '■et 
venerabilis... ponti/ex.^  Fortunately  the  word  scripsit  remains,  which  by 
its  construction  makes  the  insertion  certain.  The  rest  of  the  statement  I 
must  leave  for  what  it  is  worth.  The  Catalogue  of  Heresies  is  of  course 
admitted  by  Hamack  himself  to  be  much  of  it  quite  valueless.  But  his 
historic  Erkenntniss  assures  him  that  its  assignment  of  the  authorship  of 
this  obscure  fragment  is  correct. 

VI.  Upon  the  whole,  I  believe  that  if  this  fragment  (which  does  not 
present  many  points  to  lay  hold  of)  is  not  an  historic  and  theological  study 
but  a  book  genuinely  addressed  to  Novatian,  it  is  the  work  of  a  responsible 
Bishop  in  or  about  Rome.  But  to  identify  the  writer  with  Xystus  is  to 
create  a  view  of  that  doctor  himself,  of  Rome  as  under  the  influence  of 
Cyprian,  and  of  the  end  of  the  Baptismal  controversy,  which  is  not 
warranted,  but  discredited  by  our  other  knowledge  of  the  times. 

^  [First  published  by  Jacques  Sirmond,  Part  I.,  The  Catalogue  of  Heresies,  is 

Paris  1643.    Printed  in  Sirmondi  Opera  full    of  blunders.     Part    II.   absurdly 

varia,  vol.  I.  pp.  465  ff.  (Paris  1696);  professes  to  be  Augustine's.     Part  III. 

La  Eigne,  Max.  Bibl.  veil.  Patr.,  vol.  professes    to   condemn   the    Pelagians, 

x.xvii.  p.  543  (Lyon  1677);   Galland.  but   is   full   of  Pelagianism.]     In  the 

Bibl.  veit.  Patr.,  vol.  x.  p.   359  (Ven.  passage    given    in    the    text    'qui    se 

1774).      Book    I.    edited    by    Oehler,  ipsos  ...  appellarunt '    is    copied    from 

Corpus   hcsreseologicum,   Berlin,    1856,  Augustine,  De  hares.   30. 

36—2 


564  APPENDIX  G. 

But  there  is  nothing  which  would  not  fall  in  with  the  conditions  of 
five  or  six  years  earlier,  the  anxious  days  in  which  Cornelius  and  Cyprian 
were  with  great  unanimity  dealing  with  the  rise  of  Novatianism  and  the 
proper  treatment  of  the  Lapsed  ;  when  Cyprian  was  sending  Cornelius 
his  new  book  de  Unitate;  and  the  kinder  view  of  the  Lapsed,  as  'vulnerati 
a  diabolo,'  and  not  as  wilful  sinners,  had  already  come  in,  see  Cyprian's 
Ep.  55.  19  (H.  p.  637,  22),  Ep.  58.  13  (H.  680,  16)  et passim.  It  might  be 
carried  (if  so  desired)  almost  to  the  end  of  Cornelius's  life. 

It  is  not  inconceivable  that  the  author  might  be  Cornelius ^  Yet 
its  general,  abstract  style  contrasts  too  much  with  the  detailed,  definite, 
personal  style  in  which  he  handles  Novatian  in  the  letter  to  Fabius 
(Euseb.  H.E.  vi.  43),  even  allowing  for  the  different  situations.  I  am  also 
loth  to  impute  to  him  either  the  confusion  between  Simon  the  Pharisee 
and  Simon  Peter,  or  the  lengthy,  feeble  and  inextricably  confused 
applications  of  the  flights  of  Noah's  dove  to  the  fall  and  recovery  of  the 
Lapsed. 

There  were  other  Bishops  near  to  Rome  who  were  quite  capable  of 
inditing  the  book  and  who  (like  Hippolytus  before  this  time)  may  have 
felt  their  responsibility  for  all  that  went  on  as  even  superior  to  that  of 
the  Pope, 

These  observations  I  make  with  diffidence,  with  a  lively  appreciation 
of  the  interest  of  Dr  Harnack's  paper,  and  with  gratitude  for  the  inci- 
dental lights  which  in  brief  space  he  has  thrown  on  the  subject  and  its 
literature. 


^  Erasmus     thought    so,    but     only  sunt,'  as  if  this  could  describe  the  ad 

through   misapprehension    of   Jerome,  Novatianum.  F,rasmus's  adnotatmncula 

de    Vii-is   Illustribus.,   Ixvi.,   'Cornelius  (in  Fo.   500)  prefixed  to   his  Cyprian, 

...scripsit    epistolam    ad     Fabium...et  1520;  repeated  in  ed.  1530. 
aliam  de  Novatiano  et  de  his  qui  lapsi 


565 


APPENDIX   H. 


Examination  of  the  Lists  of  Bishops  attending  the  Councils. 
{^Genuineness,  Seniority^ 

There  are  four  lists  of  Bishops,  varying  in  number  from  36  to  86,  who 
were  assembled  in  Councils,  or  were  formally  addressed  by  Councils, 
from  the  year  252  to  256  A.D.  {Epp.  57,  67,  70,  and  Sentt.  Episc). 

The  African  bishops  sat  by  seniority  according  to  Codex  Canonum 
Eccles.  Africanae  Can.  86,  which  comes  from  Concil.  Milevit.  A.D.  416, 
Labbe,  li.  c.  1316,  ill.  cc.  383,  4.  This,  as  all  the  bishops  there  affirmed, 
represented  the  tradition.  Augustine  complains  of  breaches  of  the  rule, 
Ep.  59.  I.  They  sate  under  their  primates,  and  it  is  evident  in  the  list 
of  the  Council  of  256  A.D.  that  they  did  not  sit  by  provinces  from  the 
mixture  of  Proconsular  and  Numidian  sees. 

If  the  Cyprianic  lists  were  genuine,  then 

(i)  From  an  episcopate  so  large  and  so  widespread,  we  should  expect 
that  in  lists  so  far  short  of  the  whole  number  some  names  would  recur  in 
more  than  one  list,  but  many  would  appear  only  once. 

Also  we  should  find  certain  relations  among  the  recurrent  names. 

(2)  Names  which  appeared  in  more  than  one  list  would,  when  inter- 
vening non-recurrent  names  were  struck  out,  stand  in  nearly  the  same  order 
in  different  lists,  allowance  being  made  for  incidents  such  as  disputable 
precedence  which  might  arise,  for  instance,  from  date  of  consecration 
being  uncertain  or  other  causes,  such  as  appear  in  Augustine  and  the 
Canon  as  cited  above. 

(3)  The  percentage  of  recurrent  names  would  dwindle  in  later  lists 
on  account  of  deaths. 

(4)  In  a  longer  list  the  recurrent  names  would  be  more  spread  out, 
dotted  along  its  whole  length.  The  later  names  in  a  list  of  36  might  be 
the  later  in  a  list  of  86,  but  if  the  largest  list  be  the  latest  it  would  probably 
have  at  the  end  a  number  of  junior  names  not  occurring  in  earlier  ones. 

If  those  conditions  were  met  the  genuineness  of  the  lists  would 
be  established.  In  forged  lists  such  conditions  would  find  no  place, 
unless  they  had  been  clearly  foreseen,  and  the  names  arranged  upon 
a  skeleton  drawn  before  to  ensure  the  appearances.  But  the  multiplicity 
and  complication  of  the  relations  between  the  names  on  these  lists  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  Cyprianic  correspondence  is  far  too  great  to  have  been 
invented  and  constructed  by  any  romancer.  Disturbances  we  do  find, 
but  small  in  proportion.  Some  of  them  are  singular  and  explicable, 
while  the  very  presence  of  other  disturbances  to  which  we  find  no 
clue,  in  a  case  where  most  is  coherent  and  our  knowledge  so  limited, 
indicates  that  at  least  they  are  not  shaped  on  a  plan. 


566 


APPENDIX   H. 


TABLE  I. 


The  Four  Lists. 


11°^  Council, 

A.D.  252,  Ep.  57. 

r  Liberalis 

1  Caldonius 

3  Nicomedes 

4  Csecilius 

5  Junius 

6  Marrutius 

7  Felix 

8  Successus 

9  Faustinas 

10  Fortunatus  L 

1 1  Victor 

12  Saturninus  L 

13  Saturninus  IL 

1 4  Rogatlanus 

1 5  Tertullus 

1 6  Lucianus 

1 7  Sattius 

18  Secundinus 

19  Saturninus  IIL 

20  Eutyches 

2 1  Ampius 

22  Saturninus  IV. 

23  Aurelius 

24  Priscus 

25  Herculaneus 

26  Victoricus 

27  Quintus 

28  Honoratus 

29  Manthaneus 

30  Hortensianus 

3 1  Verianus 

32  Iambus 

33  Donatus  I. 

34  Pomponius 

35  Poly  carpus 

36  Demetrius 

37  Donatus  II. 

38  Privatianus 

39  Fortunatus  II. 

40  Rogatus 

41  Monnulus 


IV""  Council, 
A.D.  254,  Ep.  67. 

1  Csecilius 

2  Primus 

3  Polycarpus 

4  Nicomedes 

5  Lucianus 

6  Successus 

7  Sedatus 

8  Fortunatus 

9  Januarius  I. 
xo  Secundus 

1 1  Pomponius 

12  Honoratus 

13  Victor 

14  Aurelius  I. 

15  Sattius 

16  Petrus 

17  Januarius  II. 

18  Saturninus  I. 

19  Aurelius  II. 

20  Venantius 

21  Quietus 

22  Rogatianus 

23  Tenax 

24  Felix 

25  Faustus 

26  Quintus 

27  Saturninus  II. 

28  Lucius 

29  Vincentius 

30  Libosus 

31  Geminius 

32  Marcellus 

33  Iambus 

34  Adelphius 

35  Victoricus 

36  Paulus 


V"*  Council, 
A.D.  255,  Ep.  7< 


13 
14 

15 
16 

17 

18 

19 
20 
21 
[22 
^3 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
.^o 
31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 

39 
40 

41 

42 

43 
44 

45 
46 

47 
48 

49 


Liberalis 

Caldonius 

Junius 

Primus 

Csecilius 

Polycarpus 

Nicomedes 

Felix 

Marnitius 

Successus 

Lucianus 

Honoratus 

Fortunatus 

Victor  I. 

Donatus  I. 

Lucius 

Herculanus 

Pomponius 

Demetrius 

Quintus 

Saturninus  I. 

Januarius  I.] 

Marcus 

Saturninus  II. 

Donatus  II. 

Rogatianus 

Sedatus 

Tertullus 

Hortensianus 

Saturninus  III. 

Sattius 

Januario  II.  {Ntimidiaii) 

Saturnino  IV. 

Maximo 

Victor!  II. 

Victori  III. 

Cassio 

Proculo 

Modiano 

Cittino 

Gargilio  I. 

Eutichiano 

Gargilio  II. 

Saturnino  V. 

Nemesiano 

Nampulo 

Antoniano 

Rogatiano 

Honorato 


22  Saturninus  IV.  oin,  Oxon. 
25  Herculanus  M. 


22  Januarius  om.  Hartel,  though  in  C  L  M  R. 


LISTS  OF   BISHOPS. 


567 


TABLE  I.  (continued). 


The  Four  Lists. 


VII"»  Council, 

A.D 

1.  256,  Sentt.  Epp. 

I 

Caecilius 

50 

Ahymnus 

2 

Primus 

51 

Satuminus  I. 

3 

Polycarpus 

52 

Saturninus  II. 

4 

Novatus 

53 

Marcellus 

5 

Neraesianus 

54 

Irenaeus 

6 

Januarius  I. 

55 

Donatus 

7 

Lucius  I. 

56 

Zosimus 

8 

Crescens 

57 

Julian  us  I. 

9 

Nicomedes 

58 

Faustus 

10 

Monnulus 

59 

Geminius 

II 

Secundinus  I. 

60 

Rogatianus 

12 

Felix  I. 

61 

Therapius 

^3 

Polianus 

62 

Lucius  II. 

14 

Theogenes 

63 

Felix  V. 

15 

Dativus 

64 

Satuminus  III, 

16 

Successus 

65 

Quintus 

17 

Fortunatus 

66 

Julianus  II. 

18 

Sedatus 

67 

Tenax 

19 

Privatianus 

68 

Victor  II. 

20 

Privatus 

69 

Donatulus 

21 

Hortensianus 

70 

Verulus 

22 

Cassius 

71 

Pudentianus 

23 

Januarius  II. 

72 

Petrus 

^4 

Secundinus  II. 

73 

Lucius  III. 

25 

Victoricus 

74 

Felix  VI. 

26 

Felix  II. 

75 

Pusillus 

27 

Quietus 

76 

Salvianus 

28 

Castus 

77 

Honoratus 

29 

Eucratius 

78 

Victor  III. 

30 

Libosus 

79 

Claras 

31 

Leucius 

80 

Secundianus 

32 

Eugenius 

81 

Aurelius  II. 

33 

Felix  III. 

82 

Litteus 

34 

Januarius  III. 

83 

Natalis 

35 

Adelphius 

84 

Pompeius 

36 

Demetrius 

8;; 

Dioga 

37 

Vincentius 

86 

Junius 

38 

Marcus 

39 

Sattius 

40 

Victor  I. 

41 

Aurelius  I. 

42 

Iambus 

43 

Lucianus 

44 

Pelagianus 

45 

lader 

46 

Felix  IV. 

47 

Paulus 

48 

Pomponius 

49 

Venantius 

568  APPENDIX  H. 


I.  If  we  turn  now  to  the  actual  lists  given  in  Table  I.  side  by  side, 
complete  as  they  are  found  in  the  MSS.  of  Cyprian,  and  again  as 
opposite  in  Table  II.,  with  the  omission  of  names  which  occur  only  in 
one  list,  and  of  very  common  names  like  Felix,  where  nothing  points  to 
identification,  we  shall  find  upon  an  inspection  of  the  numbers  which 
give  their  position  in  each  list,  that  the  identified  names  do  follow  in 
the  same  sequence  in  each  to  such  an  extent  as  to  shew  at  once  the 
genuineness  of  the  documents  and  the  existence  in  Cyprian's  time  of 
the  rule  of  seniority. 

An  inspection  of  Table  II.  will  at  once  shew  the  force  of  this  argu- 
ment. The  number  of  names  which  have  their  sequence  exact  is  re- 
markable. 


LISTS  OF  BISHOPS. 


569 


TABLE   II. 


Identical  Names  in  the  Lists  of  the  Councils. 


II"**,  A.D.  252, 

Ep-  57- 
Liberalis 
Caldonius 
Nicomedes 
Csecilius 


5  Junius 

6  Marrutius 

7  Felix 

8  Successus 
10  Fortunatus 


1 1     Victor 


IV"»,  A.D.  354, 
Ep.  67. 


1  Csecilius 

2  Primus 

3  Polycarpus 

4  Nicomedes 

6  Successus 

7  Sedatus 

8  Fortunatus 
1 1  Pomponius 
13  Victor 

17  Januarius  I. 

18  Saturninus  I. 


13  Saturninus  II.    22 

14  Rogatianus         27 

29 

16  Lucianus 

17  Sattius  15 

1 8  Secundinus 

19  Saturninus  III. 

23     Aurelius  19 

20 
21 

23 
28 

25  Herculaneus 

26  Victoricus  35 

27  Quintus  26 
30     Hortensianus 

30 
31 
32 

32  Iambus  33 

34 
36 

33  Donatus  I. 

34  Pomponius 

35  Polycarpus  3 

36  Demetrius 

37  Donatus  II. 

38  Privatianus 

39  Fortunatus  II. 
41  Monnulus 


Rogatianus 
Saturninus  II. 
Vincentius 

Sattius] 


Aurelius 

Venantius 

Quietus 

Tenax 

Lucius 

Victoricus] 
Quintus 

Libosus 

Geminius 

Marcellus 

Iambus 

Adelphius 

Paulus 


V'S  A.D.  255, 
Ep.  70. 

1  Liberalis 

2  Caldonius 

3  Junius 

4  Primus 

5  Caecilius 

6  Polycarpus 

7  Nicomedes 

8  Felix 

9  Marrutius 
10  Successus 

1 3  Fortunatus 
27  Sedatus] 

14  Victor  I. 

1 8  Pomponius 


VIP",  A.D.  256, 
SentU  Epp. 


1  Csecilius 

2  Primus        \ 

3  Polycarpus 
9  Nicomedesj 

12  Felix  LI 

/ 

16  Successus 

1 7  Fortunatus ) 

18  Sedatus       I 


23 


19  Demetrius  36 

21  Saturninus  I. 

22  Januarius 

23  Marcus  38 

24  Saturninus  II. 
26  Rogatianus 

37 

1 1     Lucianus  43 

31     Sattius  39 

24 

30     Saturninus  III. 

41 
49 
27 

1 6  Lucius 

17  Herculanus] 

25 

20  Quintus] 

29     Hortensianus      21 
30 


40     Victor  I. 
Januarius  II. 

48     Pomponius 
Demetrius 

51  Saturninus  I. 

Marcus 

52  Saturninus  II.  I 
60     Rogatianus       J 

Vincentius] 
Lucianus 
Sattius 
Secundinus  II.] 

64  Saturninus  III. 
Aurelius 
Venantius 
Quietus] 

67     Tenax 
62     Lucius 

Victoricus] 

65  Quintus 
Hortensianus] 
Libosus] 

59     Geminius 


42  Iambus        . 

35  Adelphius] 

47  Paulus         ' 

53  Marcellus 

25     Donatus  II.]       55  Donatus 

49     Honoratus  77  Honoratus 

6    .        .        .  3 

19    .        .        .         36 
1 5     Donatus  or  25] 

19  Privatianus] 

10  Monnulus] 


570  APPENDIX   H. 

2.  We  next  ascertain  that  of  the  names  which  can  be  identified 
throughout  the  lists, 

30  occur  in  the  first     list  of  41  (a.d.  252),  or  73*2  per  cent. 
28      „        „      second     „     36  (a.d.  254),  „  77-8    „      „ 
30      „        „      third         „     49  (a.d.  255),  „  61 -2     „      „ 
39      „        „      fourth       „     86  (A.D.  256),  „  45-3     „      „ 
So  that  the  second  test  as  to  the  diminution  is  fulfilled,  except  in  the 
second  list,  where  the  percentage  rises ^ 

3.  The  third  test  is  seen  upon  inspection  to  be  fulfilled.  After  the 
77th  bishop,  Honoratus,  or  the  78th  (which  is  more  doubtful,  since  the 
name  Victor  is  so  common)  no  names  in  the  last  longest  list  of  86  corre- 
spond to  names  in  the  other  lists. 

The  instances  of  disturbance  are  curious,  and  worth  consideration  : — 

(i)  In  list  of  Council  v.  the  reversal  of  the  order  of  Primus  and 
Cascilius,  the  variation  of  Junius  and  Nicomedes  on  either  side  of  them, 
and  the  stability  of  Polycarp,  while  as  a  group  these  five  hold  their  place. 

(2)  The  similar  disturbance  of  Felix  and  Marrutius  in  same  list. 

(3)  The  disturbance  of  Sedatus  and  Fortunatus,  and  in  v.  the  de- 
pression of  Sedatus. 

(4)  The  disturbance  of  Rogatianus  and  Saturninus  II. 

(5)  The  alternation  visible  in  the  above  instances  as  to  pairs  of 
names  is  extended  to  groups  of  four  in  Councils  iv.,  v.,  vii.,  where 
(IV.  ir  sqq.)  Pomponius,  Januarius,  Demetrius,  Saturninus,  are  inter- 
mixed, Victor  keeping  his  place  among  them;  and  again  (iv.  32  sqq.) 
Marcellus,  Iambus,  Adelphius,  Paulus,  of  whom  Adelphius  is  in  vii. 
much  higher. 

(6)  Other  isolated  variations  are  pointed  out  by  a  square  bracket  ] 
after  the  names. 

(7)  At  the  close  of  list  of  Council  ll.  occurs  a  very  evident  depression 
of  seven  names  e?i  ?;iasse.  While  they  are  last  in  this  list  they  (all  save 
one,  not  again  mentioned)  occupy  very  high  places  in  the  other  lists. 

These  appear  without  omission  below  the  line  at  the  end  of  Table  II., 
and  are  nos.  34  to  41  in  the  list  of  Council  li. 

Now  35  Polycarpus  was  bishop  of  Hadrumetum.  He  and  his  clergy 
had  already  addressed  Cornelius  as  duly  elected  Pope  of  Rome,  before 
the  Council  met  which  was  to  decide  for  or  against  his  recognition.  When 
the  Council  had  determined  to  await  the  arrival  of  more  authentic  in- 
formation as  to  the  character  of  the  election,  Cyprian  the  Metropolitan 
and  Liberalis  the  senior  bishop  visited   Hadrumetum  together  during 


^  In  this  list  it  will  be  found  that  of  Carthage,  from  places  within  the 
there  is  twice  as  large  a  proportion  of  45  miles  radius  (v.  Appendix  on  Cities, 
attendances  from  the  immediate  vicinity       p.  578). 


LISTS  OF   BISHOPS.  571 

the  pause  (pp.  132,  133).  The  result  of  that  visit  was  (and  Cornelius 
complained  of  it  accordingly)  that  the  clergy  of  Hadrumetum  in  ad- 
dressing a  second  ecclesiastical  letter  to  Rome,  directed  it  this  time  not 
to  Cornelius  but  to  the  presbyter  and  deacons  of  the  city. 

What  was  the  object  of  this  visit  of  Cyprian  and  Liberalis  if  it  was  not 
to  induce  the  bishop  and  clergy  of  a  city  which  had  been  precipitate  in  its 
recognition  to  suspend  their  judgment?  And  would  the  visit  have  been 
necessary  if  Polycarp  had  been  with  them  at  Carthage .'' 

The  presumption  is  not  weak  that  Polycarp  was  absent  from  the  first 
and  present  at  the  later  sittings,  and  when  we  consider  the  names  and 
numbers  which  follow,  especially  such  an  instance  as  that  of  Monnulus, 
we  must  assume  (it  would  appear)  some  formal  cause  for  the  anomalous 
depression  of  these  members  below  their  usual  place  ;  and  deferred 
attendance  seems  to  be  at  least  one  rational  way  of  accounting  for  the 
fact. 

(8)  In  the  long  hst  of  the  86  bishops  of  Council  vii.  there  are  two 
lines  of  disturbance  clearly  not  accidental,  yet  without  more  knowledge 
inexplicable. 

a.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  bishops  numbered  40,  48,  51,  52,  60,  64, 
67,  62?  65?  are  all  placed  in  this  list  much  lower  than  in  the  others,  but 
that  their  seniority  amotig  themselves  is  very  slightly  deranged. 

b.  In  same  Hst  24,  27,  21,  25,  30,  36,  are  all  much  higher  than  in  other 
lists,  but  again  their  seniority  among  themselves  is  respected. 

Notes,  (i)  The  bishop  vil.  71,  Pudentianus,  speaks  of  his  own 
juniority. 

(2)  It  appears  that  Junius  vii.  86  unless  he  came  late  can  scarcely 
be  the  same  as  v.  3  Junius. 

(3)  In  treating  vil.  52  as  Numidian  Tucca,  and  vtl.  ^-j  as  Proconsular 
Tucca,  Morcelli  has  transposed  them.  For  vii.  ']•]  Honoratus  is  the 
Numidian  by  Epp.  62,  70,  and  answers  to  49  in  Council  v. 

VII.  52  Saturninus  of  Tucca  (Terebinthina)  is  the  proconsular  bishop, 
and  comes  in  his  proper  place  according  to  the  other  lists. 

(4)  I  have  forborne  to  collate  some  of  the  name  of  Felix,  or  to 
identify  VIl.  58  Faustus  with  IV.  25. 

(5)  On  VII.  27  see  note  on  Quietus  of  Buruc,  p.  363.  If  that 
view  is  right  then  vii.  27  will  not  be  identified  with  iv.  21  Quietus,  but 
would  as  Qidntus  take  the  place  now  given  to  vii.  65  Quintus.  This 
would  be  more  in  order,  which  would  again  still  further  confirm  the  view 
taken  in  that  note. 


572 


APPENDIX   H. 


Lists  of  Numidian  Bishops. 

Taking  out  the  Numidian  bishops  by  themselves  for  a  similar  com- 
parison we  have  a  similar  result.  There  are  about  25  (some  uncertain)  in 
the  longest  list,  that  of  Council  vil. ;  there  are  18  in  the  superscription  of 
their  Epistle  70,  and  8  in  that  of  their  Epistle  62.  All  of  these  earliest 
eight  recur  in  one  of  the  other  two,  and  all  in  the  same  order  (with  others 
intervening),  except  that  in  the  first  two  Usts  Proculus  and  one  Victor 
change  places,  and  that  Nemesian  is  low  in  both  of  these  and  highest  but 
one  in  the  third.  He  is  also  the  first  named  in  the  two  letters  76,  ^^  to 
and  from  the  Numidian  Confessor-Bishops.  These  two  however  are  not 
formal  documents  as  the  others  are,  and  their  agreement  is  more  general. 

Inspection  of  the  following  Numidian  names  found  in  more  than  one 
list  will  detect  the  facts. 

TABLE  III. 

Order  of  Numidian  Bishops  in  the  Headings  of  Epp.  62  and  70, 
AND  in  the  Seventh  Council,  and  in  the  Headings  of  Epp.  76,  77. 


Epistle  62 

Epistle  70 

VIP"  Council 

Epistles 
70,      77 

(8  Bishops) 

(: 

[8  Bishops) 

(?  25  Bishops) 

5 

Nemesianus 

I          I 

I     Januarius 

I 

Januarius 

6 

Januarius 

7 

Lucius 

3 

12 

Felix 

2          3 

13 

Polianus 

6 

15 

Dativus 

9         - 

2     Maximus 

3 

Maximus 

4    Victor 

4 
5 

Victor 
Victor 

6 

Cassius 

22 

Cassius 

3     Proculus 

7 

Proculus 

5     Modianus 

8 

Modianus 

33 

Felix  ?  III. 

4         3 

6     Nemesianus 

14 

Nemesianus 

7     Nampulus 

15 

Nampulus 

8     Honoratus 

18 

Honoratus 

77 

Honoratus 

78 

Victor  III. 

7          4 

82 

Litteus 

5 

To  conclude.  In  documents  of  which  the  coincidences  are  so  subtle 
yet  so  substantial  as  in  these  Council-Lists,  the  difficulties  so  insoluble 
and  yet  so  evidently  capable  of  being  unlocked  in  whole  groups  by  a 
little  more  knowledge,  we  are  sure  that  we  have  genuine  documents, 
belonging  to  the  times  and  scenes  which  they  lay  claim  to.  They  are 
evidently  documents,  so  to  speak,  which  made  themselves  and  took  no 
pains  to  clear  themselves. 


APPENDICES    I,   K. 


The  Cities. 


574 


APPENDIX    I. 


INDEX   TO   CITIES. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

Abbamaccora  ?  .        .         .         .       608 

(Meninx) 598 

Abbir  Germaniciana 

603,  608 

Midili 

.         608 

Aggya 

609 

Mileou 

•         584 

Ammedera 

595 

Misgirpa    . 

.        608 

Assuras 

602 

Musula 

•      595 

Ausafa 

604 

Neapolis     . 

•       579 

Ausuaga    . 

.       608 

Nova 

607 

Avitinae 

81  ;    609 

Obba 

•       595 

Bagai 

•             591 

Octavu 

609 

Bamacora  . 

608 

Oea   . 

•       596 

Biltha 

.             608 

Rucuma     . 

.       608 

Bulla  Regia 

•              581 

Rusicade    . 

•       584 

Buruc 

607 

Sabrata 

•      597 

a  Buslacenis 

609 

Segermes  . 

•      579 

Capsa 

•      599 

Sicca  Veneria     . 

.      582 

Carpos 

•      579 

Sicilibba     . 

.      581 

a  Castra  Galbae 

609 

Sufes 

601 

Cedias 

•      590 

Sufetula 

601 

Chullabi     . 

584 

Thabraca   . 

.      581 

Cibaliana  . 

609 

(Thagaste) 

582 

Cirta 

583 

a  Thambis 

609 

Cuicul 

584 

Thamugadi 

589 

Dionysiana 

608 

Tharassa    . 

608 

Fumi 

580 

Thasualthe 

60S 

Gazaufala  . 

585 

Thelepte    . 

600 

Gemellse    . 

5 

92,  599 

Thense 

603 

Germaniciana     . 

603 

Theveste    . 

5 

88,  593 

Girba 

598 

(Theveste  Road) 

594 

Giru  Marcelli  ?  . 

608 

Thibaris     . 

583 

Gor    . 

580 

Thimida  Regia  . 

580 

a  Gurgitibus 

609 

Thinisa 

579 

Hadrumetum 

606 

Thubunae  . 

592 

Hippo  Diarrhytus 

578 

Thuburbo  Majus 

579 

Hippo  Regius     . 

=;82 

Thuccaboris 

580 

Horrea  Coelia     . 

606 

(Tripolis)    . 

597 

Lamasba    . 

591 

Tucca  (Num.  &  Maui 

•)       • 

585 

Lambaesis 

586 

Tucca  Terebinthina   . 

602 

Laribus 

594 

Ululce 

608 

Leptiminus 

605 

Uthina 

580 

Leptis  Magna     . 

596 

Utica 

578 

Luperciana 

609 

(Uzappa)    . 

604 

Macomades 

585 

Vada 

608 

Mactharis  . 

604 

Vaga 

58r 

Marazana  . 

604 

Victoriana 

600 

Marcelliana  ? 

608 

Vicus  Csesaris     . 

581,  608 

Mascula     . 

591 

Zama  Regia 

605 

Membresa 

581 

575 


APPENDIX    K. 


Note  on  the  Cities  frotn  which  tJie  Bishops  came  to  the 
Seventh  Council  of  Cyprian  and  Third  on  Baptism  on 
the  first  of  September,  A.D,  256*  (pp.  366  sqq.). 

A  short  sketch  has  been  given  in  the  text  of  the  interests  which 
invested  most  of  these  cities  under  the  Empire.     But  the  cities  and  their 

^  Principal  Authorities  : 

Inscriptiones  Africce  Latins,  Gust.  Wilmanns  {Corp.  Inscriptt.  Latt.,  vol.  vili. 
i.,  ii.),  fo.,  Berl.,  1881  and  Supplementum  (Afr.  Proc),  R.  Cagnat  et  Johan. 
Schmidt,  fo.,  Berl.,  1891. 

Inscriptions  Romaines  d''Alg^rie,  L.  Renier,  Paris,  i8-i8  ff. 

Societe  Archeologique  de  la  Province  de  Constantine.     Annuaire  1853  fF. 

Revite  Africaine,  Alger,  Paris,  Constantine,  1856  ff. 

Fouilles  a  Carthage,  M.  Beule,  4to.,  Paris,  1861. 

Explorations  Apigraphicjues  et  Archeologiqiies  en  Tutiisie,  M.  R.  Cagnat, 
3  fascicules,  Paris,  1883 — 1886. 

Geographie  compa7-ee  de  la  ProTjince  Romaine  d^A/riqtie,  C.  Tissot  (Exploration 
Scientijique  de  la  Ttmisie),  Paris,  1884 — 1888.     1  vols.  4to.  and  Atlas. 

Remains  of  the  Roman  occupation  of  N.  Africa  with  special  reference  to 
Algeria,  Al.  Graham  [Transactions  of  R.  Inst,  of  British  Architects,  vol.  i.  N.  S., 
Lond.,  1885). 

Travels  ifi  the  Footsteps  of  Bruce,  Col.  Sir  R.  L.  Playfair,  4to.,  Lond.,  1887. 

Various  Monographs  on  Discoveries  at  Carthage,  by  le  R.  P.  Delattre,  8vo., 
Lille  (Desclee),  1888— 1890. 

Trhor  de  Chronologic,  d^Histoire  et  de  Geographie,  C*^  de  Mas  Latrie,  fo., 
Paris,  1889. 

Untersuchungen  iiber  die  aussere  Entwicklung  der  Afrikanischen  Kirche,  Dr 
A.  Schwarze,  Gdttingen,  1892. 

Excursions  in  the  Mediterranean,  Algeria  and  Tunis,  Sir  Grenville  T.  Temple, 
Lond.,  1835. 

Four  Months  in  Algeria,  1.  W.  Blakesley,  Svc,  Cambridge,  1859. 


576  APPENDIX  K. 

occupation  of  the  country  are  indeed  so  remarkable  that  I  have  cast  into 
the  form  of  a  long  Note  fuller  particulars.  This  Note  cannot  pretend  to 
originality,  although  I  felt  it  a  duty  and  found  it  an  intense  enjoyment  to 
visit  some  of  these  remarkable  sites.  I  have  to  rely  on  published  investi- 
gations and,  where  possible,  I  have  verified  the  authorities,  although 
mistakes  are,  I  fear,  inevitable  in  summarizing  so  large  a  number  of 
statements. 

Some  explorations  have  been  so  assiduous  and  their  records  so 
monumental  that  increasing  research  will  rather  increase  than  lessen 
their  value^.  The  gratitude  of  learning  will  never  be  withdrawn  from 
Charles  Tissot  or  Gustavus  Wilmanns. 

To  recapitulate  a  few  necessary  points. 

The  Council  of  Carthage  of  the  year  256  (September  i)  is  described  in 
contemporaneous  minutes  as  '  The  meeting  of  very  many  Bishops  of  the 
province  of  Africa,  Numidia,  Mauritania.'  It  must  not  be  understood  as 
if  the  87  were  an  approximately  even  representation  of  the  sees  of  the 
continent^.     At  the  most  two  Mauritanian  Bishops,  and  one  whose  see 

Great  Sahara,  H.  B.  Tristram,  8vo.,  London,  i86o. 

Carthage  and  her  Remains,  Dr  N.  Davis,  8vo.,  London,  1861. 

Ruined  Cities  within  Numidian  and  Carthaginian  Territory,  N.  Davis,  8vo., 
London,  1862. 

Travels  in  Tunisia,  A.  Graham  and  H.  S.  Ashbee,  imp.  8vo.,  London,  1887. 

Maps:  Carthage,  Caillat,  1877.  Perthes  (Afrika),  West  Sahara  (i).  Central 
Sahara  (2).  Spruner-Menke,  Atlas  antiq.  no.  xxxi.  Afrique  Reg.  Sep- 
tentrionale  (Service  geographique  de  I'Armee — R.  de  Lannoy  de  Bissy),  i,  2,  6. 
Carte  de  Reconnaissance  (Serv.  geogr.  de  I'Armee)  Tunisie  iii.  Environs  de 
la  Tunisie  et  de  Carthage,  Paris,  Depot  de  la  Guerre.  Algerie  et  Tunisie, 
Pelet,  1 89 1.  Above  all,  the  grand  Atlas  archeologique  de  la  Tunisie  (Ministere 
de  rinstruction  Publique),  Paris,  3  livraisons,  1893-5. 

A.D. 
^    Note  that   the    margin   gives   the       349.     Synodus  Carthagin.  sub  Grate, 
antient  names  of  the  towns  from  the       393.     Synodus  Maximianistarum  [Con- 
Corpus  Inscriptionum  Latinarum  ;  and  cilium  apud  Cabursussi]. 

the  modern  names  of  the  towns  gene-       397.     Synodus  Carthaginensis. 
rally  as  in  Tissot ;  the  figures  are  the       4 1 1 
dates   at  which  their  Bishops  appear, 
mostly  in  Councils.  The  date  of  Cyprian's       419 
Council,  256  A.  D.,  is  not  entered  because       484 
the  Bishops  of  all  the  towns  treated  of 
were  there.     Nearly  all  the  other  dates       525 
belong  to  the  following  Councils :  641 

A.D.  646 


Collatio  Carthagine  habita  inter 
Catholicos  et  Donatistas. 

Synodus  Carthaginensis. 

Collatio  Carthagine  habita  inter 
Catholicos  et  Arianos. 

Concilium  Carthaginense. 

Concilium  Byzacenum. 

IV.  Concilia  Africana. 


256.     Synodus  Carthaginensis  sub  Cy-  *  Poole,  Life  and  Times  of  Cyprian, 

priano  VII.  de  Baptismo  III.  p-   366,   'the  far  greater  part   of  the 

305.     Synodus  Cirtse  Celebrata.  Bishops  of  Africa,  Numidia  and  Mauri- 

314.     Synodus  Arelatensis  I.  tania.' 


THE  CITIES.  577 

was  half  in  Numidia,  appear  for  this  vast  Province.  There  were  twice 
as  many  from  the  Proconsular  Province  as  from  the  larger  Numidia,  and 
of  the  55  who  represented  the  Province  12  came  from  within  five  and 
forty  miles  of  Carthage. 

The  bare  roll  of  the  eighty-seven  names  would  be  a  wonderful  witness 
to  the  commanding  influence  of  Cyprian,  but  to  review  their  cities  is  to 
realize  the  material  which  was  being  shaped  into  Christendom, 

If  we  could  revive  but  a  faint  picture  of  those  cities,  their  number, 
their  beauty,  their  wealth,  resources  and  administration,  we  should  stand 
amazed  at  the  power  and  the  policy,  the  magnificence  and  the  elaboration 
with  which  Rome  organized  so  resourceful  a  continent  so  wickedly  won. 

But  a  separate  interest  still  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Christians  had  so 
immediately  and  so  vigorously  laid  hold  on  the  centres  of  hfe  and  activity, 
and  faced  on  new  principles  the  problems  which  defied  that  Roman 
genius  of  rule  and  grew  more  intricate  both  in  spite  of  and  in  consequence 
of  its  efforts. 

Buildings  may  be  mentioned  in  this  Note  which  belong  to  a 
later  century  than  Cyprian's,  but  already  in  his  time  many  of  the  cities 
were  full  grown  and  magnificent,  and  it  is  strange  to  remember  how 
actively  heathen  growth  was  going  on  side  by  side  with  Christian  growth. 

In  most  of  these  towns  which  lay  so  thick  in  that  resourceful  region 
there  was  a  bishop,  a  stipendiary^  staff  of  presbyters,  organized  on  a 
collegiate  or  quasi-canonical  plan  of  life  and  work,  and  a  set  of  deacons 
administering  the  more  secular  affairs  and  providing  for  the  monetary 
needs  of  the  Church.  Many  of  these  places  have  ruins  of  more  than  one 
Christian  basilica,  which  no  doubt  succeeded  to  private  halls,  secular 
rooms,  and  'fabricae'  like  Fabian's,  which  were  used  in  Cyprian's  time. 

The  bishop  was  everywhere  elected  by  and  represented  an  enlightened 
and  steadily  increasing  portion  of  the  community.  What  his  powers 
were,  sole  or  joint,  we  have  seen.  He  had  been  brought  up  like  every 
educated  Roman  within  constant  sight  of  the  administration  of  firm 
justice,  of  revenue,  of  military  force,  within  sound,  and  possibly  in  the 
practice,  of  eloquence  and  argumentation,  amid  the  publicity  of  the  wildest 
pleasures,  and  with  his  precise  place  assigned  him  in  the  body  politic, 
under  the  name  but  without  the  least  substance  of  liberty.  The  only 
liberty  known  was  that  which  was  being  re-formed  under  the  new  consti- 
tution which  he  himself  represented. 

The  Episcopus  Christianorum  was  called  sacerdos.  There  were  many 
sacerdotes  in  every  town  :  flamens,  pontiffs,  ministers  of  the  beautiful 
temples,  and  countless  altars.  The  higher  of  these  were  great  civilians 
and  generals  who  officiated  from  time  to  time  for  an  hour  of  their  secular 
day.  Some  were  hereditary  keepers  of  the  gods'  homes  and  of  the  gods 
themselves ;  some  were  nominated  and  lived  partly  by  endowments,  partly 

^  Epp.  I.  1 ;  34.  4;  39.  5;  see  note  3  on  p.  305  sup. 

B.  37 


578  APPENDIX  K. 

on  oflferings.  But  the  new  sacerdotes  had  begun  to  live  among  them,  each 
at  once  the  elect  of  men  and  the  successor  to  powers  which  'loved  not  the 
world,  neither  the  things  which  were  in  the  world.'  He  was  the  ambassador 
of  One  God  who  had  had  and  was  having  real  dealings  with  men,  touching 
things  inexpressible  by  the  voices  of  heathen  prayer ;  things  which  had 
nothing  to  do  with  prosperity,  or  material,  or  disease,  which  triplet  was 
the  hope  or  fear  of  the  heathen. 

It  was  some  such  person,  who  with  his  personal  equation  as  various  as 
tides  of  life  could  make  it,  came  glowing  with  the  faith  of  Christ  from 
each  of  eighty-six  cities  to  the  central  chair  of  the  Province. 

The  list  runs  off  merely,  as  it  would  seem,  according  to  the  seniority  of 
the  prelates,  with  perhaps  a  queue  of  late  comers.  But  with  a  little  effort 
we  can  cast  those  cities  into  groups,  we  can  even  now  attach  somewhat  of 
a  living  idea  to  their  names.  We  shall  thus  appreciate  the  significance 
of  the  list  and  the  force  of  the  thoughts  which  rise  out  of  it. 

I  will  group  them  as  follows,  merely  for  convenience  and  easy  recogni- 
tion on  the  map,  as  they  lay  in  the  eye  of  neighbours  or  travellers. 
I.     The  circle  of  cities  about  Carthage. 
The  circle  of  Cirta. 
The  circle  of  Mount  Aures. 
The  Theveste  Road. 

Three  Routes  to  Carthage  from  the  cities  on  the  Syrtes  and 
upwards. 

6.  Mauretania. 

7.  The  cities  unidentified. 

I.     The  Circle  of  Carthage. 

First;  from  the  group  of  sees  close  round  the  Metropolis,  within  a 

radius  of  45  miles,  twelve  bishops  came  to  the  Council. 

Municipium         Utica,  with  memories  of  primaeval  rivalry  with  Carthage,  still  ranked  as 

ka''"coiYnia  ^^^  second  city  of  Africa,  but  was  now  fast  ceding  that  place  to  Hadrumetum, 

Julia  iEiia    f^^  the  Bagradas  was  silting  up  its  grand  military  and  merchant  harbours, 

Hadriana  °  ,       ,  r  • 

Augusta  and  banking  the  sea  out  further  every  year  from  immense  structures 
^B'ou^Chater.  reared  for  the  health,  pleasure,  and  defence  of  its  many  generations.  In 
Bishops  in     jj    miles  of  fragments  we  trace  Phoenician  works  almost  as  extensive  and 

A.D.  303  ;  at  o 

Aries  314,  more  solid  than  the  finest  Roman.  From  Cape  Carthage  Utica  lies  full 
484',  525',  ssI;  in  view  across  the  curve  of  the  bay,  pale  against  the  hills  which  hide 

"•  '    *■        Bizerte  on  the  northern  trend  of  the  coast. 

Colonia Julia  Bizerte,  even  in  its  strangely  altered  name,  is  HiPPO  DiARRHYTUS. 
Sy^tus.^'^  It  occupied  picturesquely  both  banks  and  the  mid-island  of  the  tidal 
'inirmi>Sidp-  ^dit  of  its  north  lake  with  its  garden  shores.     The  fame  of  neither  city 

lippone       seemed   ever   clear  from   the   unpatriotic   memory  of  havmg  deserted 
B^^ri, '"'    Carthage  in  its  extremity,  and  Hippo  was  now  a  poor-spirited,  self-con- 

Bp^'ll^^'i—     tained  provincial  town^,  living  by  its  marvellous  fisheries, 
sasi  646.  *  *'  ^  See  the  pretty  sarcastic  story  of  Pliny,  Ep.  ix.  33. 


Ant. 


THE  CITIES.  579 

From   Thinisa,    which  lay  on  the  coast  between  the   two,   came  eiVio-ao,  Ptol 
the  Bishop  Venantius  ;  from  Hippo  Petrus,  and  from  Utica  Aurelius^        Tun"ei^'i  ^'• 

Tuniza, '  )   ^" 

From  Carthage,  looking  due  east  across  the  glorious  gulf,  a  good  B^//^^-^^f^f' 
way  beyond  the  eastern  spur  of  the  Horns  of  Ben  Goumin,  Secundinus  Colonia 
would  discern  his  own  Carpos^,  with  its  fashionable  hot-springs — scene  Kipfficfpt'.*' 
later  on  of  Donatist  savagery.  Bps^ii 

Out  of  sight  on  the  far  side  of  the  same  eastern  promontory  lay  484. 52s.  646. 
Neapolis,  the  north  horn  of  the  gulf  then  called  after  it,  now  Gulf  of  Co'-  J"!'^ 

'  ...  Neapohs. 

Hammamet — an  African  Bay  of  Naples.     It  was  a  Carthagmian  factory,  jVeiei. 
the  nearest  African  harbour  to  Sicily^,  captured  by  Agathocles  and  by  484!'s25',646'. 
Piso,  and  an  early  '  Colonia.'    Edrisi  saw  great  ruins  of  it,  but  they  have 
all  passed  into  the  mean  carcase  of  the  Arab  town. 

Its  Bishop  Junius  was  the  last  who  spoke  in  the  Council.  He  speaks 
of  the  earlier  conciliar  decisions  as  'what  we  once  for  all  sanctioned*,'  and 
in  each  of  the  former  Council-lists  his  name  appears — and  as  a  senior. 
Some  element  of  either  distance  or  lateness  enters  into  the  list  of  a.d.  257, 
as  the  Tripolitan  Bishops  are  all  together  at  the  end. 

Southward  a  few  miles,  between  Mount  Zaghouan  and  the  sea,  was  Munidpium 
Segermes,  only  ruins  still  to  us,  not  identified  until  1884^     Nicomedes  Augustum 
was  one  of  the  seniors.  //arlT^^' 

The  tiny  Oued  Meliana,  with  its  deep  torrent  channel,  drains  into  the  Bps-4ii,484, 
Lake  of  Tunis  a  fertile  waste  once  thick  with  cities.     In  its  upper  dale  it 
skirts  on  the  south-east  the  site  of  Great  Thuburbo^  one  of  Pliny's  Aur^Jiia  "'^ 
'eight  Colonies,'  founded  by  Julius,  improved  by  Commodus.     One  ofihui^?bo 

Majus. 
^  Sentt.  Epp.  49,  72,  4 1.  ^  Quod  semel  censuimus,  Sentt.  Epp.  gpj  g,^ 

2  Sentt.  Epp.  24.     On  form  of  name       86.  (AHes), 

4H|  484- 

see  p.  421,  n.  2.  ^  Sentt.  Epp.  9 — C.   I.  L.   viii.    i. 

'  Thucydides  vii.  50.    He  calls  Nea-  n.   910,    and  Suppl.   i.,    p.    1164,  mi. 

polis  a  'Ka.pxr\hoviaK6v  ifiirdpt-ov;  that  is,  11170  and  11172.     Cf.  Bullet,  archeol. 

not  one  of  the  Emporia  proper  which  du  Cotfi.  des  Trav.  Hist.  1885,  p.  162, 

were  the  towns  on  the  little  Syrtis  from  1886,  p.  71. 

Thenas,  though  those  between  the  two  ®  Sentt.  Epp.  18.    No  reason  to  doubt 

Syrtes    are    sometimes    understood   in  that  the  see  is  Thuburbo  majus.      Now 

the  word.     Morcelli  thought  Neapolis  and  in  314  at  Aries  there  is  no  appear- 

of    Tripoli   was  here   meant,    since   it  ance  of  two  synonymous  cities.     But  in 

follows  the  other  Tripolitan  sees  and  411,  bishops   from   'Thuburbo  majus' 

Leptis  Magna.     Tissot  holds  this  Nea-  and    '  minus '   attend   the   Collation   of 

polis  to  be  only  a  new  quarter  of  Leptis  Carthage. 

Magna.     Still  the  order  is  remarkable ;  Tuburbis,    Flin.     Qovfiovp^w,    Ptol. 

although  geographical  arrangement  does  Tuburbo  Majus,  Peut.     Tuburb,  Thu- 

not   appear   (except   as   above)   in   the  bur,  Inscrr.     But  the  great  inscription, 

list,  and  the  non-representation  of  the  by   finding  which   in    1857    M.  Tissot 

greater  Neapolis  might  seem  unlikely  first  identified  the  place,  has  Thuburbo, 

too.  like  the  text  of  Cyprian. 

37—2 


58o 


APPENDIX  K. 


Civitas,  s. 
Respublica 
Gontana. 
DrAael 
Gamra. 
•Respublica 
Thimiden- 
sium  Regio- 
rum.' 

Sidi  Ali-es- 
Sedfini. 
Bps.  484, 
525>  646. 
Uthina 
'Colonia,'  PI. 
Oufln/o,  Pt. 
Oudena. 
Bps.  314 
(Aries),  411, 
525- 


Tuccabor. 
Toukkdbeiir. 
Bps.  41 1, 646. 


Furni. 

El- 

Mssaddin. 
Bps.  a 
Donat.  411, 
525- 


the  noble  Roman  Cities  of  Peace,  now  'lying  among  the  pots' — fragments 
of  three  temples,  great  Phoenician  stones  in  the  fort-walls,  and  four  more 
'grand  edifices.'     Under  Genseric  and  Huneric  its  martyrs  were  many. 

Sedatus,  its  bishop,  thought  that  *  as  water  was  hallowed  by  the 
'bishop's  prayer  in  the  church,  so  it  was  tainted  into  a  cancer  by  the 
*  speech  of  heresy.' 

Over  the  Meliana  opposite  was  GOR^ — pure  Punic  for  'Hospice' — its 
lands  bestridden  by  the  great  aqueduct  of  Carthage. 

In  its  lower  valley  was  the  '  most  splendid  commonwealth '  of 
Thimida  Royal — that  is,  an  ancient  seat  of  Numidian  kings,  and 
higher  up  the  mountain  slopes  is  another  of  the  earlier  Colonies, 
Uthina. 

It  is  difficult  to  speak  of  the  majesty  of  its  ruins,  never  rebuilt 
by  Byzantine  general  nor  quarried  by  Arab.  They  are  all  of  the  best 
time  of  Roman  art.  This  apparent  indication  of  its  abandonment  after 
the  Vandal  sack  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  in  A.D.  525  it  had  no 
bishop  of  its  own 2.  In  Tertullian's  time  the  character  of  its  bishop  had 
been  a  weapon  of  his  against  Catholics.  When  Felix  came  to  Cyprian, 
its  square  miles  of  undulating  plateau  covered  with  buildings,  as  now 
with  relics,  required  those  enormous  sets  of  cisterns,  that  massy  and 
complicated  citadel  for  its  defence,  and  that  perfectly  appointed  amphi- 
theatre for  its  ferocious  pleasure.  It  presented  one  and  all  of  those  social 
problems  which  Cyprian  saw  spread  out  before  Christianity. 

The  Lower  Bagradas  Valley,  of  untold  agricultural  wealth,  spreads  to 
the  north  past  Carthage.  The  river  is  alternately  a  brooklet  and  a  wide 
sudden  stream,  laden  with  alluvium.  On  a  buttress  of  hills  overlooking  its 
plain  from  the  north,  hung  Thuccaboris,  40  miles  in  a  direct  line  west  of 
Carthage.  It  still  is  inhabited  meanly  in  its  old  insulas  on  their  own 
foundations,  below  the  great  rock  cisterns  which  it  bears  in  its  name^, 
within  fortifications  of  enormous  blocks ;  for  it  had  its  Roman  and  its 
Punic  quarters,  and  the  native  cultus  of  Caelestis  and  of  Baal  as  Her- 
cules Conservator,  was  served  with  Imperial  temples.  The  bishop's 
name  was  Fortunatus. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  valley,  eight  and  twenty  miles  from  Carthage, 
lying  on  the  chord  of  a  long  sweep  in  Hadrian's  road  to  Theveste,  and 
giving  its  name  to  the  gate  by  which  that  road  started  from  Carthage, 
stood  FuRNi*.     This  was  the  place  in  which  Cyprian  applied  his  first  act 


1  Gorduba,  Hartel;  two  of  the  best 
Mss.  and  Aug.  have  Gor.  Two  inscrip- 
tions identify  with  Henchir  Draa  el 
Gamra,  and  mention  its  annual  magis- 
trates, perpetual  flamen,  ordo  and  de- 
curiones. 

2  Felicissimus  episcopus  plebis  Sede- 


lensis  qui  at  Utinensis.  Syn.  Carth. 
Bonifacii  Episcopi,  a.d.  525.  Labbe, 
V.  771. 

*  'Bor'   seems    to    he    identical    in 
Hebrew  and  Punic.     Tissot,  II.  292  n. 

*  I  adopt  as  probable  Tissot's  identi- 
fication of  the  see  with  the  Furni  which 


THE  CITIES.  581 

of  clergy  discipline  in  the  Geminian  family.    One  of  that  same  family  was 
now  its  bishop. 

In  this  same  Lower  Medjerda  Valley,  threaded  by  the  great  Road,  ?''^'l'''''*'c-/ 
were  Sicilibba\  in  whose  extended  ruins  are  rehcs  of  good  architecture  ;  Aiouenim. 
and  Membresa,  of  Punic  origin,  a  difficult  unfortified  hill-town^,  over-  J^%  *" 
hanging  an  elbow  of  the  river, — the  key  both  to  its  upper  valley  and  to  aOcfnat*"' 
the   rich   agricultural  vale  of  Vaga.     Here  it  was  that,  aided   by  the  419.  ^84- 
invincible  north-west  gale  of  the  region,  Belisarius  dispersed  the  rebel  ^^^nt"^' 
forces  of  Stotzas.    Near  Membresa  was  the  yet  unfound  Avitin^^.    The  Medjez-ei- 
three  bishops  were  Sattius,  Lucius,  Saturninus.  Bps.aDo- 

At  Vaga,  seated  on  the  high  western  end  of  the  tract  which  it  com-  °f||484,'525; 
mands,  there  were  no  doubt  traces  of  the  large  Italian  population  of  '^'♦s. 
which  Sallust  speaks,  connected  with  its  great  trade  in  other  commodities  gl^^jj^*  ^ 
besides  corn.    It  had  been  specially  made  over  to  Masinissa,  and  became  404?,  4". 
the  pnncipal  centre  of  Numidian  commerce.  ^  ,    .  „ 

Colonta  Sep- 

Through  the  Upper  Medjerda  Valley,  above  Membresa,  road  and  river  timia  Vaga. 
nin  together  until  near  the  Numidian  frontier,  passing  Vicus  Augusti,  Bps;'4'ii, 
which  some  would  identify  with  that  otherwise  unknown  ViCUS  C/ESARIS,  '*^*'  "^^s- 
which  sent  Januarius   to   the   Council.      It  lies  some  twenty-six   miles  ?vicus 
onward,   and  after  yet  another  twenty-nine   is   Bulla   Regia,   which  Bps.  a 
sent  Therapius.  f,°""-  393. 

'  King's  Bulla,'  with  its  massy   Punic  Byrsa  (lately  pulled  down   to  Bulla  Regia. 
metal  the  railway),  with  crag-defended  plateau  and  a  vast  water-storage*,  {?ifj'rl^'"pi 
with  marshes  below  prolific  of  eel  and  barbel,  with  hot  sulphur  baths,  Hammam 
sweet  fountains  reverently  enshrined,  theatre  and  amphitheatre,  covers  Bps.  390, 
many  acres  with  its  ruins.     It  was,  like   Samaria,   'The   Head  of  the  ^^'' 
Fat  Valley.' 

North  of  Bulla  the  mountains  rise  to  a  height  of  3,326  feet  at  Ain  Thabraca, 
Draham.     Thence  the  'smiling   hills  of  the  Tell'  fall   in   terrace  ^■'^^^T^aVka!" 
slope  to  the  sea  level.     And  due  north,  where  the  bewilderingly  fertile  ?i^/;  xabrac 
and  feverous  valley  of  Oued-el-Kebir,  the  antient  partition  of  Numidia  Monast 

,  .    ,        ,  ,  Vict.  Vit. 

and  the  Province,  enters  the   sea,  lies  Thabraca ^  on  mamland  and  Pers.  Vand. 

I.  32. 

he  here  discovered,  and  not  with  the  the  Membresitan  Bishop  Salvius  by  the 

Henchir  Ain  Fournou  130  miles  away,  people  of  Avitinae.     Augustin.  c.  Ep. 

near    Zama    Regia.        But    it    is    not  Parmen.  iii.  •ig,  with  c.  Crescon.  iv.  49 

demonstrated.  (t.  ix.  c  77,  and  note). 

^  Al.    Sicilibra,    Sicilbra,    Sicilippa,  *  Dr     Carton,    Bullet,    archiol.    du 

Sciliba  also  Itin.  Ant.     Cf.  Itin.  Anc.  Comite  des  Trav.  Hist,  i^gx,  p.  212, 

Fortia  d'  Urban  (r845),  p.  12.  describes  this  feature ;  not  only  its  public 

'  'El*   X'^/'^V  i/fv^V  ■'■f  f«i  SvaK6\<fi,  cisterns,  but,  p.  247,  'pas  d'habitation, 

Procop.   B.    V.  ii.   15,  ap.    Ti.ssot,   II.  si  modeste  fut  elle,  qui  ne  possedat  de 

327,  with  plan.  ces  reservoirs.'    On  its  Punic  necropolis 

*  Neighbourhood   is   implied  in  the  see  Id.  1892,  p.  69. 
horrid  story  of  the  religious  ill-usage  of  "  Sentt.  Epp.  25. 


582  APPENDIX   K. 

island.  The  mainland  is  still  dense  with  'glorious  forest-lands,'  the 
'shadowed  glades^'  of  Juvenal,  among  whose  immense  oaks  were  hunted 
lions  and  leopards  as  well  as  deer.  The  island  is  a  towering  fortified 
rock,  four  hundred  feet  high,  forming  and  sheltering  a  slight  roadstead. 
The  sea  is  rich  in  coral,  whose  fishers  have  carried  their  craft  and  their 
native  name  in  colonies  to  Sardinia  and  Spain  2. 

From  either  Hippo  and  from  Bulla  roads  converged  on   Thabraca, 

bringing  material  from  east,  west  and  south  for  embarkation  along  with  its 

own  rich  local  exports.   It  is  difficult  to  explore,  but  the  basilica  and  some 

mosaics  of  the  Christians  have  emerged  3.    Their  bishop  was  at  Cyprian's 

Council,  Victoricus. 

Hippo  Fifty-one  miles  west  along  the  coast-road  is  another  Royal  Numidian 

Coiodia,       town,  Hippo  Regius*,  on  high  ground  between  the  marshy  mouths  of  the 

An^ia;       Seyboux  and  a  lesser  stream.   The  Seyboux  draws  waters  from  Augustine's 

BOna.^  home,  Thagaste,  on  the  high  Medjerda  valley,  and  delivers  them  at  this 

?35o,  bef.'      home  of  his  labour  and  his  rest     Of  the  six  or  seven  known  basilicas 

Don.  ?396,     ^"^  churches  of  his  time  no  trace  yet  appears.     Relics  of  the  cisterns, 

Augiistme  ^'  ^queduct,  quay  and  bridge  remain  of  what  up  to  the  sixth  century,  long 

(395— 43°)-     after  its  fall,  was  a  strong  city  still.     Five  important  roads  converged 

here,  for,  though  an  insecure  harbour  until  the  French  dominion,  it  was 

one   of  the  best  along  the   iron-bound   seaboard.     King's  Hippo   then 

was  an  active  place.     Its  bishop  now  was  Theogenes,  one  of  the  Seniors, 

a  martyr  in  whose  Memoria  at  Hippo  Augustine  sometimes  celebrated". 

Colonia  Julia        Above  the  valley  of  the  Mellag,  a  great  branch  of  the  Upper  Medjerda 

cfr'ta'Nova    System,  towers  the  strongest,  most  commanding  place  in  Tunisia,  El  Kef, 

Sicca-.  'The   Rock.'     This   is   Sicca  Veneria'',  known  also   by   either  name 

Colonia  Julia  '  -' 

Cirta  Nova,  severally.  It  is  on  the  road  to  Cirta  from  Carthage,  more  than  21  miles 
Bps.  349,411,  beyond  Thacia,  where  it  forks  off  from  the  Theveste  road.  A  Royal  City  of 
4i8,483?,646.  Masinissa,  and  first  to  join  the  Romans  after  the  Battle  of  Muthul,  thence 
honoured  as  a  'Julian'  Colony.  Seat  of  infamous,  originally  Punic,  rites. 
A  fine  inscription  honours  the  Restorer  of  a  Venus  stolen  by  thieves 
'interrupta  templi  munitione.'  Arnobius  born  here,  who  is  very  strong  on 
the  Heathen  vice  which  such  a  place  fostered.  Another  inscription 
describes  a  charitable  foundation  for  300  boys  and  300  girls.  Its  bishop 
was  Castus  and  his  text  the  duty  of  preferring  truth  to  custom. 

And  in  another  southern  side-valley  of  the  Upper  Medjerda,  the  Oued 

^  Quales  umbriferos  ubi  pandit  Tha-  regibus,  Sil.  Ital.  iii.  259.     The  changes 

braca  saltus.     Juv.  Sa/.  x.  194.  of  its  name  are  curious,  Ubbo,  Phcen.  ? 

2  Tabarcini  in  Sardinia  and  also  near  'marsh' — 'Iwirdtvi),    Bona,    Bone.      Its 

Alicanti.  Arab  name  Annaba  is  from  its  jujube 

^  Toutain,   Bull.    Trav.  Hist.  i89'2,  trees. 
p.   195,  speaks  of  a  'necropole  Chre-  '  Serm.  ad  Populum,  273,  7. 

tienne.'  *  Sentt.  Epp.  28;  Tissot,  11.  375;  C. 

^  Sentt.  Epp.  14.     Antiquis  dilectus  /.  L.  viii.  i.  nn.  1632,  1648. 


THE   CITIES.  583 

Tibar^,  is  Thibaris,  to  whose  'plebs  consistens'  Cyprian  wrote  his  58th  Resp. 
epistle,  to   nerve  them  for  the  expected  persecution   of  Gallus.     The  A»i<^e'i. 
basilica  of  their  descendants  is  traceable.     The  bishop  of  Thibaris  was  ^p-  *"• 
Vincentius. 

2.     T/ie  Circle  of  Cirta. 

We  pass  to  the  heart  of  Numidia.     The  Circle  of  Cirta,  as  we  may  Colonia Julia 
call  it,  was  a  unique  group  of  towns.     Each  sent  its  Christian  bishop  to  Honoris  et 
the  Council.     *  Lordly  Cirta,'  the  tragic  capital  of  the  Numidian  kings,  Qna."* 
has  well  been  thought  *  the  noblest  site  in  the  whole  world.'    A  gigantic  Constantino. 

Bps.  303,  305, 

foursquare  pedestal  of  rock,  a  cubic  mountain  (like  that  of  the  Apocalypse)  330,  bef.  400, 
touches  the  surrounding  country  at  one  point,   islanded   otherwise   by  416,484/"' 
streams.     Its  precipices  grow  to  a  thousand  feet  in  height  as  the  plateau 
of  the  city  tilts  slowly  up,  while  the  ravine  bed  of  the  Rummel,  spanned 
here  and  there  by  giant  arches  of  rock,  slopes  to  its  beautiful  cascades. 

Antient  epithets  for  it  vied  with  one  another — '  the  most  fenced  city,' 
*the  most  opulent.'  Palaces  and  temples  rimmed  the  highest  edge 
where  the  hideous  barrack  is  now,  and  left  marvellous  remains  even  till 
the  French  came.  The  most  prosaic  of  races  is  still  clearing  away  every- 
thing that  is  picturesque.  Inscriptions  record  how  many  were  its  priests, 
pontiffs,  augurs  and  flamens. 

Very  antiently  it  had  some  close  bond  with  surrounding  pagi,  and  the 
Roman  wisdom  of  colonization  is  eminent  in  that  it  not  only  allowed  the 
exemption  of  so  proud  a  place  for  a  time  from  proconsular  jurisdiction 
and  even  from  that  of  the  quasstor,  but  gave  to  the  four  greater  pagi 
the  title  of  Colonies.  At  the  same  time  there  was  appointed  to  each  a 
praefect  of  its  own,  apparently  under  a  'prsefect  of  the  colonies 2.'  The 
union  certainly  existed  under  Trajan  ;  is  not  recorded  after  Alexander 
Severus^,  and  perhaps  at  the  time  of  the  Council  was  becoming  needless 

1  Sentt.Epp.^'j.  This  name  together  •*  M.  Tissot,  vol.  Ii.  p.  401,  says: 
withan  inscription  C./.Z.  VI II.  Supplt.  '  Une  inscription  de  Milev  prouve  que 
i.  p.  I486,  n.  15435,  fix  the  place  but  not  [la  confederation]  fut  dissoute,  probable- 
its  name,  GENIO  thibaris  augusto  ment  dans  le  cours  ou  vers  la  fin  du 
SACRUM  R  P  THIB.  Dd.  Tissot  calls  it  III®  siecle.'  I  understand  the  inscrip- 
Thibar.     It  is  within  Byzacena.  tion  to  shew  that  the  Confederation  was 

^  C.  I.  L.  I.  6944,  671 1,  7978.     See  still  active  at  the  date  of  the  inscription, 

Mommsen's  article    C.    I.   L.  Vlll.  i.  and  that  sometimes  as  a  mark  of  respect 

p.    618.      The    title    conferred    shews  the  towns  paid  the  fees  or  subscriptions 

that  they  were  not  reduced  to  the  rank  expected  from  members  of  the  magis- 

of  prizfectura ;  and  so,    I  think,    the  tracy  on  their  appointment, 

appointment  of  a  prcef edits  no  longer  Z>.  M.  Commodi . .  aedilis  aatguHs .  . 

conveyed  the  idea  of  chastisement  for  ill    viri    prxfeciura    jure    dicundo    in 

revolt  as  antiently  in  the  case  of  Capua,  colonia  Rusicad^wii  et  in  colonia  Chul- 

&c.,  yet  was  still  desirable  as  a  security.  litana  et  bis  in  colonia  Wlevitana  functi 


584 


APPENDIX  K. 


Colonia 
Samensis 
Milevitana. 
Bps.  bef.  375, 

?399. 
408—25, 

484.  553. 


Colonia 

Veneria 

Rusicade. 

Pkilippe- 

vilU. 

Bps.  305, 

411. 


Colonia 
Minervia 
ChuUu. 
Kollo. 
Bp.  411. 


as  a  matter  of  policy.  Yet  as  a  matter  of  sentiment  it  remained  still  and 
long  after  ^ 

The  '  Four  Cirtensian  Colonies '  were  Cirta,  Rusicade,  ChuUu  and 
Mileou,  and  with  them  was  sometimes  associated  'the  Fifth  Colony  of 
Cuicul^.' 

The  Mileou  of  to-day  was  Mileou  in  its  bishop's  signature  in  A.D. 
553.  It  can  almost  be  seen  from  Constantine,  18  miles  away,  with  the 
snowy  Djirdjura  for  a  background.  When  Caesar  recompensed  his 
strange  ally,  the  Catilinarian  P.  Sittius  Nucerinus,  by  the  grant  of  West 
Numidia  to  his  Italian  and  Spanish  volunteers,  the  exile  touchingly  dis- 
figured the  unchangeable  name  of  the  city  into  a  reminiscence  of  his  own 
native  stream,  the  Samus.  It  perhaps  never  was  a  very  large  place,  yet 
its  Church  life  was  memorable.  Two  Councils  were  held  here  in  402  to 
try  reconciliation  with  the  Donatists,  and  in  416  against  the  Pelagians. 
Here  S.  Optatus  ruled,  and  wrote  his  vigorous  and  accurate^  history.  Of 
one  Bishop  Honorius  there  was  a  dark  story.  Another  was  Severus,  in 
whom  was  the  *  large  and  holy  deep  of  heart.'  To  another  Optatus 
Augustine  wrote  on  the  'Origin  of  Souls,'  and  one  was  banished  with  the 
other  bishops  by  Huneric. 

Rusicade*  was  in  reality  the  port  of  Cirta,  thirty-seven  miles  distant 
due  north.  The  same  reason  for  which  France  has  re-created  it  into  the 
fine  harbour  of  Philippeville  led  Rome  to  place  it  under  the  Legate  of 
Numidia,  namely,  to  insure  the  most  direct  communication  with  them- 
selves. The  area  and  variety  of  its  ruins  seemed  to  make  it  not  so  much 
a  centre  as  a  group  of  centres.  The  contractor  and  the  archaeologist  have 
nowhere  captured  so  much  prey. 

Twenty  miles  west  of  Philippeville,  on  the  same  wide  open  bay,  is 
CoUo,  once  ChuUu  or  ChuUi,  which  the  Greek  form  KoXXo\//'  connects  with 
the  Chullabi  of  the  Council — the  second  city  of  Numidia.  Its  purple 
manufacturers  competed  with  those  of  Tyre.  On  till  the  X7th  century  A.D. 
it  was  the  great  mart  for  Kabyle  wax  and  hides  and  wheat.  But  mer- 
chantmen and  warships  had  to  make  the  best  of  its  harbour. 

CuiCUL   was    sometimes    counted   a    Fifth    Colony    with    those    of 


quinquennalis,  item  ioluta  contributione 
a  Cirtensib«j  iterum  in  coXonia  Mil^z'z- 
tana  patria  sua  primi  III  virz  ^aminis 
perpe/ui  quod  ei  ad  legitimam  qua«/zta- 
tem  pro  adfectionum  in  ordme  a.6que  in 
populo  mentis  suffragio  oblatum  est ... . 
C.  /.  Z.  VIII.  i.  n.  8210. 

^  Under  Constantine  and  Constans 
the  Ordo  of  the  Colonia  of  Milev,  one 
of  the  Four,  erect  a  statue  in  the  Forum 
at  Cirta  '.. .  uln  honorificentius  erigendam 


credidit...''  C.  I.  L.  vill.  i.  n.  7013. 

^  On  the  two  basilicas  of  Cirta  and 
the  Christian  inscriptions  see  Schwarze, 
pp.  80,  81. 

*  [See  the  important  discovery  of 
materials  described  by  the  Abbe  Du- 
chesne in  Acad.  d.  Inscrr.  Nov.  1890.] 

*  The  name  is  thought  to  be  from  the 
Phoenician  pharos  Hus  ikda, '  Headland 
of  fire,'  its  cases  appear  as  Rusicadis, 
-i,  -em ;  it  survives  in  Cape  Skikda. 


THE  CITIES.  585 

CirtaS  seventy-five  Roman  miles  from  it  (//.  Ant.),  on  the  road  to  Sitifis,  RespubUca 
and  close  on  the  frontier  of  Mauretania.    Remains  of  its  Christian  basilica  rum]"colonia 
lie  among  temples,  theatre,  and  triumphal  arch  (to  Severus,  Julia  Domna  Cmcuhtano- 
and  Caracalla).     Its  bishop  at  the  Council  was  one  of  the  juniors  who  Djemtu. 

J        .  Bps.  349, 

voted  acquiescently — Pudentianus.  411, 484, 553. 

Macomades  was  43  miles  from  Cirta,  about  25  beyond  Sigus,  the  Con-  Macomades, 
fessors'  mine,  along  the  road  to  Theveste.     Traces  of  fine  irrigation,  100  Mcuco/ioSa, 
acres  of  ruins,  baths,  an  aisled  basilica  100  feet  long  :  so  Tissot.    Cassius  Merekeb- 
its  bishop  rather  copious  and  rhetorical  in  a  short  space  2.  b'^'^'^kV 

Gazaufala  (depraved  from  Gadiaufala,  like  Zaritus  from  Diarrhytus).  406,411,484. 
It  was  '  two  days'  journey  from  Cirta,'  as  Procopius  says,  being  about  45  o^uf^a^' 
miles   from  it  on  the  road  to  Carthage.      A  curious  inscription   on  a  it-  Ant. 
native  veteran,  who  had  campaigned  in  Britain,  fixes  the  place  and  the  Procop. 
spelling^    The  Bishop  Salvian  based  his  easy  inference  on  the  self-evident  Bp!'484.'"' 
proposition  '  Haereticos  nihil  habere  constat*.' 

TUCCA.     Unfound.     It  was  46  miles  from  Ilgilgilis,  60  from  Cuicul^  Oppidum 
It  was  'near  the  sea.'     It  'commanded  both  river  and  sea".'     It  'was  Zaouiat-ei- 
'  divided  between  the  provinces  of  Numidia  and  Mauretania.'     Ptolemy  fps^^iM 
counts   it   Numidian  and  Pliny  Mauretanian.     At  the  collation  of  411  484,646- 
its  bishop  was  Numidian ;   in  relations  with  Mileou.     Before  Huneric, 
in  484,  its  bishop  was  Mauretanian.    Hence  scholars  have  thought  of  two 
cities  and  two  sees,  synonymous.     But  the  conditions  are  fulfilled  if  we 
think  of  it  as  a  double  city,  like  Buda-Pesth  or  Mayence,  seated  on  both 
banks  of  the  Ampsaga,  where  that  stream,  pouring  down  from  Cirta, 
becomes,   at   its    confluence   with    Oued   Endja,   the  boundary   of   the 
two   provinces.     Their  bishop  now  was  Honoratus,  who  appears   as  a 

1  Cuiculi  (It.  Ant.)  is  ablative.  Cf.  •"  Tissot  (11.  27)  is  warrant  for  the 
inscr.  of  A.D.  256  RESP  cvicvL  DEVOT,  finding  of  the  distances  (I  cannot  quite 
Cagnat,  Bull.  Arch.  Com.  Trav.  hist.  verify  them)  of  the  Peutinger  Table, 
1892,  p.  303.  Cuiculum  is  not  really  which  make  it  at  least  out  of  the  question 
proved  by  C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.  8318,  that  Tucca  should  have  been  where 
8319.  ...FL  .  p  •  p  .  im  •  CGI.  .  ciRT  •  Wilmanns  places  it,  on  the  mouth  of  the 
ET  •  cvic  •  PONT  •  OMNiBVS  •  Q  •  HO-  Ampsaga.  He  speaks  of  the  city  as  on 
NORiBVS  •  IN  •  v  •  COL  •  FVNCTVS...  ^^  left  bank  (p.  413),  and  thinks  there- 
('Flamen  perpetuus  nil  coloniarumCir-  fore   the   boundary  shifted.      But    the 

tensium  et  Cuiculi' ),  but  Cagnat,  difficulty  removes  itself  at  the  explicit 

Bull,  des  Ant.  de  France,  1889,  p.  179,  statement :  Ravennat.  Anonyrni  Cosmo- 

gives    'Miles   morans  Coiclo  ann  v  et  graph:  'Civitas  Tuca  quae  juxta  mare 

menses  vim.'  magn  im    dividitur    inter... pro vinciam 

2  Scntt.  Epp.  12.     Tissot,  II.  p.  477.  Numidiam  et  ipsam  Mauritaniam  Siti- 

3  C. /.  Z.  VIII.  n.  4800.  fensem'    [lll.    vii.]     This  Juxta    mare 
<  Sentt.   Epp.    76.      Procop.    de  B.       fnagnum  and  Pliny's  'impositam  man 

Vand.  ii.  15.  et  flumini'  {H.  N.  v.  i,  2)  are  fulfilled 

=  Tab.  Peut.,  cf.  Tissot,  il.  pp.  411,       ^y  the  strategic  position. 
412. 


586 


APPENDIX  K. 


Numidian  in  Epistles  62  and  70. 
against  Truth ^. 


He  allows  Tradition  no  standing 


Ci  vitas 

Lambsesis, 

Municipium 

Lanibaesi- 

tanum, 

Colonia 

Lambaesi- 

tana, 

Respublica 

Lambaesis. 

L  ambese. 

Bps.  240 

(Cypr.  E/>. 

36),  411. 


3.     The  Circle  of  A  tires. 

Betwixt  South  Numidia  and  the  Great  Desert  lies  that  grand  mass  of 
the  Southern  Atlas  which  ranks  by  itself  as  Aurasius — the  range  of 
Aures.  Its  outer  and  inner  plateaux,  most  fertile  of  com  and  fruit,  com- 
manded by  village-clustered  crests,  its  central  heights  of  between  seven 
and  eight  thousand  feet,  its  almost  inaccessible  rock  castles  and  camps 
of  refuge^,  its  copious  springs,  its  endless  valleys  and  ravines,  with  their 
perennial  waters  and  cedar  forests,  made  Aures  the  nursing-ground,  the 
impenetrable  warren  and  impregnable  citadel  of  the  Berber  tribes  and 
chieftains. 

The  Phoenicians  had  skirted  but  not  pierced  it.  To  the  Romans  it 
was  the  borderland  of  danger.  Yet  it  was  to  Aures  that  in  this  con- 
tinent they  devoted  their  chief  attention.  They  circled  it  with  roads  and 
strong  towns,  and  in  its  circuit  founded  model  cities  on  lands  higher 
than  Helvellyn,  'most  splendid^'  even  to  Roman  conceptions.  Aures 
waited  and  finally  reconquered  all. 

From  Augustus  to  Diocletian  the  Third  Legion  Augusta  held  the 
tribes  in  check  from  Lamb^sis*,  a  camp  and  city  of  its  own  creation. 
This  three  centuries  was  the  longest  time  that  any  Roman  Legion  was 
fixed  in  one  head-quarters.  Its  history  gives  us  an  idea  of  what  a  Roman 
Legion  had  to  do — and  further,  what  massive  elements  Christianity  had 
to  grapple  with.  Its  camp  and  extant  praetorium  are  a  magnificent,  a 
grammatical  specimen  of  a  military  centre.  Outside  the  camp,  detached 
from  it  by  a  considerable  space,  the  town  grew  up.  Hadrian  ran  a 
great  road  191  Roman  miles  direct  from  Carthage  to  Theveste,  en- 
gineered by  his  legate  P.  Metilius  Secundus  the  Propraetor,  constructed 
by  the  labour  of  the  legion^,  and  finished  a.d.  123. 


^  Sentt.  Epp.  77  and  52.  Tissot,  II. 
p.  619.  (See  note  on  Tucca  Terebin- 
thina  in  'Three  Routes,'  Route  i,  p. 
602.) 

*  Masqueray,    de   M.    Aurasio,    pp. 

13.  53- 

^  '...in  splendi'issitnis  civita«ibdua- 
bus  col  •  •  amug  et  mu  •  icipi  Lam- 
bsesitani....'  C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.  2407. 
And  Theveste  was  in  fact  more  'splen- 
did '  than  either  Thamugadi  or  Lam- 
baesis. 

*  Inscrr.  rarely  Lambesis,  Lambesit- 
an.  The  modem  French  Lambessa  in 
imitation  of  Tebessa  is  too  barbarous. 


"  A  niilliarium  found  at  Carthage 
(C.  /.  Z.  VIII.  ii.  10048)  is  in- 
scribed : 

Imp  •  Cces  .  I  Divi  •  Nervae  •  Nepos  | 
Divi .  Traiani  •  Parthici  •  F  •  |  Traianus  • 
Hadrianus  |  Aug  .  Pont  •  Max  •  Trib  •  | 
Pot  •  VII  •  Cos  •  III  I  viam  •  a  •  Karthagine  | 
Thevestem  •  stravit  \  Per  leg  •  III  •  Aug  | 
P  •  Metilio  •  Secundo  |  Leg  •  Aug  •  Pr  • 
Pr  •  I  LXXXV  I 

An  inscription  at  Tebessa  gives  the 
distance  which  modem  measurements 
accurately  verify: 

Imp  Cses  I  divi  Traiani  |  Parthici  F 
Divi  j  Nervae  Nepos  |  Traianus  |  Had- 


THE  CITIES.  587 

They  had  nearly  if  not  quite  finished  their  permanent  stone  camp  at 
Lambaesis,  having  occupied  two  temporary  ones  before,  when  Hadrian 
visited  them  in  July  a.d.  128.  He  delivered  to  them  a  great  allocution 
which  stands  recorded  on  a  special  monument^  He  speaks  of  the 
number  of  their  works  as  having  in  no  degree  impaired  the  excellence  of 
their  manoeuvring. 

The  town  long  remained  a  Vicus  only.  It  was  made  a  Municipium 
probably  when  in  A.D.  207  Numidia  was  made  a  Province.  Its  citizens 
were  enrolled  in  Trajan's  own  tribe  Papiria. 

Severus  claimed  to  be  a  great  reformer,  and  soldiers  held  him  to  be  a 
^reat  corruptor,  of  military  life.  Legionaries  could  not  contract  valid 
marriage  before,  but  from  him  they  received  the  jus  conubii  with  cives 
Romance  and  leave  to  reside  with  their  wives^.  At  Lambaesis  are  many 
traces  of  the  working  of  the  plan,  in  monuments  to  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  soldiers,  in  the  curious  elsewhere  unknown  fact  that  their  children 
by  Roman  citizen-women  were  enrolled  in  a  special  tribe  Pollia  of  their 
own,  and  not  in  Collina,  the  tribe  of  the  spurious,  and  particularly  in 
the  gradual  covering  of  the  great  spaces  of  the  camp  itself  by  large  build- 
ings,— among  them  numerous  scholce  for  the  collegia  and  military  clubs. 
It  is  palpable  that  the  legionaries  were  allowed  to  live  in  the  town. 

Around  us  now  spread  miles  of  fragments  with  immense  remains  of 
public  buildings,  a  'Praetorium'  constructed  for  military  pomps  beyond 
our  conceiving,  arches,  temples  of  singular  but  somewhat  irregular 
beauty.  The  triple  shrine  of  ^sculapius,  Serapis  and  Silvanus  is  on  a 
fantastic  yet  most  elegant  ground  plan.  We  know  the  very  years  of  most 
of  these  buildings^.  They  were  all  erected,  whether  in  the  camp  or  city 
(except  perhaps  the  Capitol)  by  the  Legion  itself,  and  the  temples  them- 
selves were  retained  under  military  guardianship.  In  the  camp  was  no 
temple.  It  will  not  be  thought  surprising  that  these  and  many  more 
j>articulars  of  the  life  of  the  great  head-quarters  are  known  to  us  when  it 

rianus  Aug  I  Pontif  Max  Trib  |  Pot  vii  23,   1,   35;  23,   2,   45,  3;  49,    17,    16. 

Cos  III  viam  |  a  Carthagine  The|vestem  But    to   assert   that   their   children  by 

Mil  P  cxci  I  DCCXXX  stravit  |  P.  Meti-  foreign  wives  were  citizens  seems  diffi- 

lio  I  Secundo  leg  |  Aug   Pro  Pr  |  Cos  cult. 

_,    .    ,  T^      r\ 'k Ti    I  r-     T    T  See  Wilmanns'  essay,  giving  Momm- 

Desig     Per     leg  III  Aug        (C.  /.  Z.  ,       .  ^     ,     ,  r 

&  '  I — § SJJ  sen's   views,  C.  I.  L.  viii.  L   p.  283. 

■  "'  i°^^4-)  The  monumental  work  is  Cagnat,  Ar- 

leg  III  Aug  has  been  erased  and  re-  ^^,^  ^^  VAfrique,  Paris,   1892. 

stored,  a  fact  which  will  be  explamed  3  E.g.-T\,^  great  temple  of  Neptune 

presently.  j^8^  dedicated  158,  enlarged  174.     Isis 


C.  I.  L.  VIII.  i.  n.  2532. 


and  Serapis  158,  yEsculapius  and  Salus 


2  Herodianus,  iii.  8.     Papinian  and  ^^^^  ^^.^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^.^.^^  ^^ 

Ulpian,  in  and  just  after  Severus'  time,  t     -^         j  c-i               c-i                 ..      j 

tr      '              J                                     '  Jupiter  and  Silvanus.    bilvanus  restored 

speak   of  their   matrimonium  as  if  it  „ -, 

•were  in  all  respects  jus  turn.    Digesta 


588  APPENDIX  K. 

is  realized  that  this  one  place  yields  to  the  Corpus  over  1600  inscriptions. 
Probably  as  many  more  are  built  into  the  French  prison  walls. 

The  Christians  after  awhile  had  at  least  four  basilicas  of  dates  un- 
known at  present.  We  have  already  heard  of  the  early  Council  here  of 
ninety  bishops,  and  of  the  'old  heretic'  Privatus^  Wilmanns  and 
Tissot  mention  that  no  Christian  inscription  has  been  found.  I  copied 
there  two  large  sculptures  of  the  labarum  with  a  and  00  within  a 
wreath,  and  on  one  of  them  the  Dove^.  It  is  interesting  that  the  time  of 
Cyprian  was  a  marked  period  in  the  history  of  Lambaesis.  He  is  the 
only  author  who  tells  us  that  it  ever  was  a  Colony 3.  From  A.D.  238  to 
253  the  Third  Legion  was  disbanded,  and  this  is  thought  to  be 
the  time  when  the  town  rose  to  that  dignity,  when  the  Capitol 
was  founded  and  the  noble  temple  of  Jupiter  Optimus  Maximus 
built  on  it. 

The  Legion  was  restored  and  replaced  by  Gallienus  and  Valerian*  in 
A.D  253,  but  only  for  about  40  years,  up  till  the  time  of  Diocletian^  Its 
bishop  appears  in  our  Council,  but  apparently  not  in  that  of  41 1  ^  and  as 
no  bishop  appears  in  484  or  ever  again,  it  is  likely  that  after  its  abandon- 
ment as  the  seat  of  the  Legate  Propraetor  under  Constantine  it  fell  into 
decline.     The  ceasing  of  inscriptions  tells  the  same  tale. 

It  has  seemed  worth  while  to  dwell  upon  Lambaesis  on  account  of  the 
vividness  with  which  its  life  and  its  necessary  problems  for  Christianity 
suggest  themselves.  But  what  would  be  the  interest  of  Thamugadi, 
what  of  Theveste,  if  their  story  were  as  clear  ? 

Colonia  THEVESTE^  at  the  north-east  corner  of  the  Aures  system,  is  no  doubt 

Teiessa^       the  place  which  the  Greeks  regarded  as  the  capital  of  Libya,  and  as  a 

Bps. 349,411,  'Hundred -gated'  city  not  quite  distinguishable  from  Thebes.     Yet  in 

the  best  Roman  age  and  until  Vespasian  none  but  geographers  name  it. 

Then,  while  Lambaesis  was  the  military  centre,  Theveste  was  the  centre 

of  communication.     Eight  great  roads  linked  it  to  Cirta,  Sitifis,  Lambaesis, 

^  Cypr.  £/>.  36.  4;  E/>.  59.  10,  11.  vitem  posv|it  votvm  dedit  |  dedi- 

2  Another,  Dr  Schwarze,  p.  75.  cante|  vetvrio  vetv|riano  ^  vc  ^ 

^  £p.  59.   10  Lambesitana  Colonia,  LEG  |  avggg  pr  pr  | 

agreeing    thus    with    the    inscriptions  ^  The   arguments   of  Wilmanns   for 

C.  I.  L.  VIII.  i.  2661,  2720,  272 1,  ii.  this  will  be  generally  thought  stronger 

10228,  10229,  10256,  10259.  than  those  of  Mommsen  against  him. 

*  This  inscription  on  a  statue  base,  C.   /.    Z.  viii.   i.    tit.  Lamb(zsis,   and 

which  I  copied  in  the  Praetorium,  re-  Momms.    C.  I.    L.  vol.   viii.    i.,   pp. 

lates  to  their  return.     It  is  C.  1.  L.  xxii,  xxiii. 

VIII.  i.  2634.  ®  In  spite  of  Masqueray  I  must  agree 

DEO    I    MARTI    MLlTli^    |    poteJTi  with  Wilmanns  that  Lambiensis  is  not 

STATW^  I  IN  HONOREM  LEG  |  III  AVG  a  likely  appellative  from  Lambaesis. 

VALERlyV^  I  GALLlENit    VALERIA;^  ]  ^  Sentt.    Epp.    31,    Thebeste    MSS. 

SATTONivs  iv|cvNDVS^  pp  QVi|pRiMVS  Lauresh,  Veron.  H. 

LEG  RENo|VATA  i     APVT  AQVIJLAM 


THE  CITIES.  589 

Tacape,  Sufetula  and  Thysdrus ;  Hadrian  (we  have  seen)  developed  the 
most  important,  that  to  Carthage. 

A  favourable  station  for  Christian  pioneering,  it  has  been  said,  and 
the  remark  seems  to  be  borne  out  by  the  number  and  apparently  early 
date  of  Christian  inscriptions^  from  that  region. 

Procurators  managed  imperial  estates  in  the  neighbourhood.  Settlers 
on  military  tenure  of  knight-service  held  wide  lands,  and  were  protected 
with  elaborate  care.  They  planted  out  groups  of  towers  throughout  the 
domains,  with  an  eye  to  the  raids  from  Aures. 

The  scale  and  splendour  of  the  place  are  marvellous :  its  water-works, 
its  baths,  its  drainage.  The  careful  arrangement  of  its  forum  and  market 
with  its  marble  pavement,  marble  screens,  and  cloisters,  and  with 
stabling  for  troops  of  horses.  African  architecture  like  African  Latin 
has  marked  peculiarities,  and  the  fine  temple  of  Jupiter  is  an  excellent 
instance  of  them,  as  is  also  the  quadruple  Janus,  finer  than  that  of  Rome, 
and  again  the  simple  grand  basilica  with  its  stately  steps  and  mosaic 
floor,  exactly  contemporary  with  Cyprian,  and  stopped,  three  or  four 
centuries  later,  in  actual  process  of  conversion  into  an  immense  church 
and  establishment.  Rude  Christian  capitals  lie  ready  to  be  hoisted,  and 
an  immense  array  of  monks'  cells  in  solid  masonry  has  been  already 
added,  together  with  a  bishop's  house  and  chapel  and  a  baptistry, 
the  whole  defended  vainly  by  the  Byzantine  ramparts^.  The  Vandals 
were  driven  back,  but  the  spirit  of  the  dry  places  returned  to  his  gar- 
nished house,  and  the  Arabs  sit  marketing  by  thousands  in  the  dust 
among  their  camels,  and  the  ddbris  of  the  city  are  spread  out  for  miles. 

The  third  of  these  glorious  cities,  which  we  must  notice,  that  was  so  Coionia 
grandly  placed  to  do  the  work  which  Rome  conceived  to  be  hers  in  the  Thamu- 
wild  world,  was  ThamuGADI,  Timgad — 'the  African  Pompeii.'  Iif^cla*^"'' 

Verecunda  was  a  fourth  not  so  much  known  to  us  nor  represented  at  Jr^'J^"^  ,. 

Ihamugadi. 

Carthage  (a  see  ?  Morcelli).  Timgad. 

Thamugadi  was  founded  in  A.D.    100  with  a  true  soldier's  eye  by  optaui°' 
L.  Munatius  Gallus,  Trajan's  legate  and  propraetor,  to  control  the  adits  to  ^^^\^. 
the  very  heart  of  Aures  by  the  veterans  of  the  Thirtieth  Legion,  Ulpia 

^  See  Schwarze,  pp.  63  ff.  feet  beneath  the  altar  of  the  basilica, 
^  I  gratefully  acknowledge  the  cour-  where  he  expected  to  find  some  token 
tesy  of  the  Abbe  Delapart,  the  accom-  of  consecration.  For  fine  illustrations 
plished  antiquarian  and  self- devoted  of  Lambaesis,  Theveste  andThamugadis 
parish  priest  of  Tebessa,  of  the  Com-  see  Mr  Graham's  Paper  on  the 'Remains 
mandant  des  Armes,  and  the  Command-  of  the  Roman  Occupation  of  N.  Africa,' 
ant  des  Indigenes,  Captains  Martineau  Transactions  of  R.  Inst,  of  Brit.  Archi- 
and  Empiroget.  One  of  M.  Delapart's  terts,  vol.  I.  N.S.  part  3 ;  Sir  L.  Play- 
most  singular  discoveries  is  the  mosaic  fair's  Travels ;  Duthoit,  Soc.  Arch,  de 
plaque  of  a  cross  placed  within  an  apse  Constantine,  1884.  and  especially  Boes- 
between  A  and  fi,  which  he  found  some  willwald  and  Cagnat's  Timgad. 


590  APPENDIX  K. 

Victrix,  as  colonists.  They  were  enrolled  in  the  Emperor's  own  tribe, 
Papiria,  and  held  a  richer,  wider  territory  than  any  African  colony.  It  is 
unmentioned  except  by  geographers,  until  with  Bagai  it  is  very  much 
mentioned  for  its  Donatist  terrors,  and  for  'the  ten  years  long  groaning 
of  all  Africa'  under  its  Bishop  Optatus,  the  *Dux  Circumcellionum.' 
But  who  shall  say  what  the  long  groaning  of  real  Africa  had  been  under 
Roman  Africa,  or  what  the  misery  of  the  dispossessed  and  destitute 
natives  who  listened  to  him  ?  The  scene  of  his  harangues  in  the  curia 
and  the  forum  needs  little  imagination  to  complete  it.  After  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  baffled  Vandals  it  was  the  Maurusii  who  poured  in,  de- 
populated Timgad,  and  made  it  uninhabitable,  so  that  no  civilized  being 
might  find  in  it  a  pretext  for  even  approaching  Aures^  It  was  reoccu- 
pied  by  Solomon  about  A.D.  538  ;  not  restored,  but  quarried  for  his 
fortifications. 

The  long  white  streak  beneath  the  mountain  brow,  which  you  watch 
for  hours  as  you  approach  it,  develops  at  last  into  an  almost  perfect  city 
which  looks  as  if  roofs  and  capitals  had  been  taken  away  a  year  ago, 
leaving  walls  and  floors  and  bases  perfect.  The  whole  aspect  is  that 
of  a  city  built  on  a  perfectly  considered  and  beautiful  plan.  Its  fine 
triumphal  arch  takes  you  into  the  long  street  with  its  smooth  wheel- 
grooved  pavements  and  shady  colonnades  towards  the  north  breeze. 
These  lead  on  to  the  macellum,  to  the  forum  with  its  cloisters  and 
statuary,  and  then  to  the  basilica  and  public  offices.  A  short  stroll 
brings  you  to  the  beautiful  theatre  in  the  hillside.  Ever  in  your  ears 
is  the  rush  of  waters  which  once  poured  through  these  dry  troughs, 
channels  and  fountains,  and  charged  the  vast  baths. 

It  is  notable  that  the  fine  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  was   built 

under  a  severe  Christian  Emperor  Valentinian  I.,  and  that  when  the 

Arabs  came  a  new  basilica  was  in  building^. 

Respublica  From  Theveste  the  road  which  encircles  the  ridges  and  defiles  of 

Oum^K^    Aures  and  commands  the  plateaux  and  skirts  the  salt-basins  that  lie 

Bp.aDo-      northwards,  goes  west  through  Cedias,  whose  ruins  as  yet  serve  only  to 

identify  it.      It  was  like  Mascula  a  seat  of  Donatism.     Two  Christians 

at  some  time  built  a  church  near,  and  dedicated  it  as  '  men  of  Cedias, 

sinners,'  perhaps  on  their  restoration  to  the  Church  ^     The  road  passes 

^  Procop.    de    Bell.    Vand.    ii.     13,  towards  Lambsesis.     Cagnat  ap.  Acad, 

'civibus  sublatis,'  perhaps;  but  'aequa-  d.  Inscr.  May  1891. 
verant  solo,' no;  for  that  is  not  its  state  *  This  noteworthy  record  is  in  C. 

even  now.  /.  Z.   viii.   i.   n.   2309    '  in  •  atri  • 

2  Thimgad  is  essentially  a  civil  city  DOMINI  |  DfeFQUi  feSTSfeRMONi  |  DON- 

as  Lambaesis  is  a  military  one,  but  laid  atus  feT  navis  |  ius  FfecfeRUNT  cfeDi  | 

out  with  its  main  streets  crossing  at  feNSfes    pfeCKATORfes,'    corrected     and 

right  angles,  Cardo  N.  and  S.  towards  (?)  explained  by  De  Rossi  as  In  no- 

Constantine,   Decumanus   E.  and   W.  mine  Patris  domini  dei  qui  est  sermoni. 


THE  CITIES.  591 

on  through  the  wide  strewn  ruins  of  Mascula,  on  the  north-east  spur  of  Coionia 
Auras,  a  critical  strategic  post,  then  and  now  commanding  one  of  the  jc^^Ma. 
main  passes  of  Aures,  and  covering  the  direct  route  from  the  Tell  to  ^^-  3°s. 
Sahara  ;  to  begin  with,  a  great  corn  and  cattle  station  ^  525- 

It  communicated  v/ith  Bagai  near  the  salt  lake.     Bagai  and  Timgad  Bagai.  K'sar 
the  Donatists  claimed  as  all  their  own.   Augustine  sarcastically  makes  one  Bpf  Do- 
of  them  argue  'And  ours  too  is  a  "Great  Congregation."    What  do  you  °atust343, 
think  of  Thamugade  and   Bagai^?'     Here  was  held  their  Council  ofUoa,  404.* 
310  Bishops   in   a.d.  394^-      Donatus  the   Circumcellion  leader  was  a  484.    '  *"' 
native  of  Bagai,  and  here  were  perpetrated  many  of  the  horrors  of  the 
faction*. 

These  places  were  all  revived  into  Byzantine  fortresses  by  Solomon, 
but  were  never  likely  to  hold  a  country,  whose  cities  had  failed,  by  mere 
force  of  arms.  Yet  they  seem  all  to  have  retained  their  Christianity  long 
after  the  Arabs  had  exterminated  it  elsewhere. 

The  bishops  of  Cedias,  Mascula  and  Bagai  were  now  Secundinus, 
Clarus  and  Felix". 

Facing  from   Lambcesis   towards   Sitifis,  capital  of  Mauretania,  21  Resp. 
mountainous  miles  would  bring  you  to  Lamasba,  the  last  station  but  one  Antoniniana. 
on  the  Numidian  side  of  the  border,  a  great  depot  for  the  products  of  the  La"r^ba"™ 
fertile  plains  beyond.     A  great  inscription  on  the  distribution  of  water,  Lamasua, 
probably  for  the  use  of  the  numberless  oil-mills,  is  an  instance  of  the  Lamasbua, 
perfection  with  which  the  Roman  farmers  were  attended  to®.     Pusillus,  a  Merouana. 
rare  name,  was  their  bishop.  ^^^'  ''"• 

Westward  and  then  southward,  about  62  kilometres  more,  the  road 
from  Lambsesis  sweeps  round  down  the  stern  deep  defile  which  the 
Romans  called  '  Hercules'  Shoe '  and  the  Arabs,  in  amazement  at  the 

Donatus  et  Navigius  fecerunt  Cedienses  '^  Aug.  Contr.  Crescon.  Donat.  iv.  10. 

peccatores.     Mommsen's  suggestion  in  ■*  Neander,  vol.  III.  p.  271  (Bohn),  on 

patre  domini  (i.e.  in  deo)  defunctus  qui  the  question  whether  Donatus  a  Casis 

est  seems  unnatural.     Schwarze,  p.  69,  Nigris  and  Donatus  Magnus  were  one 

quotes  for  Dominiis  Deus  (of  Christ)  and  the  same,  says  'Optatus  seems  to 

C.  I.  L.  VIII.   i.  n.  2079:  In  nomine  have  knowledge  of  only  one  Donatus.' 

Domini    d^i     «ostri     atque    salbatoris  Optatus   expressly  distinguishes   them, 

IHU     XPI ;      C.    I.    L.    Vill.     ii.     n.  lib.  iii.  init.  and  says, 'Donatus  Bagai- 

8429  In  nomine  ^  Z>omini  Z?ei ;  and  ensis  collected  the  "insana  multitudo."' 

on  S'frwo  for  A(S7oy  Tert.  adv.  Pi-ax.  v.  '  Sentt.  Epp.   11,   79,   12.     It  is  in- 

I  would  therefore  emend  simply  In  teresting  that  from  the  neighbourhoods 

Patre  Domini  Dei  qui  est  sermo  Dei,  of  Cedias,    Bagai,    Mascula,  Theveste  • 

*In  the  Father  of  the  Lord  God  Who  come  the  inscriptions  with  '  Deo  laudes,' 

is  the  Word  of  God.'  the  Donatist  greeting  adopted  instead 

^  Masqueray   has   a   treatise  Ruittes  of   the    Catholic    'Deo    gratias.'     See 

anciennes  de  Khenchela.     Paris,  1879.  Schwarze,  pp.  69  f. 

Cf.  Schwarze,  p.  73.  *  Sentt.  Epp.  75.    C.  I.  L.  vlll.  i.  n. 

^  Aug.  Enarr.  ii.  on  Psalm  xxi.  26.  4440- 


484. 


592  APPENDIX   K. 

Roman  bridge  *E1  Kantara';  then  it  suddenly  bursts  into  that  vision 
of  a  hundred  thousand  palm  trees  which  startle  every  traveller  into  the 
sense  that  he  has  touched  a  new  zone,  and  a  world  in  which  the  sons  of 
Japhet  will  never  be  at  home. 
Tubunae  From  El  Kantara,  a  Roman  road,  quarried  through  wonderful  de- 

munic. 

Bovfiovv,  Pt.  files  and  set  all  along  with  towers  and  ruins,  turns  up  to  THUBUNiE,  the 
Tobona,*"  westernmost  frontier  town  and  castle  of  Numidia,  though  Wilmanns 
^^'-  almost  assigns  it  to  Mauretania^     Its  Nemesian  was  a  very  senior  bishop 

Bj)s.  411,       and  the  lengthiest  speaker — twice  as  long  as  Cyprian. 

Then  from  Biskra,  about  112  kilom.  from  Lambaesis^,  the  inexorable 
road  sets  itself  back  eastward  to  enchain  the  precipice  walls  of  Mount 
Aures  on  the  south,  with  nothing  but  the  sandy  rock  of  Sahara  in  front 
and  far  beyond  the  horizons  of  many  days. 

Out  into  the  desert  of  Mokran  five-and-thirty  kilometres  south-west 
of  Biskra,  the  Roman  planted  his  last  outpost,  the  immense  and  mani- 
foldly fortified  camp  of  Gemell^e.  We  shall  come  to  it  by  another 
routed 

Great  stations.  Ad  Badias  and  others,  watched  the  valleys  which 
poured  out  their  torrents  of  waters  and  of  Berbers  through  the  mountain 
posterns. 

By  such  a  tremendous  chain  of  fortresses,  cities  and  colonies,  by 
'wardens  of  the  marches'  and  tenants  inheriting  and  holding  lands  by 
military  service,  by  actual  'moss-troopers'  in  the  marshlands,  the  whole 
vast  frontier  was  continuously  guarded. 

From  Leptis  Magna  the  limites  ran  westward  in  this  order,  Thamel- 
lensis,  Badiensis  (then  came  Aurasius  itself,  which  need  not  and  could 
not  be  a  limes^),  Gemellensis,  Tubunensis.  A  similar  line  of  limites  then 
ran  northward  to  the  sea,  and  behind  was  Mauretania  Caesariensis 
itself  (apparently)  all  held  by  this  tenure.  Alexander  Severus  had,  just 
before  Cyprian's  time,  taken  important  measures  for  the  security  of  the 
'  limitanei  duces  et  milites  and  their  heredes '  in  their  'sola,'  and  for  keep- 
ing up  their  stock  of  cattle  and  slaves  ^  ne  desererentur  rura  vidua 
barbaricB.' 

On  the  colonies  and  principal  towns  every  delight  which  could  make 
a  Rome  in  miniature  was  lavished.     Officers  of  family,  augurs,  legates, 

^  A  Thubunas.  Sentt.  Epp.  5,  Tissot,  very  little  of  it  could  be  farmed.     See 

II.  pp.  512  and  518.  his  interesting  sketch  {de  Aurasio  M., 

^  C.  I.  L.  VIII.  i.  p.  275.  pp.  70  ff.)  of  the  limites  and  their  con- 

^  See  infr.  'Three  Routes' — Rte.  (i).  ditions,  as  also  the  laws  against  extortion 

■*  Masqueray  seems  much  impressed  by  these  armed  farmers.     The  marsh- 

and   puzzled   by  the  fact.     But  Aures  lands  are   particularly  noticed   ('agros 

was  absolutely  ringed  round  with  forts  limitaneos   universos,  cum  paludibus,') 

and  camps  and  legions,  and  certainly  in  Cod.  lib.  XI.  tit.  LIX.  (LX.). 


THE  CITIES.  593 

proprjetors  devoted  themselves  to  the  enrichment  of  the  new  homes. 
Thus  at  Theveste,  before  A-D.  212,  C.  Cornelius  Egrilianus,  an  old  praefect 
of  the  14th  Legion,  who  belonged  to  a  family  which  has  left  many  monu- 
ments at  Lambaesis,  bequeaths  ^5,000,  half  to  found  the  extant  Triumphal 
Arch,  half  for  gymnastic  games  in  the  Thermae  on  fixed  days  through  the 
year,  as  well  as  sets  of  large  silver  and  gold  vessels  for  the  CapitoL 

But  not  amusement  only  was  provided,  whether  fierce  or  luxurious. 
The  courts  indicate  elaborate  administrations  complete  upon  the  spot. 
There  were  curias  and  rostra  and  the  appointments  of  an  apparent 
republic.  The  marriage  privileges,  the  tribal  arrangements  all  were  for 
the  purpose  of  founding  not  only  garrison  cities  for  the  marches  but  com- 
munities perfect  in  themselves  yet  identified  in  every  interest  with  the 
Empire.  The  country  probably  could  not  at  this  time  have  been  held  at 
all,  or  cultivated  to  profit  if  it  had  not  been  distributed  in  vast  latifundia 
to  capitalists  (often  members  of  the  imperial  families  and  even  ladies)  and 
by  them  partly  furnished  for  themselves  with  fortified  country  houses  (such 
as  we  see  in  the  African  mosaics)  surrounded  by  large  villes,  and  partly 
sublet  to  Roman  farmers  and  contractors  ^ 

It  is  evident  that  this  civilization  cannot  have  been  carried  on  without 
the  co-operation  of  vast  numbers  of  native  tenants  as  labourers,  as  well  as 
poor  colonists.  To  them  we  must  ascribe  the  abundant  traces  of  small 
farmsteads  in  some  of  the  larger  and  safer  valleys.  Spots  which  still  are 
called  '  Roman  Gardens '  of  olives  and  fruit  trees  seem  as  likely  to  be 
Berber  copies  as  to  be  original  Roman  plantations,  which  would  probably 
have  borne  Roman  names. 

When  Rome  grew  Christian  the  mountaineers  too  were  so  soaked  with 
Christian  usages  that  to  this  day  they  keep  Christmas^.  They  call  the 
months  by  Latin  names  and  measure  the  year,  like  Christians,  by  the  sun 
and  not  by  moons. 

Yet  these  cities  were  not  at  last  captured  by  Vandals,  but  deliberately 
desolated  by  their  neighbours  the  first  hour  that  the  invasion  called  the 
garrison  away. 

Yes.  Civilization  and  Christianity  were  unable  to  overcome  animosity 
of  race  and  wildness  of  temper.  That  is  how  we  put  it.  Rather — Civili- 
zation and  Christianity  sate  helpless,  not  knowing  or  thinking  how  to  deal 
with  the  prodigious,  multiplying  masses  of  dispossessed,  impoverished, 
harried  natives,  whom  mile  by  mile  soldiers  and  settlers  drove  out  before 
them. 

The  Circumcellions  had  weakened  everything  long  before  the  Vandals 
came.  They  liberated  slaves,  destroyed  account  books,  broke  up  villas, 
drove  the  gentry  round  and  round  in  the  mills.  Their  weapons  were  sticks. 
They  were  accompanied  by  troops  of  women.  Their  numbers  were 
everywhere  immense — '  such  herds,'  '  such  crowds,'  '  so  many  thousands.' 

^  See    ap.    Masqueray,    De    Auras.  ^  Moolid,  'The  Nativity.' 

Monte,  pp.  50,  57. 

B.  38 


594 


APPENDIX  K. 


Pertusa,  It. 
Ant.    Ad 
Pertusa.    El 
HaraXria. 
Bp.  393. 

Thurris,  It. 
Ant.    El 
Djentel. 
Bps.  396, 
a  Donat. 
411. 

Thacia, 
Tab.  Peut. 
©a<rt'a,  Pt. 
Bordj 
Messaoudi. 
Bps.  348,  a 
Donat.  393, 
525,  646. 


Colonia 
/Elia 
Augusta. 
Lares. 
Laribus. 
Lorbeus. 
Bps.  411, 
483,  525- 


What  they  hated  was  proprietorship.  The  controversy  was  nothing  to 
such  people.  They  attached  themselves  to  the  Donatists  because  these 
were  the  disaffected  party  in  Church  and  State.  They  had  no  hold  on 
life  except  life.  When  life  was  too  miserable  they  quitted  it  by  the 
thousand  ^     It  seems  plain  who  and  what  they  were. 

Material  wonders  are  being  worked  in  other  parts  of  the  world  before 
our  own  eyes. 

4-     The  Theveste  Road. 

There  were  20  stations  on  197  Roman  miles  of  direct  road  between 
Carthage  and  Theveste;  on  the  average  9J  Roman  miles  apart 2.  From 
eleven  of  these  station-towns  bishops  attended  the  Collation  of  Carthage 
in  the  year  A.D.  411.  Between  Thurris  and  Thignica  the  road  was  double, 
and  on  the  second  hne  the  town  of  Valli  sent  a  bishop  to  the  same  con- 
ference. Besides  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  three  other  station- 
towns  which  had  bishops  before  (two*  of  them  also  afterwards)  had 
bishops  in  A.D.  41 1 — Ad  Pertusa,  Thurris,  Thacia. 

This  makes  15  sees,  or  as  nearly  as  possible  a  see  every  13  miles. 

Whether  these  all  were  sees  in  Cyprian's  time  there  is  no  knowing. 
Bishops  from  five  of  them,  distributed  all  along  the  line,  attended  the 
Council,  viz.  from  Sicilibba  (33  miles),  Membresa  (54),  Laribus  (117),  Ad 
Medera  (172),  Theveste  (197). 

With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  older  Liby-Punic  towns,  the  others 
were  probably  little  more  than  travelling  stations  founded  with  the  road, 
and  gathering  settlements  about  them.  Not  much  is  known  of  them  but 
their  distances  in  the  Itineraries  and  their  Christianity. 

Sicilibba  and  Membresa,  in  the  Lower  Medjerda  valley,  have  been 
described.  A  hundred  and  seventeen  miles  from  Carthage  we  come 
upon  Lorbeus^  which  represents  Laribus,  which  again,  from  being  an 
incessantly  used  case,  had  become  (first  on  barbarian  lips)  as  in  other 
instances  a  substitute  for  the  true  Lares^.  Widespread  ruins  in  an  un- 
inhabited land  once  rich  with  forest  ;  built  out  of  them,  Justinian's 
walls  ;  a  Christian  basilica  which  saw  the  massacre  of  30,000  Christians 
and  became  a  mosque.  Its  bishop,  Hortensianus*,  had  attended  the 
Councils  of  252  and  255  A.D. 


1  Augustine  supplies  such  particulars 
passim. 

2  The  stations  are:  Ad  Pertusa  (14), 
Ad  Mercurium  (18),  Inuca  (20), 
SICILIBBA  (33),  Thurris  (38),  Chisiduo 
(44),  [2nd  route  Valli  (44),]  MEM- 
BRESA  (54),  Tichilla  (64),  Thignica 
(78),  Agbia  (84),  Musti  (91),  Thacia 
(98),  Drusiliana  (105),  LARIBUS  (117), 
Obba    (124),    Altuburos    (140),    Mutia 


(156),  AD  MEDERA  (172),  Ad  Mer- 
curium (186),  THElESTE  (ig-j).  (Tis- 
sot,  II.  443.)  The  italicized  were  sees 
early  in  the  fifth  century,  or  earlier. 
The  capitals  mark  the  sees  from  which 
bishops  came  to  Cyprian.  The  figures 
shew  the  distances  from  Carthage. 

^  Eis  Aapi^ov,  Aapl^ovs,  Procop.  de 
Bell.   Vand.  ii.  23,  28. 

*  Sentt.  Epp.  21.     Coripp.  Joh.   vi. 


THE  CITIES.  595 

Seven  miles  further  Ebba,  Orba  in  the  Peutinger  Table,  miswritten  it  Obba. 
seems  for  Obba,  where  the  bishop  was  Paulus^.     He  thought  the  error  of  Bps!'4n, 
*  aliquis '  a  fall  from  the  faith.  ■»^*'  5S3- 

Then    Mutia,   and  then   Ammedera^,   rather  more  than    19   miles  Colonia 
from  Theveste.     Great  ruins  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  quays,  great  Augusta 
theatre,  five  Christian  churches,  two  triumphal  arches,  one  very  fine,  ementa  Am- 
A.D.  195.     Hyginus  relates  how  it  was  gated  and  streeted  as  a  camp,  and  Haidra. 

Bp.  411. 

we  can  recognize  it. 

Eugenius'  speech  consjsts  of  the  four  least  offensive  words  of  his 
fanatical  neighbour  whom  he  followed  immediately. 

5.     Three  Routes. 

Three  main  routes  linked  the  Theveste  road  to  that  grand  coast  line 
which,  south  from  Cape  Bon,  sweeps  out  the  great  gulf  of  Hammamet 
and  that  of  Gabes  (Tacape),  which  forms  the  crescent  of  the  lesser 
Syrtis^,  and  then  trends  south-east  to  the  great  Syrtis.  (i)  The  coast 
road  from  Leptis  Magna  throws  off  at  Tacape,  the  last  of  the  Emporia, 
a  great  road  passing  the  end  of  the  salt  lakes,  and  working  northward 
through  the  highlands,  until  it  meets  at  Asturas  (2)  a  second  road  from 
Thenae,  where  the  Emporia  began  ;  then  from  Assuras  a  loop-line  ran 
to  two  stations  on  the  Theveste  road,  Althiburos  and  Thacia.  (3)  At 
Coreva,  higher  up  on  this  same  road,  a  third  route  falls  in  from  Hadru- 
metum. 

There  was  a  MusuLA  on  the  great  Syrtis,  150  miles  beyond  Leptis 
Magna,  between  Dissio  and  ad  Ficum,  which  Tissot  makes  no  attempt 
to  identify  with  the  see  of  Januarius  Muzulensis.  But  why  not .-'  Nothing 
but  its  distance  seems  against  it*. 

143   (ap.    Tiss.),    Urbs   Laribus   surgit  de  ^di/.vi.  ^:  is K6\iroi'  fi-qvoeidrj.  ^•.  ij 

mediis  tutissima  silvis  Et  muris  munita  dd.\aa<xa  iv  (rrevt^  dXi^ofiivr}  airepyd^eraL 

novis   quam  condidit  ipse  Justinianus  iJ.-r]voeidrj  kSXttov... 
apex.  ■*  SenU.  Epp.  34,  Tissot,  II.  pp.  ■228, 

^  Sentt.  Epp.  47.  231. 

*  Sic   Sentt.    Epp.    32. — 'AfifiaiSapa,  There   is   no   ground   for   Morcelli's 

Ft. — Ammsedara,     Ammcedera,     Corp.  (adopted  by  De  Mas  Latrie)  identifica- 

Inscrr.    (It has  yielded  282  inscriptions,  tion   of    'Januarius    Muzulensis'   with 

34  of  them  Christian.     See  Schwarze,  Muzuca.     There  are  two  Muzucas  near 

p.  50,  on  two  Christians  o*"  the  family  Lama  (Tissot,  II.  603  f.  PI.  xix.).    Mor- 

Astiiis  bearing   the   title  flamen    per-  celli   says    readings   vary,   as   Mucuza, 

petuus,  so.  of  Roma  and  Augustus,  in  Muzuca,  Muzucha,  Muzulensis,  Mosu- 

6th  century.) — Ad  Medera,  Pent. — Ad  lensis,    Mutucensis.      Hartel    gives   no 

Medera,  Admedera,  Ad  Medra,  //.  Ant.  variant  in  Cyp.  save  Mozulensis  Cod. 

— Admedera,  Hygitt. — Xv^eTipa,  Proc.  Seg.,  though  Rigault  alleges  '  a  Muzucha 

— Metridera,  Ort?^.  C<>a'.  CoriJ.' and  Holsten 'Muzuca.'    On 

^  Procopius  dwells  on  the  crescent,  the  otlier  hand  the  only  reading  in  list 

38—2 


596 


APPENDIX  K. 


Colonia 

Ulpia 

Trajana 

Leptis. 

Leptis 

Magna,  PI. 

Lebda. 

Bps.aOonat, 

393.  a 

Donat.  411, 

484. 


Oea,  Ocea, 
Colonia,  It. 
Ant. 
Civitas 
Ocensis, 
Oensis,  PI. 
Tripoli. 
Bps.aDonat. 
411,  4S4. 


Other  roads  too  connected  the  towns  \  but  these  three  Unes  striking 
the  coast  road,  and  traversing  the  inland,  would  bring  up  representatives 
of  at  least  three-and-twenty  sees  to  Carthage. 

Hadrumetum  was  about  108  Roman  miles  from  Carthage*,  and  Great 
Leptis  about  650'  by  the  coast  from  Hadrumetum.  The  last  hundred 
miles  of  this  were  the  sand-deluged  coast  of  the  Tripolis,  a  name  which 
then  meant  the  three  early  Phoenician  Marts  of  Sabratoun,  Oiat,  and 
Lebki*,  but  which,  as  its  two  neighbours  decayed,  settled  upon  Oiat  or 
Oea  and  so  remains.  The  conditions  of  life  in  the  TripoHs  differed 
much  from  all  that  we  have  been  considering. 

To  Livy*  Leptis  seemed  'the  only  city'  there  worth  mention.  Its  con- 
stitution must  have  been  strong,  since  in  our  first  century  it  was  still  ruled 
by  the  old  Canaanite  'Judges'  or  Sufetes^.  As  Gibeon  from  Joshua,  so 
Leptis  from  Bestia  sought  and  obtained  instant  conditions  of  peace  when 
the  Romans  appeared  on  the  soil  in  the  outset  of  the  Jugurthan  war. 

Its  enormous  imports  and  exports  may  be  estimated  from  its  antient 
tribute  of  an  Euboic  talent  daily  to  Carthage^,  and  from  the  permanent 
impost  with  which  C.  Julius  Caesar  visited  its  reception  of  the  shattered 
Pompeians. 

The  splendour  of  Oea^  is  witnessed  still  by  the  grandest  Four-fronted 
Janus  extant''.  It  had  been  built  by  a  chief  magistrate,  and  dedicated  by 
a  proconsul  about  a  century  before  our  date,  and  was  probably  surpassed 
by  the  edifices  with  which  Septimius  Severus  adorned  this  his  birthplace. 


of  484  A.D.  (Labbe,  v.  ■266)  and  list  of 
41 1  (Labbe,  III.  199)  which  refers  to  the 
province  is  Muzu'censis. 

The  use  of  the  adjectival  form  in 
Cyprian's  time  has  a  bearing  on  the 
geography,  see  p.  597,  n.  6. 

^  From  Thenae  the  first  route  might 
be  struck  at  Sufetula. 

2  //.  Ant.;  but  //.  Petit.  114. 

3  //.  Ant.;  but  It.  Peut.  632. 

■*  Hence  the  Latin  appellative  Lepci- 
tanus  side  by  side  with  Leptitanus. 

'  Livy  xxxiv.  62. 

*  Their  notable  monument  in  the 
British  Museum  had  strange  English 
adventures  under  our  Fourth  George 
and  William.  Wilmanns,  C.  /.  L.  vili. 
i.  p.  3. 

^  Liv.  xxxiv.  62.  Hirtii  de  B.  Afric. 
c.  97,  tricies  centena  millia  pondo  olei 
annually. 

8  Sentt.   Epp.  83.      Coins,    Ouiath, 


Death;  Oeath  bilath  Makar,  'town  of 
Makar,'  the  Tyrian  '  Hercules';  the  final 
t  is  the  Punic  feminine.  Literary  foiins 
Osa,  Qza,  Oca,  &c. 

'  It  praises  itself  as  '  ex  marmore 
solido'  and  far  surpasses  the  great 
Roman  specimen  in  material,  construc- 
tion and  decoration.  It  is  Bruce's 
'most  exquisite  and  elaborate'  sketch, 
Sir  Lambert  Playfair's  Travels,  p.  280. 
Calpurnius  was  'curator  muneris  publici 
munerarius,  duumvir  quinquennalis  et 
flamen  perfectus.'  Ser.  Cornelius  Scipio 
Orfitus  was  proconsul  about  163  a.d. 

I  may  remark  that  if  Quintilian,viii.3, 
is  right  (and  the  reading  right)  in  ascrib- 
ing the  first  use  of  Munerarius  to  Au- 
gustus, it  is  interesting  that  in  African 
inscriptions,  in  Tertullian  and  Cyprian, 
Munerarius  occurs  several  times  and 
Munerator  never. 


THE  CITIES.  597 

The  position  of  Sabrata  appears  perhaps  in  the  fact  that  the  cause  in  sabrata 
which  Apuleius  had  triumphantly  pleaded  for  himself  on  the  charge  of  jf '1"^' 
magic  employed  in  winning  his  wealthy  lady  was  tried  there  though  all  Sa/Spafla,  Pt. 
the  parties  belonged  to  Oea.     Travellers  have  seen  its  amphitheatre,  the  SabathraP'- 
marble  floor  of  its  temple  or  basilica,  and  its  pier  amid  the  sand.     A  Bps.abonat. 
vast  space,  apparently  never  built  on,  is  included  in  its  walls.     This  may  393?.  4". 
be  what  the  Punic  name  of  Sabratoun^  is  thought  to  describe — a  '  Corn- 
Market  '  of  nations. 

The  Tripolis  was  at  our  date  somewhat  more  than  trilingual,  and  the 
fusion  of  its  population  was  never  accomplished,  any  more  than  that  of 
its  three  tongues,  Libycized  Punic^,  Siceliot  Greek  and  Latin. 

The  Tripolis  was  held  together  at  least  ^  by  an  annual  council,  but  so 
unsubstantially  that  Oea  about  A.D.  70  brought  in  the  Garamantes  to  help 
her  quarrel  with  Leptis. 

It  is  a  mirror  for  colonists  who  think  it  policy  to  be  liberally  indifferent 
to  the  religion  of  nations  with  whom  they  dwell,  or  to  the  barbarism 
which  looks  across  their  pale. 

Thenceforth  the  drift  of  the  Sahara  sand,  successfully  resisted  for  so 
many  ages,  was  seconded  by  the  drift  of  Sahara  tribes  no  less  multi- 
tudinous*. Protectors  like  Count  Romanus  made  resistance  to  them 
hopeless.  Leptis  was  destroyed  once  more  by  the  Ausuritani  in  A.D.  370, 
yet  bishops  of  all  three  towns  appeared  in  41 1.  None  however  after  their 
banishment  by  Huneric  in  484.  So  that  the  towns  sank  probably  soon 
after  that  to  the  condition  in  which  Justinian  found  them,  mounded  deep 
in  sand^  His  splendid  revivals  were  soon  buried  again,  and  of  Great 
Leptis  nothing  now  emerges  but  white  sea-walls  and  a  ghostly  likeness 
to  Carthage. 

The  self-governing  organization  which,  adverse  to  war  and  unifying  as 
it  expanded,  had  arisen  in  that  antient  scene  of  industrious  wealth  and 
anxious  splendour,  was  the  salt  of  their  old  world.  It  could  not  here 
become  the  seed  of  the  new.  That  element  in  Tripolis  was  represented 
at  the  Council  by  Natalis  of  Oea,  who  with  his  own  suffrage  brought  the 
proxies  of  Pompey  of  Sabrata  and  Dioga  of  Great  Leptis  six  or  seven 
hundred  miles,  and — as  Augustine  says — begged  the  question''. 

^  Which  is  also  its  other  Greek  name  Wilmanns'  protest  against  any  idea  of 

'A^pdrovov,  Scyl.  Peripl.  no.     Procop.  confederation.     C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.  p.  2. 
d.   j^dif.   vi.   4   'AXXa   koX  lla^apadav  *  'Globi  supervenere  barbarici.'  Am- 

iT€i.xt-<^a-To  ttoXlv,  ou  Srj  Kai  \6yov  d^iaf  mianus  at  the  end  of  lib.  xxviii.  relates 

noWoO  iKK\r]<Tlav  iSelfiaro.  the   'terrific  tragedy'  \vith  feeling  and 

2  Sail.  j^u^.  78.    Silius,  Pun.  iii.  256,  justice, 
writes  of  their  pre- Roman  age  not  with-  ®  "irdfi/xov  irX^^et  tcl  iroXXd  t^  dvi]- 

out  discrimination.     Sabratha  turn  Ty-  fieXijffdai    Karaxuadeiffa.     Procop.     de 

rium  valgus,  Sarranaque  Leptis,  Oeaque  ^dif.  vi.  4. 
Trinacrios  Afris  permixta  colonos.  *  Sentt.  Epp.  83 — 85.     The  two  ab- 

2   The   diffident   particle   is   due    to  sentee  bishops  are  quoted  in  the  forms 


598  APPENDIX  K. 

Route  (i).     Oea  to  Assuras  by  the  Salt  Lakes  and  Capsa. 

Now  if  we  may  make  so  bold  with  this  said  Natalis  of  Oea  as  to 
watch  his  journey  to  Carthage  by  one  or  other  of  these  routes,  he  would, 
for  any  of  them,  take  first  the  coast-road  as  far  as  Tacape,  now  Gabes. 
Thence  he  might  turn  inland  to  Capsa,  thence  by  Thelepte,  Sufetula, 
Sufes,  Tucca  Terebinthina  to  Assuras.  These  all,  save  Tacape,  were 
sees  which  sent  their  bishops  to  Council  with  Cyprian. 

From  between  the  gulf  and  the  dunes,  below  the  curved  escarpments  of 

the  Nefousa  hills,  which  do  their  best  to  break  the  endless  drifts  of  sand 

and  catch  them  in  their  valley  parallels,  his  road  emerged  on  a  level  of 

vast  lagoons  beyond  which,  but  as  if  among  them,  lay  the  low  island  of 

Girba,  Meninx,  which  in  these  very  years  was  beginning  to  be  called  GlRBA^  as  it 

Djerba'^  '     is  now.     It  was  the  Lotus  Eaters'  Isle.     The  Canaanites  had  brought  to 

Bps.aDonat.  jj.  ^^^^  palms  and  the  arts  of  the  purple  dye.     But  the  superior  brilliance 

393,411,  450,  i:  ir  J  r 

484,  525.  of  the  colour  made  here,  and  the  marvellous  fruitage  of  the  isle,  are  due 
still  to  the  unbroken  industry  of  the  Berbers,  who  received  and  survived 
the  Tyrians,  resisted  the  Mahommedans,  though  they  accepted  their 
creed,  and  speak  their  original  tongue  among  themselves  to  this  day. 

Like  the  Kabyles  they  accepted  and  dropped  Christianity.  They  had 
a  bishop  already  in  Cyprian's  day,  and  he  went  to  the  Council,  a  senior 
bishop,  Monnulus  by  name.  Besides  his  singular  bad  grammar,  it  is 
interesting  to  find  him  expressing  'a  stain'  by  using  a  technical  term  of 
dyeing,  and  that  in  a  form  nowhere  else  existing-. 

Then  on  Natalis'  left  opened  out  the  extraordinary  chain  of  the  three 
salt  water  Chotts,  215  miles  of  lake-basins^,  full  of  quicksands,  crusted 
thick  with  salt  which  has  conveyed  and  betrayed  armies  and  caravans  in 
single  file  for  thousands  of  years — a  crust  spread  like  'floors  of  camphor,' 

Sabratensis  z.x\.A  Leptiviagnensis ;  zXi  \}c\Q  tificetur.'     Hartel, /w(/.  p.  440,  explains 

others  as  e.g.  Natalis  ab  Oea.     The  use  offectura  as='tenebrse.'   But  it  means  a 

of  this  form  at  this  time  ht  this  district  dye  specially  for  the  conversion  of  one 

only  itself  inclines  one  to  believe  that  colour   into   another.      'Infectores   qui 

Muzulensis  in  Sentt.  Epp.  34  relates  to  alienum  colorem  in  lanam  conjiciunt : 

Musula  on  the  Great  Syrtis.  offectores    qui    proprio    colori    novum 

Later,  when  local   designations   be-  officiunt.'     Festus,  lib.  ix. 

came  territorial  titles,  the  temporal  lords  *  Lactis  Salinarum  =  Sebkha. 

used  the  a  or  the  de,  the  bishops  kept  It   was   only  in   1853  *hat  the  first 

(to  this  day)  the  adjective.  real  exploration  of  this  strange  country 

^  Between   a.d.    251    and    260;    v.  was  made,  by  M.  Tissot. 

Tissot,  I.  p.  I95n.    There  is  no  ground  The    lacustrine   valley   is   348   kilo- 

for  inventing  another  Girba  (as  Morcelli  metres  long  in  the  Carte  de  Reconnais- 

does)  in  the  Proconsular  Province.  sance,  188 1 — 1887.     Sir  L.   Playfair's 

^  Sentt. Epp.  \o.  Monnulus 'Debent...  map  gives  370  and  Tissot's  apparently 

baptizari,  ut  cancer  quod  habebant  et  273,  vol.  I.  p.  100.     'The  size  of  the 

damnationis  iram  et  erroris  offecturam  Chotts  varies  every  month.' 
per  sanctum  et  cseleste  lavacrum  sane- 


THE   CITIES.  599 

an  'arctic  landscape  under  a  sky  of  fire,'  and  set  with  fathomless  lakes 
that  shine  among  the  mirage  like  molten  metal.  The  first  and  greatest 
is  the  mystical  lake  Tritonis.  The  traveller  crossed  only  '  the  Mouth ' 
and  passed  behind  'the  Lips'— these  are  the  Arab  names  for  the  gap 
where  Sahara  comes  upon  the  sea,  and  for  the  low  north  ranges  which 
fringe  it.  Sheltered  from  the  August  heat  of  the  weird  valleys  he  would 
use  Roman  roads  and  stations  until,  a  hundred  miles  beyond  Gabes,  he 
reached  Capsa. 

Capsa^  is  but  an  oasis  set  in  a  great  breach  of  the  same  perpendicular  Capsa 
north  cliff  which  continuing  beyond  Biskra  walls  in  the  salt  desert.   There  Rer'u^il^ " 
three  vast  valleys  meet  from  north,  north-west  and  east,  and  pour  streams  Capsensium. 
and  roads  and  merchandise  out  through  the  Mountain-gate.   For  from  the  Capsa"^^' 
days  of  'the  Libyan  Hercules'— the  first  Phoenicians— the  city  is  warder  av^^ 
of  the  mountain  plateaux  of  the  Tell,  and  keeps  the  gate  of  Sahara  and  ^p^-  |^9. 
Soudan^.     Mediaeval  travellers  could  still  admire  its  fortress,  defences  4".  484- 
and  masonry ;  we  have  only  its  vast  reservoirs  and  bathing  tanks.     The 
Roman  historians  were  amazed  at  its  lonely  greatness,  '  amid  immeasur- 
able solitudes,'  as  Sallust  writes,  and  at  its  security  '  in  mid  Afric  fenced 
with  sands  and  serpents'  says  Florus.     No  figure  of  speech  ;  the  French 
columns  of  to-day  keep  fires  burning  through  their  quarters,  not  to  scare 
the  cerastes,  but  for  instant  cautery  ^ 

Marius  is  still  a  legendary  hero  there  on  account  of  his  preternatural 
capture  of  the  fortress  in  mere  lust  of  battle.  The  Christians  of  the 
district  (Pliny  observes  that  it  is  more  of  a  clan  {natid)  than  a  city*)  had 
no  bloody  contest  with  Islam,  but  held  their  faith  longer  than  others  with 
a  quietude  which  is  described  as  still  characteristic  of  them. 

Donatulus,  who  went  to  the  Council,  was"  a  junior  bishop  consecrated 
as  we  have  seen  in  a.d.  252,  and  it  is  rather  amusing  to  notice  that  he 
begins  his  brief  speech  with  '  Et  ego  semper  sensi.' 

Far  away,  quite  at  the  western  end  of  the  same  vast  valley  of  the  salt 
lakes,  the  Roman  military  road  swept  down  south  through  another  g^and 
defile,  the  famous  El  Kantara,  and  onward  for  some  50  miles  to  reach  the 
fine  oasis  of  Mlili ;  thence  it  returned  up  to  Biskra,  and  ran  east  under 
Aures  and  the. long  vertical  cliffs  which  rim  Sahara.  It  reached  the 
Chott-el-Djerid,  embraced  it  and  went  on  to  Gabes. 

This  military  road  was  the  south  boundary  of  the  Roman  Province,  Gemells. 
here  called  Limes  Gemellensis,  for  the  oasis  which  made  its  comer  was  Bp'aDonat. 

411. 

^  Morcelli  dreams  of  two  Capsas  also.  '  Bruce  did  not  find  this  necessary. 

'^  Sentt.  Epp.  69 ;  Capse,  H.    I  omit       Playfair,  p.  286. 
the  frequent  statement  that  Capsa  was  *  ...ex  reliquo  numero  non  civitates 

the  treasure  city  of  Jugurtha,  because       tantum   sed   pleneque    etiam   nationes 
Wilmanns,    C.   I.    L.    vill.   i.    p.    22,       jure  dici  possunt  ut  Natabudes,  Capsi- 
reasonably  questions  the  accuracy  of  the       tani. ..     H.  N.y.\. 
text  of  Strabo.  *  Sentt.  Epp.  69.     Cf.  Ep.  56. 


600  APPENDIX  K. 

GEMELLiE.  It  was  nothing  but  one  magnificent  fortified  camp  and  pre- 
cinct with  every  known  form  of  defence,  with  outlying  forts  and  outposts. 
It  was  the  bastion  of  Rome  against  wild  Africa.  There  is  still  on  the  spot 
a  monument  erected  in  the  year  253,  while  Carthjige  was  most  angry 
with  Cyprian  ;  a  monument  of  the  gratitude  of  a  squadron  (vexillatio)  a 
thousand  strong  of  the  Third  Legion,  '  Augusta,'  disbanded  by  Gordian 
and  lately  reconstituted  and  recalled  from  Rhaetia^,  which  on  Oct.  23rd 
in  that  year  marched  back  into  its  old  quarters,  '  Gemell{as)  RegressiV 

The  present  desert  of  Mokran  became  a  garden,  for  Sahara  soil 
wants  nothing  but  water,  and  the  troops  completely  intersected  the  whole 
tract  as  far  as  the  first  salt  lake,  Chott  Melghigh,  with  channels  from 
their  river  and  cross  channels  and  ditches.  The  great  camp  had  its 
bishop  Litteus  who  went  to  Carthage,  and  there  drew  the  metaphor 
by  which  he  proved  his  position,  from  the  'blind  leading  the  blind 
into  the  ditch ^' 

No  other  Catholic  bishop  of  the  place  is  ever  mentioned,  and  Burcaton, 

the  Donatist  bishop  of  the  year  41 1,  states  that  he  had  never  known  one*. 

Colonia  The  north  road  from  Capsa  'climbs  by  immense  stairs'  to  the  high 

Thelepte.  r  /  o 

1  Medinat  d  platcau  on  which  Thelepte  stands ;  a  city  of  the  usual  inland  type — 

■iHa^ichei  theatre,   baths,   an   old  citadel  and  a  Byzantine  one  as  at  Tebessa,  a 

^s^rSonat  circuit  of  3^  miles,  and  its  insula  traceable.     That  is,  if  Medinat  el 

411,  484-        Kdima  be  Thelepte.     If  Thelepte  is  Haouch  el  Khima^  it  is  on  a  still 

higher  plateau  to  the  eastward,  and  still  a  city  of  similar  type.     But  our 

two  great  authorities  differ  as  to  the  distance",  and  no  inscription  has  yet 

decided  between  them.     Its  bishop,  Julian'',  was  at  the  Council. 

^  Cp.  sup.  Lambaesis,  p.  586.  from   his   Notices  Episcopales,    vol.   II. 

^  C.   I.   L.   VIII.   i.   no.    ■2482    and  pp.  770  ff. 

Mommsen's  Preface  xxii.  '  Cagnat,  iil.  p.  5,  does  not  mention 

3  Seittt.  Epp.  82.  either   Haouch  el  Khima  or    Henchir 

■*  His  delicate  dissenting  style  is  '  Tra-  Mzira,  two  localities  shewn  near  together 

ditorem  non  habeo  neque  unquam  ha-  in  Tissot,  pi.  xix.,  but  he  describes  con- 

bui.'     It  is  intelligible  that  a  fortress  siderable  ruins  at   Henschir-el-Khima- 

should  cease  to  be  the  seat  of  a  bishop.  ruta-Zarouia,    a   name   in   which   both 

(At  Durham  or  Carlisle  the  bishop  was  seem  to  appear.     The  difficulties  of  ex- 

in  command.)    But  it  would  be  hard  to  ploration   are  great   here.      See  Wil- 

explain  if  this  had   been,  as  Morcelli  manns'  tale  of  miseries  and  misgivings, 

thinks,  Gemelbe  of  Numidia  (Kkerbet  viii.  i.  p.  31. 

^raz«),  or  the  Gemellse  one  stage  north  ^    The    Peutinger    Table    gives    44 

of  Capsa.  (Roman)     miles    as    the    distance    of 

The    inscription    and    the  fragment  Thelepte  from  Capsa,  and  the  Itinerary 

'Mlili'  prove  that  the  Peutinger  Table  of  Antoninus  gives  71;  these  numbers 

(see  Spruner)  erred  in  placing  Gemellae  fairly  correspond  to  the  distances  of  the 

east  of  Biskra.     A  glance  at  the  map  two  towns  named  above. 

(Tissot,  pi.  xxii.)  explains  the  mistake.  "  Sentt.  Epp.  57.    The  Gentile  name 

1  do  not  understand  why  the  last  named  Julius   was  common   here ;    C.   Julius 

accurate  author  omits  Gemellas  altogether  Saturninus  of  Thelepte  and  C.  Julius 


THE  CITIES.  60I 

From  either  Thelepte  to  Sufetula^  is  about  37  miles.    The  bishop  of  Sufetuia, 
SUFETULA,  Privatianus',  came  from  a  town  unlike  any  type  we  have  de-  [^coionU]. 
scribed.     It  was  the  very  seat  of  wealth  and  of  security.    It  was  not  even  ^^'"^^j_ 
walled,  and  its  spoil  astounded  its  captors.     It  stood  where  the  great  418,  484- 
road  from  Theveste  to  the  sea  crossed  the  great  road  from  Carthage 
to  Sahara.     Its  regular  streets  are  full  of  beautiful  relics  of  architecture 
without  a  single  Arab  structure  ever  having  been  raised  among  them, 
and  its  range  of  three  tall  temples  3,  side  by  side,  in  golden  limestone, 
with  their  great  gate  and  cloisters,  was  of  unsurpassed  beauty.     These 
are  of  the  Aurelius  and  Verus  age,  while  a  great  triumphal  arch  is  fifty 
years  later  than  the  Council,  dedicated  to  Maximian  and  Constantine. 
There  are  many  temples  traceable,  and  many  churches. 

The  destruction  of  the  Christian  'Tyrant'  Gregorius  by  Ibn  Saad  was 
a  crucial  event,  which  closed  the  Christianity  of  this  region  twelve  cen- 
turies and  a  half  ago. 

The  country  below  and  all  west  of  Sbeitla  to  the  sea  is  one  monu- 
mental test  of  what  Islam  has  done  for  civilization.  The  crystal  river  of 
the  city,  'copious  as  Zaghouan,'  and  many  streams  besides  lose  them- 
selves in  the  sand.  The  now  trackless,  treeless,  scorching  plains  were 
once  alive  with  'villages*  that  touched  each  other,'  says  the  Arab  his- 
torian, along  infinite  woods.  The  soil  is  all  strewn  with  hewn  stones. 
Dry  fountains  and  broken  stations  dot  the  wayside.  Roman  oil  mills 
stand  with  no  olives  in  sight,  save  some  glorious  giant  which  the  Arab  is 
burning  piecemeal.  The  very  soil,  no  longer  bound  together  by  roots, 
is  washed  from  the  hills. 

For  all  this  denudation,  physical  and  moral,  Islam  is  to  be  thanked, 
yet  some  earher  thanks  are  due  to  Christian  sects  which,  unlearning  all 
that  Cyprian  and  Augustine  had  taught,  sank  for  lack  of  charity  into  a 
controversial  and  political  religion,  and  armed  opinion  with  material 
forces. 

Sufetuia  may,  to  judge  from  its  sound,  be  a  daughter  of  SUFES,  and 

Jovinus  of  Thelepte  are  the  names  of  sign.     Yet  this  division  of  styles,  taken 

two  officers  at  Lambaesis.    C./.L.  viil.  with   the   fact  that  the  gi-eat  entrance 

i.  2568,  2569.  is  not  centric  to  the  fa9ade,  seem  to  me 

1  'Probabiliter  Colonia' C./.Z.  VIII.  to  indicate  extension  at  some  period, 
i.  p.  40.  But  how  established?  Not  Two  beautiful  drawings  of  Bruce's  have 
so  in  /tin.  Ant.  nor  in  any  inscription.  been  reproduced  by  Sir  Lambert  Play- 
■C.  I.  L.  VIII.  i.  p.  40,  Suppl.  i.  p.  1180.  fair,  p.  155,  while  Mr  Alex.  Graham 
Its  people  called  themselves  Sufetu-  ( Travels  in  Tunisia)  has  two  interesting 
ientes  as  well  as  Suflfetulenses,  C.  I.  L.  sketches  and  a  restoration  of  the  Triple 
VIII.  i.  233.  Temple. 

2  Sentt.  Epp.  19.  ■•  This  word  of  Ibn  Khaldoun,  their 
*  The  two  side  temples  of  the  Corin-       own  historian,  seems  to  me  to  account 

thian  order,  flanking  a  middle  which  is       for  Wilmanns'  surprise  at  finding  so  few 
Composite,  are  said  to  be  one  large  de-       inscriptions  among  so  many  remains. 


602 


APPENDIX  K. 


Sufes. 

Colonia 

Sufetana. 

...Aurelia 

Sufetana. 

Castellum 

Sufetanum. 

Sbiba. 

Bps.  411,484, 

Playf.  191. 


Tucca  Tere- 
binthina. 
It.  Ant. 
Dougga. 


Sufes  seems  a  primaeval  Berber  name  from  its  ^Sou/^  or  river.  The 
straight  north  road  thither  runs  about  nineteen  miles  along  one  of  the 
wondrous  valleys  of  the  Tell.  About  A.D.  399  the  blood  of  sixty  Chris- 
tians was  shed  here  for  a  broken  Hercules  whom  Augustine  scorn- 
fully offered  to  replace,  and  who  in  a  fine  inscription  is  yet  honoured 
there  as  '  Genius  of  the  Fatherland.'  That  means  an  early  settlement  of 
Phoenicians ;  and  one  of  the  oldest  Roman  inscriptions  in  the  country 
records  the  new  settlings  under  or  before  Augustus^.  The  present 
bishop  was  Privatus^. 

The  next  stage  was  the  next  see,  TucCA  Terebinthina.  The 
bishop  was  Satuminus,  for  Honoratus  belongs  to  Tucca  of  Numidia^ 
Saturninus  is  familiar  with  the  teaching  of  Marcion. 

Twelve  Roman  miles  bring  us  to  ASSURAS*,  again  a  noble  regularly 


1  C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.  nos.  262,  258. 
Wilmanns  points  out  that  the  address 
of  Augustine's  indignant  note  {Ep.  50) 
should  have  Sufetanje  for  Suffectanse. 
The  same  correction  appears  to  have 
been  made  in  Victor  Vitensis,  Pcrsec. 
Afric.  I.  7. 

-  There  are  at  Sufetula  two  graceful 
little  epitaphs  which  set  forth  those 
prevalent  views  of  Life  and  Death  which 
Privatus  was  set  to  dispel.  C.  I.  L. 
VIII.  i.  no.  241.  Marcellus  hie  quiescit  I 
Medica  nobilis  arte  |  Annis  qui  fere  vixit  | 
Triginta  et  duobus.  Sed  cum  cuncta 
parasset  |  Edendo,  placiturus  |  Tertivim 
muneris  ante  |  Valida  febre  crematus  | 
Diem  defunctus  obiit.  [Edendo  nmneri 
Tertium  diem.'] 

No.  251,  acrostich.  Genitor  Junonem 
dedicat  |  Alteque  Pompeiae  locat  |  Leva- 
men  hoc  doloribus  |  Lacrimisquepausam 
credidit  |  At  nunc  videndo  jiigiter  |  Et 
fletum  et  gemitus  integral. 

■*  Sentt.  Epp.  52.  Alius  Saturninus 
a  Tucca,  Hart  el  \  a  tucga,  Cod.  Seg.; 
attu*ca.  Cod.  Regin. ;  a  Thucca,  edd. 
airh  Si/dc^s,  Gk.  vers.  Morcelli  trans- 
poses them. 

Sentt.  Epp.  11  Honoratus  a  Thucca,  no 
v.l.%  dird  AoiJ7/CT7J,  Gk.  vers.  (?AovyKTji). 

Where  Tucca  Terebinthina  should 
be  by  the  stages  in  the  Itinerary  of 
Antoninus  we  find  Henschir  Dougga. 


Another  Dougga  near  Tibursicum  has 
remains  'the  most  exquisite  in  Africa' 
(Playfair)  of  a  temple  and  mausoleum 
from  which  the  British  Museum  has  the 
bilingual  Libyan-Phoenician  inscription 
which  gives  us  the  key  to  the  Libyan 
alphabet.  It  is  now  being  fully  ex- 
plored by  Dr  Carton.  I  do  not  venture 
to  identify,  as  Wilmanns  does,  either 
Tucca  (Thucca)  with  this  Dougga  because 
its  spelling  Thugga,  Thugge,  Tugga, 
does  not  vary  in  a  dozen  inscriptions 
which  name  it.  In  411  a  Catholic 
bishop  (Sabinus)  is  called  Tuccensis 
and  a  Donatist  bishop  (Paschasius)  is 
called  Tuggensis.  In  649,  Victor  is 
called  Episcopus  Municipii  Togire. 

Neither  do  the  MSS.  of  Cyprian  en- 
courage us  to  follow  Wilmanns  in  choos- 
ing either  see  as  Terebinthina  or  in 
writing  either  of  them  Thugga  to  cor- 
respond with  the  Proconsular  city.  Pro- 
copius  however  calls  Thugge  ToO/c/ca 
{de  yEdif.  vi.  5),  and  Ptolemy  Toi//f/ca. 
Wilmanns  declines  to  decide  what  Tucca 
is  meant  by  Dio  Cassius,  48.  21,  h>  t^ 
7r6Xet  Toi/(CK3 ;  but  one  may  modestly 
point  out  that  the  person  and  the  scene 
are  concerned  with  Numidia.  On  Nu- 
midian  Tucca  see  Circle  of  Cirta,  p.  583. 

*  Hatsor,  Punic 'precinct.'  'Acsffovpos, 
Ptol.;  Assurae  and  indecl.  ab  Assuras 
//.  A7tt. ;  Assures,  Tab.  Peut. ;  and  ^diL 


THE  CITIES.  603 

laid  out  city ;  one  of  its  traceable  great  gates  very  perfect,  with  wall  Coionia Julia 
and  inscription  adoring  Caracalla ;  theatre  with  remarkably  long  stage ;  Zan^r. 
fine  Corinthian  portions  of  its  temple.     Like  Sufes,  its  two  names  shew  it  Bps.aDonat. 
to  be  of  earliest  Punic  settling  and  earliest  Roman  resettling.  401. 484- 


Route  (2).     Oea  to  Assuras  by  Thence. 

And  now  at  Assuras  swept  in  another  road  which  Natalis  of  Oea 
might  have  travelled,  if  (not  turning  inland  at  Gabes)  he  kept  the  coast 
beyond  Thenae  and  turned  inland  to  Thysdrus.  He  would  by  this  route 
pass  by  sees  as  many  as  between  Capsa  and  Assuras. 

The  little  acropolis  of  Then^  rises  sternly  over  the  sea,  the  northern-  Coionia 
most  of  the  Emporia.     Its  port  silted  up.     Its  solid  city  wall  two  miles  in  ^u^ta 
circuit ;    nothing  within   but  small   stones   and  potsherds.     The  great  xh^n^mo^- 
necropolis  marks  its  antiquity  of  settlement,  and  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  rum. 
it  still  coined  money  bearing  its  old  name  Tainat  in  Punic  lettering.     Yet  Bpr4ii, 
the  name  is  thought  to  be  the  Berber  of  '  date  palms  ^'  '*^'*'  5^^'  "54i. 

Its  bishop  was  now  Eucratius — a  man  of  precision  and  violence. 
'  Blasphemy  of  the  Trinity '  is  his  phrase  for  heretic  baptism. 

The  great  foss  which  in  A.D.  146  the  Romans  made  to  bound  their 
first  province  ran  over  the  continent  from  the  river  Tusca  over  against 
Tabraca,  and  it  just  took  in  Thense. 

From  Thysdrus  (it  sent  no  bishop  to  Carthage),  at  its  star  of  roads, 
with  amphitheatre  almost  rivalling  in  size,  and  studied  as  if  to  excel  the 
grandest  known,  a  straight  thirty-four  Roman  miles  in  two  stages  would 
bring  our  Natalis  to  Germaniciana.     So  stands  the  Itineraiy  of  An-  Germani- 
tonine^.     Many  ruins  about ;  no  verifying  inscription.     It  is  this  place  it^nt. 
which  is  commonly  assumed  to  have  sent  Bishop  Iambus  to  the  Council^. 

It  was  of  course  a  different  place  from  Abbir  Germaniciana*,  whose 

col.  Assuribus,   C.  I.  L.  vill.  i.  631  ;  ^  Sentt.  Epp.  42. 

ab    Assuras,    Sentt.    Epp.    68;    plebi  4   Thg    perplexity    of    Abbirs    and 

Assuras    consistenti,     Cypr.    Ep.    65.  Germanicianas    is    thus    resolved    by 

Graham  and  Ashbee,  p.  164,  name  the  Wilmanns,    C.   I.  L.   viii.    i.  p.   102. 

plain  Bled-es-Sers.     (?  a  trace  of  As-  Abbir    Majus    (coll.    411)   and   Abbir 

suras.)  Cellense  (Municipium  Julianum  Philip- 

^  Then(se),  C.  I.  L.  viii.  i.  n.  2991 ;  planum  Abbir  Cellense)  or  Cella  {Not. 

Plin.,   Itin.  Ant.     Qha.,  Gaiva,  Strab.  Epp.)  are  one  city;   Abbir   411,   484, 

S^oivai,  Ptol.     ttTrd  Q^vwv,  Seiitt.  Epp.  Abbir  Minus,  and  Abbir  Germaniciana, 

Grace.    Tenitanus,  coll.  411,  notit.  484.  or  Germanicianorum,  are  one  city.   This 

Civitatis  Thenisiis,  Syn.  Ep.  649  (ap.  may  be,  but  I  have  failed  to  find  any 

Wilmanns).      Es    beam    Tha:nat,    'of  trace     of    the    name    Abbir    Minus, 

the    people   of  Thence,'   Punic   Inscr.  Wilmanns  also  does  not  note  Augus- 

Acad.  d.  Ittscrr.  Jan.  1890.  tine's  Germanicianenses. 

2  Tissot,  II.  p.  588. 


6o4 


APPENDIX  K. 


Abbir  Ger- 
maniciana. 
Bps.  411, 
419. 


Marazanx, 
Marazanis, 
It.  Ant. 
Bps. 

411,484,641. 


Ci  vitas 
Mactarita- 
norum. 
Colonia 

XX\3l 

Aurelia_ 

Mactaris. 

Col.  mxa, 

Aurelia 

Augusta 

Mactaris  s. 

Mactarina. 

Makter. 

Bps. 

a  Donat. 

411,  484. 


Civitas 
Uzappa — 
Uzappensis. 


bishop  now  was  Successus^,  and  which  had  its  bishop  also  in  411  and  in 
419  A.D.,  but  has  not  its  site  made  clear  by  either  itinerary  or  inscription. 

The  Roman  see  had  under  Gregory  the  Great  a  patrimony  at  Ger- 
maniciana,  of  which  he  made  the  notary  and  record-keeper,  Hilarus, 
*  Rector.' 

Beyond  Germaniciana,  twenty-two  miles  by  the  Itinerary,  lay  another 
great  centre  of  roads,  Aquas  Regiae,  and  on  a  cross  road  between  this  and 
Sufes  was  Marazana,  not  visited  yet,  but  its  ruins  heard  of  in  Arab 
rumour.  In  this  highland  was  a  Council  held,  of  unknown  date,  but  four 
of  its  canons  survive^,  and  its  bishops  appear  in  three  other  crises  ;  as 
in  this  Council  of  ours  Felix^  did — with  eleven  weighty  words. 

From  either  Aquae  Regiae  or  Sufes  we  rise  fast  among  the  high 
plateaux.  Mactharis*  is  944  feet  above  the  sea".  The  name  has  lived 
orally,  though  not  entered  in  itineraries  nor,  until  the  other  day,  found 
in  inscription.  Yet  in  the  .^lian  century  Mactharis  must  have  been 
one  of  the  stateliest  of  African  cities.  The  ruins  cover  miles  of  ground 
— buildings  finished  in  the  noble  if  not  strictly  grammatical  style  of  the 
country.  Aqueduct  and  amphitheatre,  arches  of  triumph,  bath  and  palace, 
mausolea  with  stone  doors  on  their  pivots,  and  columbaria".  Bruce's 
beautiful  drawings^  prove  how  fast  they  disappear, — like  the  surrounding 
Aleppo  pines  which  the  Turk  taxes  for  pitch  and  neglects  to  preserve. 

Marcus  the  bishop  gave  not  only  his  suffrage  but  a  severe  side  stroke 
at  Stephen. 

Mactharis  lay  high  on  the  left  of  our  road  from  Aquae  Regiae,  which 
leads  to  Ausafa  or  Uzappa^     Great  ruins,  lately  discovered,  partly  of  the 


1  Sentt.  Epp.  16. 

Greg.  M.  Epp.  i.  75,  77;  Vita  (Joan. 
Diac.)  II.  53.  Tissot  does  not  men- 
tion that  Augustine  {Ep.  iv.  25 1)  speaks 
of  Germanicianenses  within  his  own 
jurisdiction  of  Hippo.  It  might  be 
doubtful  whether  the  Roman  estates 
and  the  bishop  at  Carthage  belonged  to 
the  distant  or  to  the  nearer  place,  but 
that  in  the  Collation  of  41 1  and  before 
Huneric  in  484  (Labbe,  v.  265  A,  in. 
184  A,  the  latter  in  the  Numidian  list) 
there  appear  bishops  called  Germanien- 
ses — so  that  the  town  may  have  been 
Germania,  and  Germanicianensis  only 
the  long  drawn  out  adjective  which  the 
Africans  affected. 

^  Ferrandus,  Breviatio  Canon.  44,  76, 
127,  220. — Harduin,  Cone.  I.  col.  1251. 

='  Sentt.  Epp.  46. 


•»  Sentt.  Epp.  38,  a  Macthari  (Hartel), 
oTri  Ma^d/)wv  (Gk.  vers.),  the  slip  Ma- 
chari  in  Cod.  Regin.,  and  the  modern 
Mukthert  (Play fair)  suppose  an  aspirate 
in  the  middle  letters.  But  Cod.  Seguier, 
Mactari;  the  Episcopal  Lists,  Mactari- 
tanus  ;  C.  /.  L.  Supplem.  i.  nn.  iiSoi, 
1 1809  Mactaris,  11813  RP.  Col.  Mac- 
taritanas. 

*  Pelet,  Notiv.  Atl.  des  Col.  Eranf. 
carte  i  (1891). 

'  Necropoles  de  Mactaris,  Cagnat, 
Bull.  arch,  du  Com.  des  Trav.  hist. 
1891,  p.  509  sq.  '  entierement  entouree 
de  necropoles.* 

^  Six,  reproduced  by  Sir  L.  Playfair, 
pp.  194  ff.;  Plan  of  'Macteur,'  Tissot, 
II.  p.  621.  C.  I.  L.  VIII.  Suppl.  i.  n. 
II 804. 

*  Ausafa,   Setitt.   Epp.    73;    Avffd(p7], 


THE  CITIES.  605 

best  age ;  undisturbed  sepulchres,  beside  a  stream  still  called  Ousapha  ;  Municipium 
identified  by  inscriptions  and  answering  to  the  itinerary.  Lucius,  bishop,  Uzappense. 
speaks  with  a  quiet  piety.  ^i.MeUk'.'^' 

Twenty-three   Roman  miles   to   Seggo,  and  the  road  sweeps  west  Bp.  a  Don. 
twenty  more  to  Zama  Regia,  for  from  Aquae  Regiae  to  Assuras  it  circles  ^anj^  Regia. 
by  the  high  valleys  round  some  very  lofty  plateaux  and  mountain  heads.    ^1°°'^ 

There  was  not  an  African  or  Roman  in  Afinca  who  did  not  hold  the  Hadriana 
field  of  Zama  to  have  determined,  as  Polybius  clearly  saw  *  it  must  do,  the  za^^Regia. 
dominion  not  of  Libya  or  Europe,  but  of  the  world.    The  warring  powers,  Zafio,i<t^o>i/, 
the  fortresses  and  genius  of  the  commanders,  and  the  prize  contended  for  Dji&ma. 

Bp.  411. 

had  '  trifled  former  knowmgs.  But  Zama  has  little  to  shew — very  broken 
ground,  an  eminence  among  eminences;  its  old  work  very  solid^,  and 
abundant  evidence  that  at  our  epoch  the  place  was  populous,  rich  and 
artistic. 

Marcellus^  was  the  bishop.     He  put  the  controversy  in  a  nutshell. 

Another  ten  miles  completed  this  cross-country  route,  if  we  may  call  it 
so,  from  Thenae  to  Assuras.     Thence  the  Theveste  road  to  Carthage. 


Route  (3).     Oea  by  Thence  and  Hadrumetuin  to  Carthage. 

Another  perhaps  easier  way  to  Carthage  was  open  to  the  traveller 
from  Oea  when  he  had  reached  Thenae.  He  might  go  on  from  Thysdrus 
to  Hadrumetum,  either  direct  or  by  Leptiminus. 

Leptis,  Leptiminus*  was  built  to  the  waterside,  with  a  fine  road-  Leptiminus, 
stead  but  difficult  to  make^     A  small  city,  but  splendidly  fortified  from  AeWi?' 
the  days  of  the  first  solid  fort  which  sufficed  the  Phoenicians  until  it  was  't.'emia.  ' 
fixed  upon  as  one  of  the  two  residences  of  the  Governor  of  the  Byzacene.  ^p^  .    , 

■^  4".  404,641. 

It  had  sided  at  once  like  its  larger  namesake  with  Rome  when  she  ap- 
peared on  the  ground  and  reaped  its  advantage,  in  being  a  free  and 
exempt  town  for  ever. 

Demetrius  the  bishop^  merely  turns  the  whole  question  under  dis- 
cussion into  an  assertion. 

Zonar.  (ap.  Tissot),  il.  p.  575.     Found  century.     Then    Leptiminus   (indecl.); 

only  in   1884.     Baal  Usappan,  'citizen  Lepteminus;  Anonym.  Ravennat.  Cos- 

of  Usappa.'     Punic  Inscr.  Acad,  dcs  In-  mograph.  Leptis  minus  (Leptis   Parva 

scriptions,  Jan.  1890.  in  Tissot's  Index,  not  antient). 

^  Polyb.  XV.  9,  3.  '  Wilmanns  misreads  what  is  said  of 

^  This  agrees  with  Sallust,  yng.  56,  this  in  Stadiasmus,  as  if  the  port  had 

who   says   it  was  'magis   opere   quam  been  destroyed  in  the  third  century. 

natura  munita.'  The  Christian  (Phoenician?)  burials 

^  Sentt.  Epp.  53.  at  Leptiminus  are  curious;  Schwarze, 

*  Coins  until  Tiberius  A^im  (Phce-  pp.  54,  55,  and  59  and  Tafel  i. 

nician),    then   A^tttis.     Leptis   (A^ttti;,  *  Sentt.  Epp.  36. 

Procop.)  until  iiiKpi.  added  in  the  second 


6o6 


APPENDIX   K. 


Colonia 

Concordia 

Ulpia 

Trajana 

Augusta 

Frugifera 

Hadruine- 

tina. 

Colonia  _ 

Concordia 

Ulpia 

Hadrume- 

tum._ 

Justiniano- 

polis. 

Susa, 

Sousse. 

Bps.  348,  a 

Donat.  393, 

397.411.451 

4S3,  551. 


Horrea  Cae- 

lia.  It.  Ant. 

Hergla. 

Bps. 

a  Donat. 

411,  419. 


Hadrumetum*  rose  picturesquely,  a  white  pyramid,  over  its  elabo- 
rately created  harbour^  with  mighty  breakwater  and  secluded  cothon  like 
Carthage.  As  at  Carthage,  a  massive  yellow-coated  temple  topped  the 
citadel,  and  a  noble  suburb  overspread  the  walls.  For  it  came  direct  from 
Tyre, — an  older  settlement  than  Carthage, — and  now  was  second  city  of 
the  province.  It  never  had  a  history,  for  it  was  strong,  '  frugiferous,' 
commercial,  opulent,  and  unpatriotic.  Czesar  had  stalked  round  its  triple 
walls,  and  knew  he  could  not  afford  to  take  them.  When  the  war  was 
over,  he  would  make  them  pay  for  their  regard  to  Pompey.  It  was  chief 
of  the  seven  cities  which,  at  the  first  scent  of  danger,  had  gone  over  to 
Rome.  Henceforth  it  is  styled  a  Free  City.  Trajan  made  it  a  colony. 
Its  forts,  cisterns,  circus,  grandly  porticoed  theatre,  and  huge  edifices  of 
undivined  intention  date  through  all  its  ages.  The  two  events  which  the 
critic  records  of  it,  its  long  litigation  with  Thysdrus  over  a  temple,  and 
its  rough  reception  of  Vespasian  as  Proconsul,  are  less  significant  to 
real  history  than  Cyprian's  visit  to  its  clergy  and  instructions  about  the 
Roman  see.  Its  bishop,  Polycarp,  had  perhaps  not  been  in  attendance 
at  Carthage  before  this.  He  missed  no  Council  of  which  the  list  re- 
mains*, and  at  this  of  A.D.  255  he  assisted  with  six  sufficient  words*. 

The  traveller,  leaving  Hadrumetum  for  the  north,  whether  he  kept 
close  to  the  sea  or  pursued  the  parallel  road  a  few  miles  inland,  soon  saw 
before  him,  clear  against  water  and  sky,  a  castle-crowned  promontory. 
This  was  one  of  the  great  grain  depots.  It  gave  its  name  to  the  small 
town  of  quays  and  magazines  which  surrounded  it,  Horrea  Qxaax^. 
This  too  had  a  bishop,  Tenax,  who  begins  scriptum  est,  inserts  ecclesia 
una  in  Eph.  iv.  5,  and  so  proves  his  point  easily.  Tenax  might  be  taken 
up  by  the  way,  or  might  join  the  travellers  from  Oea  further  on.  The 
bishop  of  Segermes^  might  also  join  them  at  Bibas  (Djeradorl  or  Bir- 
el-Foouara),  and  thence  the  way  was  short  through  beautiful  Zaghouan 


^  'A5/)t5/i?jy,  -firyros,  •/j.7it6s,' AdpovfnjTos, 
'Adpa/iiJTTi^,  -nvTos,  -firiToi,  -fievTOi.  In 
Greek  never  aspirate.  In  Latin  medals 
and  inscriptions  always,  Hadrumetum, 
-imetum,  -ymetum.  Elsewhere  Adri- 
metum,  -umetum,  -3rmetum.  In  Mysia 
was  also  an  'A5pa./Ji&mov,  -vTeiov;  in 
Lycia  an  'ASpa/iirrrts,  and  an  Arab  tribe 
is  called' Ad pafiirai.     (W.  and  P.) 

2  Is  it  presumptuous  to  think  that 
d\lp.€vos  (Stadiasm.c.  1  i6)means  with  no 
natural  harbour,  and  not  (as  Wilmanns) 
that  in  the  third  century  its  port  had 
disappeared  ?  For  the  breakwater  must 
have  been  serviceable  when  Justinian 
repaired  it,  and  in  the  twelfth  century 


El-Bekri  speaks  of  its  fine  harbour. 

*  .See  p.  569  sup.,  A.D.  252,  £/>.  57; 
254,  £p.  67;  255,  Ep.  70;  256,  Setiif. 
Epp.  3. 

■•  Sentt.  Epp.  3,  a  senior  place.  On 
his  low  place  in  Council  II.  see  Ap- 
pendix, p.  566. 

^  Sentt.  Epp.  d'f  The  text  of  Cyprian 
has  (without  v.  1.)  'ab  Horreis  Caeli?e, 
the  Greek  CL-Kh  'OpiQv  KeWiuv ;  ft. 
Ant.,  'Horrea  Caslia  vicus.'  The  va 
riants  of  the  bishops'  titles  are  several 
at  last  'O^peoKlXrj^;  and  its  now  con 
Iracted  name  is  Hergla. — From  Hadru 
metum,  18  miles  (It.  Ant.). 

«  Above,  p.  579. 


THE  CITIES.  607 

and  Gor  and  Thuburbo  Majus  into  Carthage^,  striking  the  Theveste  road 
usually  at  Coreva. 

6.     Mauretania. 

The  proem  of  the  Council  says  that  there  were  assembled  at  it 
*  Bishops  very  many,  out  of  the  Province  Africa,  Numidia,  Mauretania.' 
Mauretania  seems  to  have  been  represented,  except  as  claiming  to  itself  a 
half  share  in  the  bishop  of  Tucca,  only  by  the  bishops  of  BURUC  and  tBoOpxa,  Pt. 
Nova.  Wilmanns  thinks  Thubunae^  might  be  claimed  for  Mauretania,  Donat.  411. 
but  does  not  claim  it.  Whatever  the  reasons  in  favour,  they  are  not  the 
same  as  for  Tucca. 

BuRUC.  There  are  independent  reasons  for  beheving  Quietus"^  to  be 
wrongly  read  for  Quintus,  and  Quintus  to  be  the  correspondent  of 
Cyprian's  seventy-first  epistle.  Quintus  was  a  Mauretanian,  '  our  col- 
league established  in  Mauretania,'  and  if  so  BURUC  was  a  Mauretanian 
see,  which  from  other  considerations  also  is  more  likely  than  not*. 

As  for  Nova,  two  bishops,  each  styled  Nobensis,  both  of  Mauretania,  Bps. 
from  different  cities,  presented  themselves  before  Huneric  in  A.D.  484,  "*"'  *  "*' 
and  were  banished.     One  of  them,   Mingin,  barbarous  name,  died  in 
exiled     Also  a  bishop  from  one  of  them  assisted  in  a.d.  411  at  the  Col- 
lation of  Carthage. 

There  is  no  African  Nova  except  in  South  Egypt,  but  two  cities  called 
Oppidum  Novum  are  in   Mauretania.      One  of  these  is  too  far,  only  It.  Ant. 
62  Roman  miles  from  Tangiers,  16 13  from  Carthage. 

The  other  is  near  Manliana  and  only  about  210  miles  beyond  the  Ptoi.  and 
Numidian  frontier.     This  may  be  the  Nova  of  our  very  explicit  bishop 
Rogatianus. 

7.     TJie  Cities  Unidentified. 

[This  list  seems  complete  as  far  as  was  known  up  to  1893 ;  it  is  possible  th^t  fresh  identifica- 
tions have  been  conjectured  or  proved  since.     E.  F.  Benson.] 

It  only  remains  to  add  the  names  of  the  sees  which  yet  await  dis- 
covery and  identification.     The  disinterment  of  inscriptions  alone  could 

^  Route,  Tissot,  11.  p.  539.   Tab.  Peut.  Mauretanian  Burca,  and  the  Burugiaten- 

Bibae  to  Onellana  (Zaghouan)  16  miles,  sis  Episcopus  of  a.d.  411  (Labbe,  iii. 

Onellana  to  Thuburbo  Majus  15.  133   B)    may   belong  to   it.      Leontius 

2  C.  I.  L.  VIII.  i.  p.  453.  Burcensis,  A.D.  484  (Labbe,  v.  263)  is  of 

^  Note  on   Quintus  appears  p.   363  Numidia.     Rigault  has  Buruch,  Baluze 

before  the  Third  Council.  Baruch. 

•*  Epp.  71,  72,  I.     \-a.Sentt.  Epp.  27  »  Sentt.   Epp.    60,     'a   Nova.'      In 

Mss.   have  and  editions  attest  'Buruc'  Labbe,  v.  268  B,  per  stands  for  peregre; 

and  'Burug.'     It  is  no  way  impossible  see  also  269  B,  III.  326  D.     Nobensis; 

that  these  should  be  latinised  as  Buruca,  so  Nobabarbarensis,  Nobagermaniensis, 

Burugia,    and   that   Ptolemy's  BoOp/ca,  Nobasparsensis,  &c. 


6o8 


APPENDIX  K. 


set  at  rest  the  questions  which  arise,  so  that  further  criticism  would 
be  mostly  misspent.  There  is  a  list  of  late  authorities  in  Tissot,  ir. 
p.  771,  note  I.    The  MS.  readings  are  from  Hartel. 


[?  Oiara, 
Str.]  Bp. 
484- 
Bps.  411, 
484. 


Bps.    a    Do- 
nat.  411,  484. 


Bp.  484. 

Bp.  484. 
Bps. 411, 484. 


/«  Numidia. 

Sententia  15     Vada.  [Dativus] 

23    Vicus  Caesaris=V.  Augusti? 

33     Bamaccora  H.      Ab  amacora    Lauresh.    Abbamaccora  T. 
{Regin.)  ab  amaccura  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  vi.  xl.  [Felix] 
(Vamaccorensis.     The  reading  Coll.  Carth.  with  Pliny  v.  4  Bama- 
cures,  a  Numidian  tribe,  shews  that  B  belongs  to  name.    Tissot  II. 
P-  777  gives  it  among  known  see-sites,  but  no  more.) 
45     Midili  H.  cod.  Seg.  Regin.  Madili  Lauresh.  Midila  August. 
de  Baptism,  contr.  Donatt.  Vll.  ix.  [lader] 

(Numidia  by  list  of  484,  and  therefore  not  as  Morcelli,  '  Pagus  Mer- 
curialis  Veteranorum  Medilitanorum,'  which  was  found  in  Prov. 
Proc.  Tiss.  II.  591.) 
(The  Bishop's  name  Iader  has  a  Barbarian  look.  It  occurs  else- 
where only  in  a  Christian  inscription  at  Tebessa,  Acad,  des  Inscrr. 
Mai  1890,  'lulio  laderi  patri  dulcissimo  in  pace  a  w.') 

54    ?   Ulul^  ('ab  Ululis')-      More,  would  identify  with  ?  UUse 

(Ullitanus,  a.d.  484,  Labbe  v.  265).  [Irenaeus] 

56     Tharassa  H.  Tharasa.  [Zosimas] 

66     Marcelliana,  ?  Giru  Marcelli.  QulianusJ 


In  Provincia. 


Bps.  a  Do- 
nat.  411,  525, 
646. 

Bps.  397, 411. 
484- 


Bps. 
419. 


?    411, 


Bps.  a  Do- 
nat.  393,  397, 
411,  484. 


Bp.  646. 

Bps.  a  Do- 
nat.  393,  a 
Donat.  411 ; 
484  (vacant). 
Bp.  a  Donat. 
411. 


16 


35 


43 
48 

50 


Biltha  H.  Bilta.  Vilta  August,   de  Baptism,  contr.  Donatt. 

VI.  viii.  [Caecilius] 

Misgirpa  H.  miscirpa  Lauresh.  Migirpa  August,  de  Baptism. 

contr.  Donatt.  vi.  ix.  [Primus] 

Abbir    germaniciana  H.    Abbis    Lauresh.    germanicipiana 

Regin.  [Successus] 

Thasualthe    H.     Thasuate    Regin.     Thasualte,     Thasbalte 

August,  de  Baptisrn.  contr.  Donatt.  vi.  xlii.   PTabalta  //. 

Ant.  [?  omitted  by  Tissot]  (Byzac).  [Adelphius] 

Rucuma  H.  rucuna  Seg.  rucima  Lauresh.  [Lucianus] 

Dionysiana  (Byzac).  [Pomponius] 

Ausuaga  H.  ausuago  Seg.  Ausuagga  Lauresh.  adausuagga 

Regin.  Auzagga  Coll.  Carth.  [Ahymnus] 

(Two  sees  of  that  name,  as  Primianus,  Donatist  bishop  at  Carthage, 

explains  in  the  Collation  of  Carthage  A.D.  411,  Prima  Cognitio 

179,  Labbe  iii.  p.  318.) 


THE  CITIES.  609 

Sententia  51     Victoriana  H.  Victorina  Seg.  (Byzac).  [Saturninus]  Bps. 393,484, 

(Oi)t/cTop/o,  Pt.   in  Mauretania  Csesariensis...' Victoriana  dicitur  villa,     ^' 
ab  Hippone  Regio  minus  xxx  milibus  abest,'  August,  de  Civ.  Dei 
25,  8,  7.) 

64  Avitin^,  Abitin^.  \al.  Saturninus]  Bps.    before 

304,  411, 440, 
Tissot   II.  771  infers  neighbourhood  of  Membresa  from   Aug.  <:.  525,  649. 

Epist.  Parvien.  iii.  6.     (In  411  Bp.  of  Avitta  also  present.)     *In 

civitate  Abitinensi,'  ap.  Acta  SS.  Saturnini,  Dativi  et  aliorum 

in  Africa  (a.D.  304),  Ruinart  Act.  Martyr. 

65  Aggya  H.  so  August,  de  Baptism,  contr.  Donatt.  vii.  xxix.  Bp.  646. 

acbia  Mon.  Regin.  acdia  Lauresh.  [Quintus] 

(?  Agensis  Ep.  Syn.  ad  Paul.  Constant.  ?  a.d.  646.) 

80  a  Thambis  H.  Thanbis  Seg.  Thambeis  August,  de  Baptism.  Bps.  a  Do- 
contr.  Donatt.  vii.  xliv.  (Tambaiensis  411,  Tambeitanus  484)  "s^.^^^'*"' 
(Byzac).  [Secundianus] 

Province  Uncertain. 

7     A  Castra  Galbae  H.  Castro  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donatt.  vi.  xiv. 

[Lucius] 
44     Luperciana.  [Pelagianus] 

55     Cibaliana,  ?  Djebeliana  Tissot  ll.  781  [near  Usilla  on  Lesser  Bp.  aDonat. 

Syrtisj.  [Donatus]  *"' 

63     a  Buslacenis  H.  abustiacgenis  Lauresh.  abustlaccens   Reg. 

abusti  lacceni  Monac.  [al.  Felix] 

(More,  conjectures  contraction  of  Bisica  Lucana,  west  of  Thuburbo 

Majus;  Tissot  II.  p.  333.  ?  Visicensis  in  Coll.  Carth. 

411,  and  in  Ep.  Syn.  ad  Patdum  Constant.  ?  A.D.  646.    Labbe  III. 

1880.) 

74     a  Gurgitibus     ?  Gurgaitensis  (Byzac.)  More.  \al.  Felix]  Bp.  484. 

(The  regular  form  a  gurgitibus  can  scarcely  be  traced  to  any  proba- 
ble corruption  from  Gergis  in  Byzac.  '  Stadiasm.  102  ;  Procop. 
^dif.  vi.  4 ;  C.  X.  Miiller  Numismatique  de  Vancienne  Afrique 
II.  p.  35.  B.  V.  Head  Historia  Numorum  p.  735  read  Gerg.  for 
Gergis  on  a  medal  in  Brit.  Mus. — but  ?  CERC  (Cercine).') 
78     Octavu.  [Victor]  Bp.  484. 

(Octabensis  in  Numidia  484;   massacre  by  Circumcellions,  Optat. 
iii.  4.     Octabensis,  Octabiensis  in  Byzacene  484.) 


39 


6lO  APPENDIX  L. 

Readings  of  Cities  in  Crawford  MS. 

The  following  axe  the  readings  of  the  cities  in  the  Crawford  MS. 
which  differ  from  Hartel's.  Hartel's  MSS.  which  they  resemble  are 
noted.  When  no  MS.  is  noted  none  agrees.  A  qx  ab  noted  only  when 
necessary. 

3  adrimeto  4  thamoga  7  galha  10  girpa  ii  accedias  7" 

i^bacai^"  15  badis  Z  (.<4m^)  17  ad  huc«cabori,  dhuccabori  ZT" 

27  buruch  editiones  aliquot  31  theveste  LV  33  abamaccora,  ab  amacora  L 
35  thevalthe  40  gor  LT  {Aug)  4.2  ger  maniciana  45  medeli 

47  a  bobba  T  {Aug)  48  dionisiana  50  a  bausuagga,  ausuagga  Z  ad  ausuagga  T 
51  victoria  {OviKTopla  Ptol.)  54  Ubulis  62  Membressa  Z  63  a  bustlacgenis, 
a  bustlacgenis  Z  abustlaccens  T  65  achia  67  orreis  caelise  68  asurag 

70  rusicca  71  cuiguli  72  hip  pomine  harit  to  76  gazauphala,  gazauphalia  LT 
•J1  tucca  78  octaviu  81  chulabi. 


APPENDIX    L. 


S.  Cyprian's  Day  in  Kalendars 

A  nd  how  it  comes  to  be  in  England  on  the  26th  instead  of  the 
i^th  September. 

This  enquiry  is  not  so  trivial  as  it  may  seem.  It  is  not  only  archaeo- 
logically  curious  as  a  good  instance  of  the  gradual  formation  of  kalendars, 
but  it  has  a  spiritual  side,  too,  of  which  we  will  say  a  word  when  we  have 
finished  ^ 

S.  Cyprian  suffered  on  the  14th  of  September.  Accordingly  in  the 
Martyrology  of  the  African  Church  and  in  the  earlier  Roman  kalendars 
this  was  the  day  of  his  commemoration  by  himself  alone.  The  '■  depositio 
juartirutn'  of  Rome  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  records  the 
memorable  fact  that,  (though  his  relics  were  of  course  not  there,)  his 
Day  was  celebrated  in  the  Cemetery  of  Callistus.  The  Missal  of  the 
Mozarabic  rite  and  the  Sanctorale  of  its  Breviary  also  give  complete 
evidence  how  he  was  at  first  commemorated  alone  in  the  Services, 
although  there  have  been  uncritical  and  unhistorical  guesses  hazarded 
about  Cornelius'  absence  from  the  Depositio.     {Note  A.) 

The  first  change  made  was  by  uniting  in  the  commemoration  with 

^  In  the  collation  and  verification  of  some   of  the  kalendars   I  am  greatly 
indebted  to  M.  Larpent. 


S.   CYPRIAN'S  DAY  IN   KALENDARS.  6X1 

Cyprian  his  friend  Cornelius,  who  had  died  in  June  253.  The  change 
was  made  at  Rome,  and  it  is  notable  that  the  Pope  was  placed  on 
Cyprian's  Day,  not  Cyprian  transferred  to  his ;  but  the  name  of  Cornelius 
is  placed  first. 

This  is  what  we  find  in  the  Leonian  Sacramentary  and  in  a  kalendar 
of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century  from  MSS.  once  at  Grasse  and  Avignon. 
(^Note  B.) 

The  Feast  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross,  commemorated  in  the 
West  the  recovery  of  that  precious  relic  from  the  Persians  by  Heraclius  in 
A.D.  628.  The  date  of  the  introduction  of  the  Festival  is  unknown,  but  it 
was  kept  on  the  14th  September,  as  if  traditionally  the  day  on  which  the 
cross  was  re-erected.  The  addition  of  that  commemoration,  usually  in 
the  first  place,  is  the  next  change  in  the  observance  of  the  day.  This  we 
see  in  the  Gelasian  and  Gregorian  Sacramentaries  as  they  stand.   {Note  c.) 

For  a  long  time  after  these,  which  have  the  appearance  of  having  been 
neatly  re-edited,  kalendars  shew  themselves  to  be  copied  carefully  from 
older  ones  by  the  perpetuation  of  the  word  Ro7nce  after  the  observance 
had  become  universal,  and  of  Karthagbie  after  Carthage  had  ceased  to 
be.  This  continues,  though  diminishingly,  until  quite  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century.     {Note  D.) 

From  this  period  the  local  origins  of  the  commemorations  dis- 
appear. They  are  at  home  everywhere.  But  at  the  very  same  time 
singular  instances  occur  of  the  saints  themselves  too  disappearing  from 
the  kalendars.  This  does  not,  however,  mean  that  they  disappeared  from 
the  Offices,  although  it  shews  the  increased  appreciation  of  the  Exalta- 
tion.    {Note  E.) 

But  all  the  time  the  Celebration  of  Holy  Cross  Day  was  growing  in 
popularity  and  observance,  and  was  also  of  civil  importance  as  the  unre- 
formed  Quarter  Day.  The  commemoration  of  Cornelius  and  Cyprian  on 
the  same  day  became  inconvenient,  and  began  to  be  moved  to  various 
days.  The  first  to  move  it  was  Cardinal  Quignon  in  the  Reformed 
Breviary  of  1535,  which  was  allowed  to  be  used  by  secular  clergy  who 
desired  it.  {Licence  of  Paid  PP.  III..,  Feb.  5,  1535.)  He  moved  it  on  to 
the  next  day,  the  15th.     {Note  F.) 

England  throughout  had  the  same  usage,  but  with  a  curious  ground- 
work for  future  confusions.  In  the  Sarum  Breviary  Calendar,  1531  (as  in 
the  Roman  Missal  of  1477),  Cornelius  and  Cyprian  are  omitted,  though 
their  commemoration  is  provided  for  in  the  Office  itself.  Perhaps  this 
was  for  typographical  reasons,  but  even  so  it  shews  that  Holy  Cross  Day 
had  quite  overshadowed  theirs.  And  this  had  occurred  in  earlier  kalendars, 
English  and  foreign.  Nevertheless  the  Ambrosian  Missal  still  exhibited 
the  old  order — the  Saints  first.     {Note  G.) 

The  ordinary  entry  then  has  now  become  XViii  Kal.  Oct.  Exaltatio 
StcB  Crucis  SS.  Cornelii  et  Cypriani,  and  so  remains  until  the  Council  of 
Trent,  after  which,  in  1570,  the  new  Roman  books  appear  and  remove 

39—2 


6l2  APPENDIX  L. 

the  true  and  antient  commemoration  of  S.  Cyprian  as  Quignon  had  done, 
but  to  one  day  later  still.    {Note  H.) 

The  Bull  A.D.  1568,  *  Quod  a  nobis  postulat  ratio,'  abolishes  Quignon's 
and  substitutes  the  New  Breviary.  In  the  first  post-tridentine  Roman 
Missal  and  Breviary  Cornelius  and  Cyprian  are  transferred  to  the 
i6th  September.  i^Note  I.)  In  the  Gelasian  Sacramentary  stood  the  error 
XVI  Kal.  Oct.  (Sept.  16).  {Note  C.)  It  is  impossible  to  say  vi^hether  this 
error  had  anything  to  do  with  the  new  selection,  but  there  it  was. 

It  is  interesting  to  mark  in  the  caxly  Drafts  {Note  K)for  our  own  Common 
Prayer  (to  which  Dom  Gasquet  called  attention)  that  Cranmer  did  not 
follow  Quignon,  but  restored  Cyprian  to  his  own  day  without  the  Exalta- 
tion, and  also  in  his  own  handwriting  replaced  Cornelius,  who  was  at  first 
left  out.  Sept.  26,  with  Cyprian  and  Justina,  is  dropped  in  both  drafts. 
But  in  the  Festivale,  a  collection  of  Third  Lessons  for  Holydays,  in  this 
book,  there  is  a  long  lesson  for  this  day,  composed  of  extracts  from 
Gregory  Nazianzen  {Orat.  xxiv.),  and  from  the  Acta  Proconsularia, 
simplified  and  with  some  interpolations,  beginning  as  in  Sarum  with 
the  examination  before  Paternus.  Cyprian  is  here  identified  fully  with 
the  magician-bishop  of  the  Justina  legend.  It  must  have  seemed  then  that 
the  two  Cyprians  were  one,  and  that  there  ought  not  to  be  a  second  day. 

Archbishop  Parker  and  his  Commission  for  framing  our  own  '  New 
Calendar'  in  1561  had  no  difficulty  as  to  concurrence  of  services  and 
increasing  of  commemorations  as  there  were  no  collects  or  lessons  for 
these  black  letter  days,  but  they  returned  to  the  principle  of  the  earliest 
kalendars  to  have  but  one  name  or  event  on  one  day. 

It  was  desirable  to  retain  Holy  Cross  Day,  not  merely  for  its  historic 
interest,  but  on  account  of  the  civil  functions  which  depended  on  it. 

Where  to  place  Cyprian? 

We  do  not  know  whether  they  had  before  them  Cranmers  drafts, 
dropping  the  other  Cyprian  and  Justina  on  the  26th,  restoring  Cyprian  to 
his  14th,  and  adding  Cornelius*.  But  if  they  had,  the  drafts  were  mis- 
leading because  the  'Third  Lesson'  identified  the  two  Cyprians  with  each 
other,  and  thus  gave  a  colour  for  choosing  the  26th. 

They  had  old  kalendars  before  them  which  omitted  the  Cyprian  from 
the  1 6th  and  named  a  Cyprian  alone  on  the  26th. 

Further  and  separately,  Dr  Wickham  Legg  has  pointed  to  the 
mediaeval  accumulations  of  namesakes  on  the  same  day.  Thus  in  the 
Acta  Sanctoru7n,  taking  days  at  random,  e.g.  from  Feb.  7 — 17  there  is 
not  a  day  which  has  not  two  or  more  saints  of  the  same  name.  Feb.  14 
has  two  Valentines  (BoUand,  Acta  Sanctt.  Febr.  vol.  II.  Antv.  1658). 
And  there  are  instances  in  almost  every  week. 

1  They  were  asked  for  by  the  Con-       E.  Bishop,  Edward  VI  and  the  Bk.  of 
vocation  of  1547.     Whether  produced       Common  Prayer ,  p.  2. 
is  not   recorded.     F.  A.  Gasquet  and 


S.  CYPRIAN'S  DAY  IN   KALENDARS.  613 

Each  of  these  three  conditions  supplied  a  fair  argument,  and  probably 
each  had  its  effect : — 'We  must  have  the  14th  for  Holy  Cross  Day,  and 
'there  are  abundance  of  old  kalendars  which  have  no  mention  of  S. 
'  Cyprian  on  that  day.  Even  if  it  is  his  feast  we  are  bound  to  move  him. 
'  We  had  better  move  him,  according  to  precedent,  and  not  arbitrarily,  to 
'the  next  S.  Cyprian  on  the  25th.  And  in  all  probability  those  two 
'  Cyprians  are  but  one.' 

This  was  what  the  Commissioners  under  Parker  did.  They  left  Holy 
Cross  Day  paramount  on  Cyprian's  true  festival,  and  translated  Cyprian 
by  himself  to  the  26th.  At  any  rate  they  substituted  a  true  saint  for  an 
intolerable  legendary  wizard. 

We  said  that  this  enquiry  was  not  trivial,  not  merely  an  illustration  of 
the  nature  of  entries  in  kalendars,  but  had  somewhat  of  the  spiritual  to 
exhibit. 

We  have  seen  the  reverence  with  which  such  entries  had  been  made  by 
Cyprian  himself  {Ep.  12,  2;  Ep.  38.  3) ;  we  have  seen  the  way  in  which 
his  own  commemoration  was  welcomed  in  other  countries.  After  that, 
we  have  seen  the  passing  away  of  the  original  local  setting  in  favour  of 
new  interests.  But  the  instance  in  question  shews  also  the  original 
moral  force  of  commemoration  infringed  first  by  the  jealous  dignity  of 
another  Church,  then  gradually  pushed  off  by  an  imperial  association 
of  little  or  no  moral  power  but  of  much  superstition,  and  finally  subsiding 
into  a  mere  application  for  patronal  help. 

Parallel  to  and  typical  of  many  ideals  lowered  and  lost.  Spiritual 
powers  allowed  to  depart  while  we  cherish  material  symbols.  That 
persistence  of  nature  against  which  the  Church  needs  all  her  energ>'. 


Note  A. 

*  Martyrologiiim   Ecdesia  Africaruz   (Morcelli,   Africa    Christiana,  vol.    Ii. 

P-  372). 

xviil  Kal.  Oct.  Carthagine  S.  M.  Cypriani  Episc. 

*  Depositio  viartiriim  (ap.  Th.  Mommsen,  Chronogr.  v.  J.  354,  p.  633). 
{Biicher.  Kalendar.) 

XVI II  Kl.  Octob.  Cypriani  AfriccB  RomcE  celebratur  in  Calisti. 
Muratori,  Lit.  Rom.  Vet.   I.  c.  39  n.  (c),  makes  the  unhappy  conjecture  '  in 
postremis  verbis  fortasse  excidit  nomen  Comelii  Papse '  in  which,  alas,  De  Rossi 
and   Mommsen   have   followed,    the   latter   dreaming   (op.    cit.    p.  633  n.)    that 
celebratur  may  be  a  corruption  of  Cornelii. 

*  Missale  inixtum  secundum  regidam  beati  Isidori  dictum  Mozarabes  (ed.  Card. 
Ximenes  A.u.  1500)  has  fo.  ccclxxix  (verso)  the  missa  In  Festo  Sancti  Cipriani 
without  Cornelius,  and  fo.  ccclxxv  (verso)  Exaltatio  sancte  Crucis.  (So  also  ed. 
A.  Lesley,  1755,  pp.  379,  375;  Migne,  Lit.  Moz.  i.  c.  856,  848.) 

The  kalendar  has  a  mass  of  late  entries. 


6l4  APPENDIX   L. 

*  Breviarium  secundum  regulas  beati  hysidori,  ed.  Card.  Ximenes  A.D.  1502. 

Kalendar.  XVIII  Kls  Octobris  Exaltatio  See  »!•  VI  capparii  Cipriani  ix  Ic. 
(without  Cornelius). 

*  Sanctorale:  in  Festa  Septetnbris,  fo.  cccc  Exaltatio  Sancte  Crucis....In 
festo  sancti  Cipriani  e}i.  Ad  Vesperu....IIymn.  Urbis  magister  tuscie :  fo. 
ccccii...  In  festo  sancti  cornelii  epi  mris... 

(Ed.  Ant.  Lorenzana,  Matriti,  1775)  Kalendar.  XVIII  Kalendas  Octobris 
Cypriani  novem  lectionum. 
Sanctorale  p.  ccxcii  Festa  Septetnbris  die  Xiv  in  Festo  Sancti  Cypriani  episcopi 
(without  Cornelius).  [The  kalendar  has  been  corrected  by  Lorenzana  and  Exal- 
tatio and  Cornelius  rejected.  Appendix,  p.  17;  Migne,  II.  c.  1341.  The  obvious 
slip  in  printing  the  September  days  reappears  in  Migne,  11.  c.  41.]  ['Tascise' 
for  '  Tuscise '  Hymn,  ad  Vesp.  correctly,  though  embodying  a  peculiar  theory  of 
Cyprian's  name.] 

Note  B. 

*  The  Leonian  Sacramentary  (Muratori,  Littirg.  Rom.  Vettts,  i.  c.  404,  cod. 
bef.  cent.  x.). 

xviii  Kal.  Octobris  Natale  sanctorum  Cornelii  et  Cypriani. 

*  Missale  (Gallo-)Gothicum  (Muratori,  II.  c.  629,  cod.  bef.  cent,  ix.), 

in  Natale  Sanctorum  Martyrnm  Cornili  et  Cypriani. 

*  Ant.  Kalendarium  S.  R.  E.  ex  MSS.  codd.  Grassensis  monasterii  et  S. 
Andreae  Avenionensis  (cent,  iv  or  v.  ace.  to  Martene  and  Durand,  Thesaur.  nov. 
Anecdd.  vol.  v.  c.  76,  Paris,  1717). 

die  XIV  mensis  Septembris  natal.  SS.  Cornelii  et  Cypriani,  secundum 
Lucam  cap.  CXL  (sic)  Dicebat...\x%Q^&...generatione. 
Very  curious  kalendar ;  has  no  saint  later  than  Sylvester,  cent.  iv.  init. ;  no 
feast  or  commemoration  in  Lent;  (the  loth  Council  of  Toledo,  a.u.  656,  decrees 
this  'sicut  ex  antiquitate  regulari  cautum  est,'  ap.  Bruns,  Cann.  Apostt.  et  Concill. 
I.  p.  298;  as  Council  of  Laodicea  had  done,  a.d.  352,  canon  51,  Bruns,  I.  p.  78;) 
no  mention  of  Exaltatio  S.  Crztcis;  no  feast  of  B.  V.  M.  except  Assumption, 
which  must  be  interpolated  if  (as  appears)  it  is  as  a  whole  genuine — for  this  feast 
was  later  than  the  Annuntiation  and  the  Nativity  and  was  not  called  at  first 
Assumptio  but  Transitus,  Dormitio,  Pausatio. 

Note  C. 

*  The  Gelasian  Sacramentary  (our  recension — Muratori,  I.  c.  667,  8)  has 

LVi  In  Exaltat.  Sanctce  Cnicis  xvili  Kal.  Octob. 
Lvn  In  Natal.  Sanctorwn  Comeli  et  Cypriani  xvi  Kal.  Octob. 
This  XVI  is  no  doubt  an  antient  error  corrected  without  remark  in  Muratori's 
Index,  I.  c.  771. 

In  Exaltatione  Sanctce  Cruets  XVIII  Kal.  Oct. 
In  natal.  Sanctorum  Cornelii  et  Cypriani.     Item  XVIII  Kal.  Octob. 
And  in  his  Kalendar.  Gelasianum  (Murat.  I.  c.  49). 

XVIII  Kal.  Octob.  exaltatio  Sanctce   Crucis.     Item  Sanctorum  Cornelii 
et  Cypriani. 


S.  CYPRIAN'S  DAY  IN   KALENDARS.  615 

But  it  is  a  question  whether  the  error  had  not  a  remarkable  permanent  result 
in  the  Roman  post-tridentine  books,  see  above  and  Note  I  infra. 

*  The  Gregorian  Sacramentary,  Muratori,  II.  c.  119. 

XVIII  Kalendas  Octobris  id  est  XI v  die  Mensis  Septemb. 

Natale  Sanctorum  Cornelii  et  Cypriani 

Item  eodem  die  XIV  dicti  mensis  Septembris 

Exaltatio  Sanctce  Crtuis. 
[How  long  the  association  with  Cornelius  was  in  spreading  from  Rome  is 
possibly   exemplified    in    the    Vettis   Marmoreum   S.   Eccl.   Neapolitaruz   Kalen- 
darium,  which  is  given  in  Lesley's  note  on  Liturg.  Mozarab.  Migne,  i.  c.  855. 

XIII  (?)  P.S.  Cipr.  et  exalt.  See  Crucis.] 

*  Vetustius  Occidentalis  Ecdesice  Martyrologium  D.  Hieronymo  a  Cassiodoro, 
Beda,  Walfrido,  Notkero,  aliisque  scriptoribus  tributum,  Quod  nuncupandum  esse 
Romanum  a  Magno  Gregorio  descriptum,  ab  Adone  laudatum,  Proximioribus 
saeculis  prseteritum  et  expetitum  non  leviora  argumenta  suadent.  Franciscus 
Maria  Florentinius  nob.  Lucensis  ex  suo  prsesertim,  ac  Patriae  Majoris  Ecclesise, 
&c.  integre  vulgavit.     Lucse,  mdclxviii. 

XVIII  Kal.  Octobris.  Exaltatio  Sanctce  Crucis.  RomcE  in  Cimiterio  Via 
Appia  natalis  Cornell Episcopi... in  Africa  civitate  Cartagine  natalis 
S.  Cypriani  Episcopi  [? cent,  vii,  viii,  E.G.]. 

*  Martyrologium  vetustissimum  S.  Hieronymi  presb.  nomine  insignitum,  ed. 
D'Achery,  Migne,  P.  L.  t.  XXX.  c.  475:  cent.  ?vii,  viii  (ace.  to  Bede  vi  or  vii 
Retract,  in  Act.  App.  c.  i). 

XVIII  Kal.  Oct.  Exaltatio  Sanctce  Crucis.  Romez  via  Appia  in  ccemeterio 
Calesti  natalis  Sanctorum  Cornelii  episcopi  et  confessoris.  In  Africa 
civitate  Carthagine  natalis  sancti  Cypriani  episcopi  et 


Note  D. 

*  ^ Romanutn  Parvum,^  so  called  by  Sollier  as  the  source  of  Ado;  'Vetus 
Romanum,'  Rosweyd;  '  venerabile  et  perantiquum  martyrologium'  Ado,  who 
first  edited  it,  having  found  it  at  Ravenna ;  given  by  the  Roman  pontiff  '  cuidam  sto 
episcopo  '  at  Aquileia.     (Cent,  viii  or  end  of  vii.) 

XVIII  K.  Octob.  Romce  Cornelii  episcopi  etmartyris  Carthagine  Cypriani 
episcopi  et  Martyris.  Exaltatio  Stce  Crucis  ab  Herculio  imperatore 
a  Persis  Hierosylmam  reportata  quando  et  Roma  lignus  salutiferiim 
Crucis  a  Sergio  Papa  inventum  ab  omni  poptilo  veneratur.  (Had 
Rome  a  rival  Cross  ?) 

*  Martyrologium  Vetus  ab  annis  circiter  mille  sub  nomine  Hieronymi  com- 
pactum  ex  MS.  S.  Germani  Antissiodorensis  (cent,  viii — ix)  (Martene  and  Durand, 
Thes.  Nov.  Anecdott.  III.  c.  1560). 

XVIII     Calendas    Octobris    Romce    Cornelii,     Cypriani    martyris,    et 
Salutatio  S.  Crucis. 
(If  this  implies  knowledge  that  Cornelius  was  not  a  martyr  it  represents  some 
much  earlier  source.) 


6l6  APPENDIX  L. 

*  Kalendarium  Frontonis.  *Kal.  Romanum  nongentis  annis  antiquius  ex  MS. 
Monast.  S.  Genovefse  Parisiensis  in  monte,  aureis  characteribus  &c.  ed.... F.Joannes 
Fronto  [Fronteau]  Can.  Reg.  S.  T.  Prof,  in  Mon.  S.  Genovefae,  &  in  Acad. 
Paris.  Cancellarius '  (Paris,  1552)  (A.D.  714 — 741  F.). 

It  seems  distinctly  Roman. 

Die  XIV  mens.  Sept.    Natal.  SS.  Corneli  Pontif.  et  Cypriani.  Sectind. 

Luc.  cap.  CXL  (sic)  Dicebat... usque... accusarent  eum. 
Die  sups,    exaltatio  S.  Crucis  secund.  yoann.  cap.  XXI II  Erat  homo... 
Nicodemus.  ..usque. .  .ceternam. 
This  very  curious  kalendar  numbers  and  calls  the  Weeks  between  S.  Cyprian's 
Day  and  the  4th  week  before  the  Nativity  '■Hebd.  1. 11.  in.  iv.  v.  w.postS.  Cypriani 
Hebd.  vil.'  (meaning  also  post  S.  Cypriani)^. 

It  has  close  affinity  with  the  above-named  Grassense,  but  Cornelius  is  not 
mentioned  ;  exaltatio  S.  Cruris  has  been  added,  but  after  S.  Cyprian.  And  it  has 
four  Feasts  of  the  Virgin,  i.  In  Octabas  Domini  [i.e.  ?Jan.  11]  die  supn^s. 
Natal.  S.  Marise^.  2.  (Mar.  25)  adnuntiatio  Domini.  3.  Die  xv  mens.  Aug. 
Sollemnia  de  Pausatione  S.  Marise.  4.  Die  ix  (?unice)  mens.  Sep.  Nativitas 
S.  Marise.  It  has  often  two  missce  for  the  same  day  with  the  same  Epistles  and 
Gospels  as  Grassense  for  that  which  is  common  to  both — only  longer. 

Grassense  counts  the  six  Sundays  '  Dominica  I  &c.  a  Festo  Sancti  Angeli ' 
[Michaelis]. 

*  Bedce  Martyrologium  (as  edited  by  Florus,  a.d.  830). 

XVIII  Kalend.  Oct.  Pomes  natale  S.  Cornelii  £piscopi...Item  Sancti 
Cypriani  episcopi...7nartyrium  consummavit  sexto  milliario  a 
Carthagine,  juxta  mare.     Eodem  die  exaltatio  Sanctcz  Crucis... 

*  His  Martyrologium  Poeticum  agrees. 

*  Martyrologium  Gellonense  sive  Monasterii  S.  Guillelmi  de  Deserto  O.  B. 
Dicecesis  Lutevensis  pervetustum,  ineunte  scilicet  sseculo  nono  anno  circiter  804 
[ap.  D'Achery,  Spicilegium,  11.  p.  25  (Paris,  1723)]. 

(Printed  at  end  of  old  editions  of  Gelasian  and  Gregorian  Sacramentaries.) 

XVIII  Kal.   Octobris  Roma  (sic).     Cornelii  et  Cypriani  Mart Et 

salutatio  Sanctce  Crucis. 

*  Rabanus  Maurus,  A.D.  cir.  845,  has  dropped  Roma  &c. 

XVIII  ICal.   Oct.     Sancti  Cornelii  episcopi. ...Eodem  die  natale  Sancti 
Episcopi... eodem  die  exaltatio  est  Sanctce  Crucis. 
But  '  Rome '  and  '  Africa '  were  still  perpetuated  to  a  much  later  date,  at  least 
to  the  end  of  the  roth  century. 

*  Wandalbert^  Deacon  and  Monk  in  the  diocese  of  Treves,  fl.  854.  His 
Martyrologium  in  verse  gives  the  Exaltation,  Cornelius  at  Rome  and  Cyprian  at 
Carthage  on  this  day.  (One  line  versified  from  Jerome — '  totum  Ecclesiae  scribunt 
cujus  sacra  dicta  per  orbem,'  ap.  D'Achery,  Spicilegium,  11.  p.  38.) 

1  So  the  Mozarabic  Breviary  dates  the  September  fast  by  his  feast,  'Incipit  Officium 
Jejuniorum  Kalendarum  [Nov]embriuin,  quod  observatur  tribus  diebus  ante  festum  Sancti 
Cypriani....'    Lorenzana,  ^rff.  G<?/A.  p.  431.     Migne,  11.  c.  708. 

*  Cf.  'de  S.  Maria  in  Octava  TiomxCx'  Antiphonar.,  Greg.  M.  ap.  Pamelium:  Liturgic.  (1571) 
II.  p.  71. 


S.  CYPRIAN'S  DAY  IN   KALENDARS.  617 

*  Ado.  Not  so  much  a  kalendar  as  brief  memoirs,  which  accounts  sufficiently 
for  Holy  Cross  being  postponed  here.     Obiit  a.d.  875. 

XVIII  Kal.  Oct.    Roma  via  Appia  in  coemeterio  Callisti  natale  Sandi 

Cornelii  episcopi:  qui  sub  persecutione  Decii  ^c. 
Item  apud  Africam  natale  beati  Cypriani  episcopi  Valeriana  et  Gallieno 

impp.   Galerio  maximo  proconsule  &'c.   (from  Pontius  mainly)... 

Referuntur  autem  cum  beato  Cypriano  passi  Crescentius  ^'c.  (scil. 

the  four  commemorated  same  day  in  JCal.  Eccl.  Afric). 
Eodem  die  Exaltatio  Stce  Cruets. 

*  Usuard,  A.D.  875  circ. 

XVIII  Kal.  Oct.  Exaltatio  Stce  Cruets... Roma  via  Appia  beati  Cornelii 
papa. .  .In  Africa  sancti  Cypriani  episcopi. . .  martyritim  conswnmavit 
sexto  milliario  a  Carthagine  jtixta  mare  (from  Beda  sup.)  Refe- 
runtur cum  eo passi  Cresc.  Ssfc.  (from  Ado). 

*  Ant.  Kal.  Corbeiense,  written  for  Abbot  Rathold,  who  died  986. 

XVIII  Cal.  Oct.  Exaltatio  Sanctce  Crucis.  Roma  Cornelii  papa 
Kartagine  sancti  Cypriani  episcopi  et  martyris  {Papa;  cf.  sup. 
Usuard). 

(Martene  and  Durand,  Th.  Nov.  III.  cc.  1548,  1601.) 

*  Ant.  Martyrol.  Morbacense,  xth  cent. 

XVIII  Cal.  [Oct.]     Roma  Cornelii  Cypriani  et  exaltatio  S.  Crucis. 

(Mart,  and  Dur.  Th.  Nov.  in.  c.  1569.) 

Note  E. 

*  Missale  Vet.  Hiberniciun  ap.  CCC.  Oxford  (cent,  xii)  p.  39  (ed.  F.  E.  Warren, 
1879). 

xviil  Kal.  Oct.     Exaltatio  Sancte  Crucis. 

*  Antiquum  Corbeiensis  monasterii  Martyrologium  (cent.  x). 

XVIII  Cal.  Oct.     Exaltatio  S.  Crucis. 

(Mart,  and  Dur.  Th.  Nov.  III.  c.  1583.) 

Note  F. 

*  Brev.  Romamim  a  Fr.  Card.  Qiiignonio  edit.  A.D.  1535  (ed.  J.  W.  Legg, 
p.  xli). 

XVIII  CaV  (Sept.)  14   Exaltatio  sancta  Crucis  duplex  tnajus 
XVII    Cap  15  Cornelius  et  Cyprianus.     Fuerunt  heri. 

*  Sanctorum  historia  [i.e.  Proprium  Sanctorum  abbreviated].  The  Third  Lesson 
is  of  Cornelius  and  Cyprian  [said  rightly  in  Index  to  be  from  Platina  et  cseteri,  but 
the  Cyprian  part  of  it  seems  paraphrased  from  Jerome,  Vv.  III.  Ixvii.  and  the 
Cornelius  part  from  the  Liber  Pontificalis  (ed.  Duchesne,  I.  pp.  150,  151)]. 

The  note  fuerunt  heri  and  that  on  Sept.  8,  the  Nativity  of  the  Virgin,  habd 
octavam,  shew  that  Quignon  made  the  change  to  the  15th  deliberately.  But 
afterwards  Cyprian  and  Cornelius  were  not  ordinarily  moved  to  that  day,  probably 
because  it  was  the  octave  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Virgin,  a  feast  much  observed, 
though  dating  only  from  a.d.  i  345. 


6l8  APPENDIX   L. 

Note  G. 

*  Missale  Romanum,  Venet.  1477. 

Kalendar.  xviil  Kl.  Octobris  Exaltatio  Sancte  Crucis  Propr.  Temporis.  in 
exaltatione  Sacte  Crtuis  et  fit  commemoratio  de  Sactis  [Oratio 
Secreta  P.  Coram.  Com.  et  Cyp.]. 

*  Missale  Ambrosianunty  Mediol.  1475. 

XVIII  Kl.  Oct.  Scor  Cornelii  et  Cipriani  m.  code  die  exaltatio  See 
Crucis  Propr.  temp,  (no  octave  of  Nativity  B.V.M.)  fo.  clxvi 
(verso)  z«  scor  martyr  cornelii  et  cypriani,  fo.  clxvii  eodem  die 
exaltatio  Scte  Crucis.     [Cornelius  and  Cyprian  still  first.] 

*  Calendarium   Anglicanum   (cod.    anno  circ.   M.  exaratum),  Martene   and 

Durand,    Vett.  Scriptorum  et  Monum.  amplissima  Coll.  VI.  cc.  635,  651  (Paris, 

1729). 

XVIII  Kal.  Octembres.   Exaltatio  Ste  Crucis  et  SS.  Cornelii  et  Cypriani. 

*  Leofric  Missal,    Exeter,    1050 — lo?^    (ed.    F.    E.  Warren,  Oxford,   1883) 
Kalendar.  p.  31. 

XVIII  Kl.  Oct.     Exaltatio  See  Crucis,  Cornelii,  et  Cipriani. 

*  Sarum  Missal,  Rothom.  1492  [ed.  F.  H.  Dickenson,  p.  ^s**  &c.  902]. 

XVIII  Kl.  Octobris.     Exaltatio  See  Crucis  mi.  dup.  nov.  led.  med.  Ic. 
de  SS.  Cornelio  et  Cypriano. 
(The  note  about  the  lessons,  assigning  the  middle  three  of  the  nine  lessons  to 
Cornelius  and  Cyprian,  applies  to  the  Breviary.) 

The  Proprium  Sanctorum  provides  a  Memoria,  Secreta  and  Post-Communion 
for  their  commemoration  on  Holy  Cross  Day. 

*  Sarum  Breviary  Kalendar,  Chevallon,  1531   (ed.  F.  Procter  and  C.  Words- 
worth, fasc.  i). 

XVIII  Kalen.   Octobris.     Exaltatio  S.  Crucis  festum  minus  duplex  IX 
lectiones. 
Cornelius  and  Cyprian  omitted  in  the  kalendar,  but  provided  for  in  the  Offices 
with  Collect  and  Lessons. 

Proprium  Sanctorum  (Fasc.  3,  pp.  810,  815): — 

Memoria  fiat  de  martyr ibiis  Cornelio  et  Cypriano  cum  Ant.  &'c. 
MedicB  lectio?tes  fiant  de  inartyribus  Cornelio  et  Cypriano. 
(In  the  middle  of  the  middle  lesson  Cyprian  begins.     It  is  a  shortened  and 
edificatory  version  of  Pontius,  beginning  with  the  examination  before  Paternus.) 

*  W.  Maskell,  Monume7ita  Ritualia  Eccl.  Anglic.  (1846)  vol.  II.  pp.  179  ff., 
Appendix  to  the  Prymer,  gives  three  early  and  'valuable'  English  Kalendars,  viz. 

I.     In  Bodleian  (Bodl.  MS.  85)  xvili  (Kl.  Oct.)  Exultacion'^  of  the 

crois...\\  Seint  Ciprian. — 2.     (Douce  275)  XVIII  A7.     Reisyng of 

the   cros.    VI  Kl.  S.   Ciprian  bischop. — 3.  Enchiridion  ad  usum 

Sarum  (Maskell  Collection),  Paris,  1530.     XVIII  Kl.     Exaltatio 

S.  crucis.     VI  Kl.     Cypriani  et  Justince. 

There  must  have  been  many  such.     Here  we  have  three,  chosen  only  for  their 

value,  omitting  Cyprian  on  the  right  day  and  two  of  them  giving  Cyprian  alone  on 

the  26th.     For  foreign  examples  see  Note  c  above. 

1  So  exultatio  sometimes  in  foreign  Kalendars. 


S.  CYPRIAN'S  DAY  IN   KALENDARS.  619 

*  York  Missal  /Calendar  (v.  i.  p.  xxxviii,  ed,  Surtees  Soc.  1874). 

XVIII  Kal.  Octobris   Exaltalio  Sanctce  Cruets.   S.  Cornelii  et  Cypriani, 
media  lectiones.     IX    lect.    (see    Comparative    Calendar,    v.    11. 
p.  267). 
(v.  II.  p.  loi)  Proprium  Missarum  de  Sanctis 

in  Festo  Exaltationis  Sanctce  Crucis.     (xviii  Kal.  Oct.) 
p.  102,  eodem  die  Satutorum  martyrum  Cornelii  et  Cypriani  oratio. 
p.  104,  secreta...postcomm. 

*  Hereford  Missal  Kalendar  (W.  G.  Henderson,  1874,  p.  xxix). 

XVIII    Kal.    Octobris.     Exaltatio  Sanctce   Crucis  festum   duplex,  SS. 

Cornelii  et  Cypriani  commemoratio  IX  lect. 
Proprium  Sanctorum  (id.  p.  ^ii).     In  exaltatione  Sanctce  Crucis.    The 

second  collect  is  '  memoria  de  martyribus  Cornelio  et  Cypriano, 

Oratio... alia  Secreta...alia  Post-Communio.' 

*  Hereford  Missal,  1502. 

XVIII  Kl.  Octobr.   Exaltatio  S.  ^  Cornelii  et  Cipriai  int. 

*  It  is  to  this  stage  that  the  Calendarium  Mozarabicum  '  sczpius  aitctum '  has 
been  brought  down  (Lit.  Moz.  Migne,  i.  c.  xoi) 

XVIII  Kal.  Octobris    Exaltatio  sancte  crucis  vi  capp. 
Cornelii  et  Cipriani      ix  lect. 


Note  H. 

So  for  example  Calendaria  Verdtmense,  Stabulense,  Antissiodorense  (all  cent. 

x — xi),  the  last  adding  Pantaleon  (as   many  do)  and  the   four  African  martyrs 

of  the  day. 

(Mart,  and  Dur.  Vett.  Scrr.  et  Mon.  vi.  c.  720.) 

*  Kalend.  Sitonianuni  (called  from  its  owner  in  i8th  cent.  Camillo  Sitonio  of 
Milan)  (cent.  xi). 

XVIII  Kal.  Oct.    SS.  Cornelii  et  Cypriani  eodem  die  S.  Nicomedis  et 
exaltatio  S.  Crucis  ad  Dionysium. 

(Muratori,  Rer.  Ital.  Scrr.  t.  11.  pt.  2,  p.  1040  (Mediol.  1726).) 

*  Antiq.  Calendariuvi  ex  MS.  Lyrensis  monasterii  (cent,  xi — xii). 

XVIII  Kal.  Oct.     Exaltatio  S.  Crticis  SS.  Cornelii  et  Cypriani. 

(Mart,  and  Dur.  Thes.  Nov.  iii.  c.  1614.) 
And  thus  Missale  Ro77ianum,  1533. 

XVIII    Kal.  Octobris     Exalta.   S.    Crn.   d.    mi.   mis.   211    Cornelii  et 
Cipriani  m.  oro  211. 
*  Breviarium  Romanum,  1534  (Venet.). 

XVIII    Kal.  Octobris     Exaltatio  Ste    Crucis    d.   mi.    omnia    320    Et 
Cornelii  et  Cypriani  martyru  oro  lee.  IX  322. 
1564,  Venet.  (the  last  known  edition  of  the  Old  Breviary,  superseded  1568). 
XVIII  Cal.  14  Octobris.     Exaltatio  see  Crticis  dii.  mi.  340. 
Cornelii  Ss'  Cypriani  martyrum,  342. 


620  APPENDIX   L. 


Note  I. 

*  Breviaritim  Romanum  ex  deer,  sacrosanct.  Cone.  Tridentini  restitutum, 
Pii  V.  Pont.  Max.  jussu,  ed.  Rome,  1570  (Manutius). 

XVIII  14     Exaltatio  S.  Crucis  du.  cu  com  Oct.  Nat.  S.  Ma.  821. 

XVI  16     Cornelii  et  Cipriani  pont.  et  Mart,  semid. 

It  appoints  the  4th  and  5th  Lessons  for  Cornelius,  and  the  6th  for  Cyprian. 
This  latter  is  taken  from  Jerome,  de  Viris  Illustribus,  Ixvi. 

*  Missale  Romanum  ex  deer.  Cone.  Pii  v.  jussu,  ed.  a.d.  1572,  Venet. 

XVIII  Sept.  Cal.  14  Exaltatio  San.  Crtuis  dup.  cum  commemo.  Octavse 
Nativitatis  Sanctae  Marias,  189. 

XVII  Cal.  15    Octava  Nativitatis  beatae  Marise  dup.  cum  commemora. 
San.  Nicomedis  mar.  190. 

XVI  Cal.  16     Cornelii  et  Cypriani pont.  5^  mar.  Sane.  dup.  &c. 

*  In  the  modern  Roman  books,  A.D.  1631  &c. 

Missal,  XVI  Kal.  Sep.  16     Cornelii  et  Cypriani  Pont,  et  M.  semi-d. 
Breviary,  XVI  Kal.  Sep.  16    .S'.S".  Cornelii  et  Cypriani  Pont,  et  Mart, 
semi-d. 

*  Lyons,  a.d.  1737,  has  Cornelius  on  i6th  and  Cyprian  on  17th. 

The  following  references  were  sent  to  the  Archbishop  by  his  friend  the  Rev. 
Christopher  Wordsworth : 

Breviariitm  Satictce  Lugdunensis  Ecclesia  priiitcc  Galliarum  sedis,  Lugduni, 
M.DCC.XXXVII. 

XVIII  14     Exaltatio  Sanctce  Crucis.     Duplex  minus,    an.  326. 

XVII  15  Octava  Nativit.  B.  Maries  Virginis.  Semiduplex  minus.... 
XVI  16  Cornelii  PapiE  et  Alar tyris  {i  die  i:^.  Siviplex.  an.  252.... 
XV  17     Cypriani   Carthaginensis   Episcopi  et  Martyris.     Simplex  (<? 

die  i+).     \In  ecclesia  Primatiali.     Semiduplex  majus\  an,  258. 
These  curious  entries  witness  to  the  transfer  and  to  the  reasons  for  it. 

*  Brev.  Ambrosiaft,  (Mediol.  X582  and  1841).  12  Prid.  Id,  SS,  Cortielii papce 
et  Cypriani  ep.  m?n. 

*  Brev.  Paris.  A.D.  1778  commemorates  Cornelius  (Pap.  iS:  Mart.)  on  Holy 
Cross  Day,  but  also  keeps  the  semi-double  feast  of  Cyprian  (Episc.  Eccl.  Doct. 
&  Mart.)  on  i6th. 


Note  K. 

*  British  Museum,  Royal  MS.  7,  B.  iv. 

First  Kalendar  September  14  Cypriamis. 

Second  Kalendar  Cyprianus  et  Cornelius. 

Et  Cornelius  added  in  Archbishop  Cranmer's  own  handwriting. 

F.  A.  Gasquet  and  E.  Bishop,  Edward  VI.  and  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  1890,  p.  16. 


LIST   OF    BOOKS   QUOTED. 


Many  authorities  are  quoted  in  this  book  and  some  important  works  {e.g. 
Mommsen,  On  the  Chronography  of  A.D.  354;  Lipsius,  On  the  Chronology  of  the 
Roman  Bishops;  Morcelli's  Africa  Christiana,  Tissot's  great  work  On  the  Roman 
Province  of  Africa,  &c.)  have  been  of  necessity  referred  to  in  an  abbreviated  form. 
It  has  been  thought  that  the  reader  would  find  it  convenient  to  consult  a  more 
complete  description  of  some  of  these  authorities. 

Alexandre,   Charles.      Oracula  Sibyllina —      Paris,   1841.     i  vol.     8vo. 

Editio  altera,  1869. 
AUBESPINE,  Gabriel  de  1'.     S.  Optati... Opera  cum  observationibus  et  notis 

G.  Albaspinaei....    1631.    Fol. — De  Veteribus  Ecclesias  ritibus....    Lute- 

tiae  Parisiorum,  1623.     3  vols.     4to. 
Ballerini,  Pietro.     De  vi  ac  ratione  primatus  Romanorum  Pontificum  et 

de  ipsorum  infallibilitate   in   definiendis   controversiis  fidei.     Veronal, 

1766.     New  edition   by  E.  W.  Westhoff.     Monasterii  Westphalorum, 

1865.     8vo. 

Baluze,  Etienne.     Sancti  Caecilii  Cypriani... opera.. .studio  et  labore  Ste- 

phani  Baluzii  Tutelensis.     Absolvit  post  Baluzium  ac  Praefationem  et 

Vitam   Sancti   Cypriani  adornavit   unus   ex   monachis   Congregationis 

S.  Mauri  (Dom  Prudent  Maran).    Parisiis,  ex  Typographia  regia,  1726. 

Fol.     Editio  secunda,  Veneta,  1758.     Fol. 
Baluze,  Etienne.     Capitularia  regum  Francorum Accessere  vita  Baluzii 

partim  ab   ipso   scripta,  catalogus   et  index.     Curante  P.  de  Chiniac. 

Parisiis,  1780.     2  vols.     Fol. 
Stephani  Baluzii  miscellanea.     Parisiis,  1678 — 83.     4  vols.     8vo.     ...novo 

ordine  digesta  et  non  paucis  ineditis  monumentis  opportunisque  anim- 

adversionibus  aucta  opera  ac  studio  y.  D.  Mansi.      Lucas,  1761 — 64. 

4  vols.     Fol. 
Baronius,  Caesar.     Annales  Ecclesiastici  [a.d.  i — 1198] continuatione 

O.  Raynaldi (edited  by  G.  D.  Mansi  and  D.  Georgius).      Lucee, 

1738 — 59.     Fol.     38  vols. 
Bingham,  Joseph.     Works,  quoted  from  the  Oxford  edition.    1855.    10  vols. 
BOECKHIUS,  Augustus.     Corpus  Inscriptionum  Grascarum.     Berolini,  1828 

— 1867.     4  vols.     Fol. 
Bright,  William.    Select  Anti-Pelagian  Treatises  of  S.  Augustine.    London, 

1880.     8vo. 

Bruns,  Herman  Theodor.  Canones  Apostolorum  et  Conciliorum  veterum 
selecti.     Berolini,  1839.     2  vols.     8vo. 

BUNSEN,  Christian  Carl  Josias.  Hippolytus  and  his  Age.  London,  1852. 
4  vols.  8vo. — Christianity  and  Mankind...  7  vols.  Hippolytus  and  his 
Age.     (i,  2.)     Analecta  Ante-Nicasna.     (5,  6,  7.)     London,  1854. 


622  LIST  OF  BOOKS  QUOTED. 

Burn,  Robert.     Rome  and  the  Campagna.     London,  1871 — 6.    4to. 

Burnet,  Gilbert.  Some  letters  ;  containing  accounts  of  what  seemed  most 
remarkable  in  Switzerland,  Italy,  &c.  Amsterdam,  1686.  2  vols. 
i2mo. 

Cecconi,  Eugenio.  Studi  storici  sul  concilio  di  Firenze  con  document! 
inediti  o  nuovamente  datti  alia  luce  sui  manoscritti  di  Firenze  e  di  Roma. 
Firenze,  1868.    8vo. 

Chiniac,  p.  de.  See  Baluze  :  Capitularia  Regum  Francorum.  Histoire  des 
Capitulaires  des  Rois  Francois  de  la  premiere  et  seconde  race  ou  traduc- 
tion de  la  preface  mise  par  E.  B.  k  la  tete  de  son  Edition  des  Capitulaires. 
Avec  la  vie  de  Baluze Paris,  1779.     8vo. 

Clinton,  H.  F.     Fasti  Roman!.     Oxford,  1845.     2  vols.    4to. 

Corpus  Inscriptionum  Latinarum.»  Berolini,  1873— 1891.  Chiefly  vol. 
VIII.,  parts  i,  ii.  Inscriptiones  Africae  Latinae,  collegit  Gustavus 
Wilmanns.  1881.  Supplementum  ediderunt  Renatus  Cagnat  et 
Johannes  Schmidt.     1891. 

Corpus  Juris  Civilis  (edited  by  Theodor  Mommsen  and  Paul  Krueger). 
Berolini,  1888.     2  vols.     8vo. 

Councils.  When  no  special  mention  of  editions  occurs,  Councils  are  quoted 
from  : 

Labbe,  Philippe,  and  COSSART,  G.,  Sacrosancta  concilia  ad 
regiam  editionem  exacta...  25  vols.  (Apparatus  2  vols.)...  Supple- 
mentum...collegit  J.  D.  Mansi.     Venetiis,  1728 — 52.     29  vols.     Fol. 

When   references   are  made  to  Mansi,  the  reader  will  consult  the 
following  edition  : 

Mansi,  J.  D.     Sacrorum  conciliorum  nova  et  amplissima  coUectio 

Florentiae,  Venetiis,  1759 — 98.     31  vols.     Fol. 

Cyprian.     The  works  of  Cyprian  are  quoted  from  the  following  edition  : 

S.  Thasci  CiECiLi  Cypriani  opera  omnia,  recensuit  et  com- 
mentario  critico  instruxit  Guilelmus  Hartel.  Vindobonas,  apud  C. 
Geroldi  Filium  Bibliopolam  Academiae,  1868 — 1871.     3  vols.     8vo. 

Dirksen,  Heinrich  Eduard.  Manuale  Latinitatis  fontium  juris  civilis 
Romanorum.     Berolini,  1837.     410. 

DODWELL,  Henry.  Dissertationes  Cyprianicae.  Ap.  J.  Fell's  edition  of 
Cyprian.     Oxonii,  1682. 

Dcellinger,  Johann  Joseph  Ignaz  von.  Hippolytus  und  Kallistus. 
Regensburg,  1853.     8vo. 

Du  Cange,  Charles  Du  Fresne.  Glossarium  mediae  et  infimae  Latinitatis. 
Niort,  1883— 1887.     10  vols. 

Duchesne,  Louis.  Le  Liber  Pontificalis.  Paris,  1884.  2  vols.  4to. — Le 
Dossier  du  Donatisme.  1890. — Fastes  Episcopaux  de  I'Ancienne 
Gaule.  1894. — Les  Origines  Chrdtiennes.  ?  1891.  2  vols.  ,4to.  (Litho- 
graphed throughout.)— Origines  du  Culte  Chretien.  Etude  sur  la 
liturgie  latine  avant  Charlemagne.     1889. 

Ewald,  Georg  Heinrich  August  von.  Die  Propheten  des  Alten  Bundes... 
1840.     8vo. 

Fechtrup,   Bernhard.     Der  hi.   Cyprian.     Sein   Leben  und  seine  Lehre. 

Miinster,  1878.     8vo. 
Fell.     Sancti  Caecilii  Cypriani  opera.     Accedunt  Annales  Cyprianici,..per 

Joannem  Cestriensem.    (Pearson.)    Oxonii,  1682. 
Fortia  d'Urban.     Recueil  des  Itin^raires  anciens....     Paris,  1844.     4to. 


LIST  OF  BOOKS  QUOTED.  623 

Freppel,  Charles  ^rnile.     Les  P^res  Apostoliques  et  leur  Epoque....    Paris, 

1859.    8vo. — Saint  Cyprien  et  I'Eglise  d'Afrique  au  III™«  si^cle.     Paris, 

1864 — 5.    8vo. 
Friedlaender,  Ludwig.     Darstellungen  aus  der  Sittengeschichte  Roms  in 

der  Zeit  von  August  bis  zum  Ausgang  der  Antonine.    Leipzig,  1862 — 71. 

8vo.     3  Thle. — Sechste...vermehrte    Auflage.      Leipzig,    1888 — 90.      3 

Thle. 
Fronteau,   Jean.     Kalendarium   Romanum   nongentis  annis   antiquius.... 

1652.     8vo. — Epistolae  et  dissertationes  ecclesiasticae....     Veronas,  1733. 

8vo. 

Gallandius,  Andreas.  Bibliotheca  Veterum  Patrum  Antiquorumque 
Scriptorum  Ecclesiasticorum.     Venetiis,  1765 — 81.     Fol.     14  vols. 

Gams,  Bonifacius.     Series  Episcoporum.     Ratisbon,  1873.     4^°. 

GOAR,  Jacobus.     Euchologion  sive  Rituale  Graecorum.     Paris,  1647.     Fol. 

Gretser,  J.  De  jure  et  more  prohibendi,  expurgandi  et  abolendi  libros 
hereticos  et  noxios....     Ingoldstadii,  1603.     8vo. 

Grisar,  H.  (S.  J.)     Le  Tombe  Apostoliche  di  Roma.     Roma,  1892.     4to. 

Gryn^eus,  Johan  Jacob.  Monumenta  S.  Patrum  Orthodoxographa.... 
Basileae,  1 569.     Fol.     3  vols. 

Harnack,  Adolf.  Geschichte  der  altchristlichen  Litteratur  bis  Eusebius. 
Leipzig,  1893.  2  vols.  8vo. — Sources  of  the  Apostolic  Canons,  with  a 
treatise  on  the  origin  of  the  Readership  and  other  lower  orders.... 
Translated  by  L.  A.  Wheatley.  London,  1895.  8vo. — Die  Briefe  des 
romischen  Klerus  aus  der  Zeit  der  Sedisvacanz  im  Jahre  250.  Ap.  Theo- 
logische  Abhandlungen. — Carl  von  Weizsacker,  zu  seinem  siebzigsten 
Geburtstage...  Freiburg  i.  B.  1892.  8vo. — Articles  ap.  Texte  und 
Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte  der  altchristlichen  Literatur  von  Oscar 
von  Gebhardt  und  Adolf  Harnack. 

Hefele,  Carl  Joseph  von.  Conciliengeschichte.  Histoire  des  Conciles... 
traduite  de  I'Allemand  par  M.  I'abbd  Delarc.  12  vols.  8vo.  Paris, 
1869 — 70. 

HODGKIN,  Thomas.  Italy  and  her  Invaders.  2nd  edition.  6  vols.  Ox- 
ford, 1892. 

Hurter,  Heinrich  von.  Sanctorum  Patrum  opuscula  selecta.  QEniponti, 
1868— 1874— 1885. 

Jaffe,  Philippus.  Regesta  Pontificum  Romanorum.  Lipsiae,  1885.  2  vols. 
4to, 

JUSTEL,  Christophe.  Codex  Canonum  Ecclesiae  Africanae.  Paris,  1614. 
8vo. 

Klein,  Josephus.     Fasti  Consulares.     Lipsiae,  188 1. 

La  Bigne,  Margarinus  de.  Maxima  Bibliotheca  Veterum  Patrum  et  Anti- 
quorum  Scriptorum  Ecclesiasticorum....  Coloniae  Agrippinae,  1618 — 22. 
15  vols.     Fol. 

Lanciani,  Rodolfo  Amadeo.  Pagan  and  Christian  Rome.  London,  1892. 
8vo. 

Latinius,  Latinus.  Bibliotheca  sacra  et  profana.  Romse,  1677.  2  tom. 
Fol. — Epistolae....     Romae,  1659.     2  tom.     4to. 

Le  Nain  de  Tillemont,  Louis  Sdbastien.  Histoire  des  Empereurs.... 
Paris,  1700 — 36.  6  vols.  4to. — M^moires  pour  servir  h.  I'histoire 
eccl^siastique  des  six  premiers  si^cles....    Paris,  170 1 — 12.    16  vols.   410. 


624  LIST  OF  BOOKS  QUOTED. 

Leydekker,  Melchior.    Historia  Ecclesiae  Africanas.    Ultrajecti,  1690.    410. 

LiGHTFOOT,  Bishop  Joseph  Barber.  Epistles  of  S.  Paul  [Galatians,  Philippians, 
Colossians,  Philemon].  London,  1865.  8vo. — The  Apostolic  Fathers. 
Part  I.  S.  Clement  of  Rome.  London,  1890.  2  vols.  8vo.  Part  ii. 
S.  Ignatius,  S.  Polycarp.  London,  1889.  3  vols.  8vo. — Historical 
Essays.  London,  1895.  8vo. — On  a  fresh  revision  of  the  English  New 
Testament.     London,  1871.     2nd  edition,  1872.     8vo. 

LiPSlUS,  Richard  Adelbert.  Chronologic  der  Romischen  Bischofe.  Kiel, 
1869. 

Mabillon,  Jean.     Vetera  Analecta.     Parisiis,  1675.     4  vols.     8vo. 
Mabillon,   Jean,  and    Germain,    Michel.     Museum    Italicum.     Lutetiae 

Parisiorum,  1687 — 89.     2  vols.     4to. 
Mansel,  Henry  Longueville.    The  Gnostic  Heresies  of  the  First  and  Second 

Centuries.... Edited  by  J.  B.  Lightfoot.     London,  1875.     8vo. 
Maran,  Prudent.     Vita  Sancti  Cypriani,  ap.  Etienne   Baluze's   edition   of 

Cyprian.     Paris,  1726. 
Martene,  Edmond.     De  antiquis  Ecclesiae  Ritibus.    Antwerpias,  1736 — 37. 

3  vols.     Fol. 
Martene,  Edmond,  and  Durand,  Ursin.    Thesaurus  novus  Anecdotorum. 

Parisiis,  1717.     5  vols.     Fol. — Veterum  Scriptorum  Monumentorum... 

amplissima  CoUectio.     Parisiis,  1724 — 33.     Fol. 

Maskell,  William.     Monumenta  Ritualia  Ecclesise  Anglicanae.     London, 

1846 — 47.     3  vols.     8vo. — Second  Edition.    Oxford,  1882.    3  vols.    8vo. 
Migne,  J.  P.     Patrologiae  Cursus  Completus.     Series  Latina.     Paris,   1844 

— 1864.     221  vols.     4to.     Series  Graeca.     Paris,  1857 — 1866.     162  vols. 

4to. 
Mommsen,  Theodor.     De  Collegiis  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum.     Kilias,  1843. 

Ueber  den  Chronographen  vom  J.  354 :  ap.  Abhandlungen  der  Philo- 

logisch-Historischen  Classe  der  Koniglich  Sachsischen  Gesellschaft  der 

Wissenschaften  (erster  Band).     Leipzig,  1850. 

M.  is  quoted  constantly  in  connection  with  the  Corpus  Inscriptio- 

num  Latinarum. 
Morcelli,  Stefano  Antonio.    Africa  Christiana.    Brixiae,  1816 — 17.    3  vols. 

4to. 
Munter,  Frederic  Christian  Carl  Henrik.     Primordia  Ecclesiae  Africanae. 

Hafniae.     1829.     4to. 
Muratori,  Lodovico  Antonio.     Liturgia  Romana  Vetus,     Venetiis,  1748. 

2    vols.     Fol. — Rerum   Italarum    Scriptores.     Mediolani,    1723 — 1751. 

25  vols.     Fol. 

Neander,  J.  A.  W.  History  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  Church. 
Bohn's  Standard  Library.     London,  1850 — 58.     9  vols.     8vo. 

CEhler,  Franciscus.     Corpus  Haereologicum.    Vol.  i.    Berolini,  1856.    8vo. 
Otto,  Johann   Carl  Theodor  von.     Corpus  Apologetarum  Christianorum 
Saeculi  Secundi.     Jenae,  1851 — 76 — 81.     9  vols.     8vo. 

Pamelius,  Jacobus.  Liturgia  Latinorum ...  Coloniae  Agrippinae,  1571. 
2  vols.     4to. 

Panvinio,  Onofrio.  De  Primatu  Petri  et  Apostolicae  sedis  potestate... 
Veronae,  1589.     4to. 

Parker,  John  Henry.  The  Archaeology  of  Rome  (chiefly  on  the  Cata- 
combs).    London,  1878.     8vo. 


\ 


LIST  OF  BOOKS  QUOTED.  625 

Pearson,  John.  Annales  Cyprianici,  ap.  J.  Fell's  edition  of  Cyprian. 
Oxonii,  1682. — Minor  Theological  Works.  Oxford,  1844.  2  vols. 
8vo. — Vindiciae  Epistolarum  S.  Ignatii.  Cantabrigiae,  1672.  4to. — 
Ediiio  nova.     Oxonii,  1852.     2  vols.    8vo. 

Peters,  Johannes.  Der  heilige  Cyprian  von  Karthago...in  seinen  Leben 
und  Wirken  dargestellt.     Regensburg,  1877.     8vo. 

PiTRA,  Jean  Baptiste.     Spicilegium  Solesmense.... Paris,  1852 — 58.     4  vols. 

8vo. 
PUSEY,  Edward  Bouverie.     The  Councils  of  the  Church  from  the  Council  of 

Jerusalem,  A.D.  51,  to  the  Council  of  Constantinople,  a.d.  381.     Oxford, 

1857.     8vo. 

Renaudot,  Eus^be.     Liturgiarum  Orientalium  CoUectio...,     Parisiis,  1716. 

4to.     2  vols. 
Rettberg,  Friedrich  Wilhelm.     Thascius  Cacilius  Cyprianus,  Bischof  von 

Carthage,   dargestellt    nach    seinen   Leben   und   Wirken.     Gottingen, 

1 83 1.     8vo. 
RiTSCHL,  Otto.     Cyprian   von  Karthago  und  die  Verfassung  der  Kirche. 

Gottingen,  1885.     8vo. 
Robert,  Ulysse.     Bullaire  du  Pape  Calixte  II.     Paris,  1891.     8vo.     2  vols. 

RcENSCH,  Hermann.  Itala  und  Vulgata....  Leipzig,  1869.  8vo.  —  Das 
neue  Testament  Tertullian's...mit,.. Anmerkungen....  Leipzig,  1871. 
8vo. 

Rossi,  Giovanni  Battista  de.  Inscriptiones  Christianas  Urbis  Romas  septi- 
mo  sieculo  antiquiores.  RomcC,  1861....  2  vols.  Fol. — La  Roma 
Sotterranea  Cristiana  descritta  ed  illustrata.    Roma,  1864 3  vols.    Fol. 

ROUTH,  Martin  Joseph.     Reliquiae  Sacrae.     Oxonii,  1846 — 48.     5  vols.    8vo. 

Ruinart,  Thierry.     Acta  Martyrum.     Ratisbonae,  1859. 

Sabatier,  p.     Bibliorum  sacrorum  Latinas   versiones  antiquae,  seu   Ve^us 

Italica....     Rheims,  1743 — 49.     3  vols.     Fol. 
Schelstrate,   Emanuel.     Ecclesia  Africana  sub  Primate  Carthaginiensi. 

Paris,  1679.     4^0- 
Shepherd,  Edward  John.     A  First  ( — fifth)  Letter  to  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Mait- 

land  on  the  genuineness  of  the  writings  ascribed  to  Cyprian,  Bishop 

of  Carthage.     London,  1852 — 53.     8vo. 
SiRMOND,  Jacques.     Opera  varia.     Paris,  1696.     5  vols.     Fol. 
Stevenson,  Seth  WiUiam.     A  Dictionary  of  Roman  Coins.     London,  1889. 

8vo. 

TissOT,  Charles.  Exploration  scientifique  de  la  Tunisie. — G^ographie 
comparee  de  la  Province  Romaine  d'Afrique.  Paris,  1884 — 1888. 
2  vols.     4to.  and  Atlas. 

Wetstein,  Johann  Jacob.  Novum  Testamentum  Graecum,  175 1. — Epistola 
ad...H.  Venema:  de  duabus  dementis  Romani  ad  Virgines  epistolis  ex 
Codice  Syriaco  nuper  editis.     Amstelaedami,  1751.     8vo. 

Wordsworth,  Christopher,  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  S.  Hippolytus  and  the 
Church  of  Rome....     (Second  edition.)     London,  1880.     8vo. 

Wordsworth,  John,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  H.  J.  White.  Novum 
Testamentum  Domini  Nostri  Jesu  Christi,  Latine  secundum  editionem 
Sancti  Hieronymi.  Oxonii,  1891.  4  vols. — Old  Latin  Biblical  Texts. 
Oxford,  1883....  8vo. 

B.  40 


INDEX. 


Note.  The  Reader  will  kindly  bear  in  mind  that  a  special  Geographical  Table 
— the  work  of  the  University  Press — is  given  at  page  574;  that  table  relates  to  the 
Appendix  on  the  Cities,  but  the  towns  mentioned  in  the  body  of  the  Book  have  been 
entered  in  the  Index. 


Abstinere,  sense  of  the  word  in  Cyprian, 

143.  n- 
Acta  Proconsularia,  518 
Actors,  46 

Adam  (date  for),  266,  n. 
Adsertor,  use  of  the  word,  6,  n. 
Adunatio — adunatus,  use   of  the  words, 

386  and  nn. ;  407 
^milius,  the  Martyr,  78 
^mulus   princeps,    Valens,    opportunity 

afforded  for  the  election  of  Cornelius, 

126,  n. 
Agrippinus.      See    Baptismal    Question. 

Tradition    of    Africa,    337 ;     date    of 

Council,  337,  348 
Alexander    Severus,    the    Emperor,    his 

organization  of  the  city  of  Rome  (cura- 

tores),  67  and  n. 
Alexander  III.,  Pope  (Conditional  Bap- 
tism), 522 
Amanthts,   acolyte,  carries  with   others 

Cyprian's    letters    to    the    Numidian 

Bishop-Confessors,  473 
Ambrose,   S.,   11,  n.;    55,  n. ;   272,  n.; 

286,  384,  n.;  49 r,  n. 
Antioch    (Council    of),    167,    168,   347 ; 

Councils  on   Paul   of  Samosata,    376 

and  n. 
Antioch  (first  and  second  capture  of).   See 

special  note  on  Points  in  the  Chrono- 
logy of  Valerian's  reign,  552 
/f«^c7«za«MJ  (Letter  of  Cyprian  to),  156,  n.; 

157  and  n. ;  167,  n. 
Apollo  Salutaris,  allusion  to  the  Plague 

on  Coins  and  Medals,  243,  n. 


Apostolic  Canons  and  Constitutions,  27, 
n.;46,  n.;  54,  n.;  294,  n. ;  341,  n.;  404, 
n. ;  420,  n. 

Apostolic  Succession,  34,  389,  525 

Aries  (Church  of).  See  Gaulish  Appeal. 
Foundation  of  this  Church,  Trophimus 
and  the  tradition  handed  down  by 
Stephen  V.  and  Gregory  of  Tours, 
314,  315,  316.  Council  of  Aries  :  see 
Councils 

Assuras,  a  town,  232  and  n. ;  369,  602 

Atrium  Sanciolum,  501  and  n. 

Auctor  Schismatis,  sense  of  the  words, 
^36.  n. 

Aiigendus,  a  deacon,  joins  Felicissimus 
(see  name),  113,  136,  137,  n. 

Augustine,  S.,  23,  n. ;  42 ;  43,  rm. ; 
55,  n.;  59,  n.;  81,  n.;  112,  n.;  147,  n.; 
174,  n.;  249,  n.;  259,  n. ;  271,  n. ; 
272,  n. ;  273  and  n. ;  283;  285,  n. ; 
291,  n.;  296  and  n.;  331;  334.  n. ;  338, 
n. ;  343,  n.;  369,  n.;  402,  n.;  403,  n. ; 
405,  n.;  409,  n.;  412,  n. ;  413,  n. ; 
415,  n. ;  417,  n. ;  reaffirms  the  teaching 
of  Stephen  on  Baptism,  418,  sqq. ; 
424,  n. ;  433,  n. ;  434,  n. ;  437  and 
n. ;  443,  n.;  445,  n. ;  448,  n.;  451,  n.; 

453' n-;  471.  n-;  493*'  499'"-;  5o6,  n.; 

510,  n.;  512,  n.;  513,  n. ;  517;  519; 

S23>  n-;  533  and  n.;  538 
Aurelius,  a  young  Confessor  (Persecution 

of  Decius),  71 ;  his  name  used  by  Lucia- 

nus,  93 
Aureus,  value  of  the  aureus  in  Gallienus* 

time,  505,  n. 


INDEX. 


627 


Baluze,  £tienne,  his  edition  of  Cyprian 
published  after  his  death  by  Dom 
Maran;  the  interpolations  introduced, 
212,  213,  114,  115,  216,  n. ;  131,  n. 

Baptism  and  Baptismal  Question  (the), 
231.  295>  331.  sqq.  ;  Tradition  of 
Africa,  335  ;  Tradition  of  Asia  Minor, " 
East,  339 ;  Councils  of  Iconium  and 
S)ninada  (dates),  340,  348;  Cyprian's 
First  and  Second  Council  on  Baptism, 
349,  351 ;  Attitude  of  Stephanus,  351 ; 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  354 ;  Third 
Council  on  Baptism,  364 ;  Towns  which 
sent  their  Bishops,  366,  sqq.  See  also 
Appendix  on  Cities  and  Index  of  same 
Appendix.  —  SententicE  Episcoporum, 
authenticity  of  the  document,  371,  372  ; 
C3T)rian's  Arguments  on  Rebaptism, 
401 ;  Baptism  performed  by  a  demoniac 
woman,  410;  The  Councils  failed, — 
why,  424 

Baptism  by  one  that  is  dead,  sense  of  the 
words,  411 

Baptism  in  the  Name  of  Christ  alone,  398 
and  n. ;  406,  407 

Basil,  S.,  54,  n. ;  166,  n.;  on  Dionysius 
the  Great,  356  and  n. ;  on  Firmilian, 
375  and  n. 

Basilicse,  41,  n. ;  68  and  n.;  296,  n. 

Basilides,  a  lapsed  Bishop,  37,  n. ;  233. 
See  also  Spanish  Appeal,  311,  sqq. 

Benson,  Edward  White  (died  Oc- 
tober II,  1896).  His  'juvenile  lu- 
cubration '  on  the  Martyrdom  and 
Commemoration  of  S.  Hippolytus,  and 
Bishop  Lightfoot's  Comments  on  it, 
169,   n. ;    his    article    on    Agrippinus, 

337.  n- 

Berber  Raid  (the),  236,  sqq. 

Bieunium,  use  of  the  word,  128,  n. 

Birrhus,  514  and  nn.    See  Lacerna 

Bishops.  See  Apostolic  Succession,  Epi- 
scopate ;  see  also  Examination  of  the 
Lists  of  Bishops  attending  the  Councils, 
Appendix,  564 ;  also  Cities  from  which 
the  Bishops  came  to  the  Seventh  Coun- 
cil, Appendix,  573,  sqq. 

Bona  (Persecution  of  Decius),  her  history, 
78 

Budinarius,  117 

Bulla  Regia,  a  town,  231,  n. ;  581 

Bunsen,  27,  nn.;  28,  n. ;  45,  n. ;  46,  n.; 
54,  n. ;  72,  n.  ;  337,  n.  ;  341,  n.  ; 
404,  n, 

Butler,  Bp.,  on  Resentment,  250;  see 
also  524 

Byzantium  to  Rome.  Distance,  journey 
from,  479,  n. 

Ccecilianns  the  presbyter,  7,  9,  18,  19,  48 


Ccecilius,  Bishop,  on  junior  Clerics  and 
professed  virgins,  47,  the  same  as  Cae- 
cilius  of  BUtha 

Ccecilius f  Bishop  of  Biltha,  291 

Caesarea,  373;  date  of  its  fall,  373,  n.;  555 

Csesariani,  sense  of  the  word,  480,  n. 

Caius  (Hippolytus  himself),  482 

Caldonius,  a  bishop,  84 ;  one  of  Cyprian's 
five  representatives  during  his  retire- 
ment, 107 ;  excommunicates  Felicis- 
simus,  113,  114,  n. ;  sent  to  Rome  (see 
'the  Title  of  Cornelius'),  131,  133, 
145.  See  also  Herculanus,  Numidicus, 
Rogatianus,  Victor 

Callistus,  the  Pope,  31,  308,  336  and 
n.,  348 

Callixtus  II.,  Pope,  his  citation  of  de 
Unitate,  218  and  n. 

Canonize  (to),  origin  of  the  word,  90,  n. 

Capsa,  a  town,  223,  368,  599 

Captives  (redemption  of),  238 

Carpos,  a  town,  421,  n.;  579 

Carthage.  See  Introduction.  Carthage 
and  her  Society;  where  "was  Cyprian 
Martyr  buried?  509 ;  where  was  Cyprian 
tried  and  executed?  512;  also  45,  n.;  79, 
n. ;  112,  113,  359,  n.;  497,  498,  500 
and  n. 

Castus,  the  Mart)rr,  78 

Catacombs,  61,  481,  sqq. 

Celerina,  the  Martyr,  69,  70 

Celerimis  (Persecution  of  Decius),  his 
family;  his  history,  69,  sqq.;  93.  See 
Confessors  at  Rome 

Cemeteries,  233,  481,  sqq.  See  also 
Catacombs  and  Collegia 

Chromatius  of  Aquileia,  280,  sqq. 

Chrysostom,  S.John,  54,  n.;  284,  294,  n. 

Church  of  the  Future  (the),  534 

Cirta,  a  town,  368,  583 

Clement  of  Rome  (Epistles  to  Virgins 
attributed  to),  56,  n. 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  37,  355  and  n. ; 
412,  n. 

Clementianus,  one  of  the  Lapsed;  tri- 
ennium  of  penance,  223 

Clinical  baptism,  121,  n.;  404,  n. 

Clypea,  a  town,  467 

Collegia,  61,  n. ;  233.  See  also  Ceme- 
teries and  Catacombs 

Commentarii  (Commentarienses),  sense 
of  the  word,  495,  n. 

Commission  of  five  representatives  ap- 
pointed by  Cyprian  during  his  retire- 
ment, 107.  See  also  Caldonius,  Roga- 
tianus, Herculanus,  Victor,  Numidicus 

Conditional  Baptism,  522  and  n. 

Confessors  at  Rome  (Persecution  of  De- 
cius), 69,  sqq.  (See  also  Moyses, 
Maximus,  Rufinus,  Nicostratus,  Urba- 


628 


.  INDEX. 


nus,  Sidonius,  Macarius,  Celerinus.) 
After  the  death  of  Moyses  (119,  no) 
they  place  themselves  on  the  side  of 
Novatian,  140,  sqq. ;  the  'brief  letter' 
of  Csrprian,  146;  Letter  of  Dionysius 
of  Alexandria,  147;  Restoration  of 
Roman  Confessors,  159,  sqq.;  on  Ni- 
costratus,  delegate  of  Novatian  to  Car- 
thage, permanently  alienated  from  the 
Church,  159,  160 

Confirmation,  394,  n.;  404,  n.;  420,  421 

Consessus,  20,  21,  324,  325  and  n. 

Contestatio,  use  of  the  word,  372,  n. 

Coprianus,  5,  n. 

Cornelius,  the  Pope,  70;  his  character, 
his  family,  124,  sqq.;  his  election 
(dale  discussed),  127  and  n.;  First 
Council  of  Cyprian,  the  title  of  Cor- 
nelius, 129,  sqq. ;  letters  of  recognition 
sent  to  him — Novatian,  the  schism, 
134,  sqq. ;  Restoration  of  Roman  Con- 
fessors, 159,  sqq.;  Roman  Council, 
163;  his  letters,  168  and  n.;  Felicis- 
simus  goes  to  Rome  as  legate  of  For- 
tunatus,  attitude  of  Cornelius,  228; 
Cornelius  banished  to  Centumcellse, 
298;  his  death,  299;  date  of  his  death, 
299,  n.;  place  of  his  repose,  301 ;  Com- 
memoration of  Cornelius,  303 

Cornelius  and  Cyprian  Companion 
Saints  in  Kalendar  and  Collect,  310 
and  n.  See  also  S.  Cyprian's  Day  in 
Kalendars,  6io,  sqq. 

Councils  of  Cyprian.  First,  129;  Second, 
224;  Third,  231;  Fourth,  233;  Fifth 
(I.  on  Baptism),  349 ;  Sixth  (II.  on 
Baptism),  351  ;  Seventh  (III.  on  Bap- 
tism), 364 ;  the  Baptismal  Councils 
failed  doctrinally  and  why?  424,  sqq. 

Councils.  African,  but  not  Cyprianic, 
36,  n. ;  43,  n. ;  49,  nn.;  53,  n. ;  55,  n; 
1 14,  n. ;  129,  n.;  163,  n. ;  237,  n. ; 
520 

Councils  (not  African),  quoted.  Antioch, 
167,  168,  347.  376,  nn.;  Aries,  173, 
n. ;  312,  n.;  520;  Basle,  429,  n. ;  Con- 
stance, 415,  n.;  Elvira,  43,  n.;  46,  n.; 
79,  n. ;  166,  n.;  173,  n. ;  312,  n. ; 
499,  n.;  Florence, 292, n.;  London,4i5, 
n. ;  Macon,  501 ;  Neo-Csesarea,  166, 
n.;  244,  n.;  Nicsea,  55,  n.;  163,  166,  n.; 
333.  n.;  520 ;  Nid,  432,  n. ;  Orange.  429, 
n.;  Quini-Sext,  294,  n.;  521;  Trent, 
293,  n.;  Tribur,  292,  n. 

Crementiust  a  sub-deacon  sent  to  Rome 
(retirement  of  Cyprian),  100,  n. 

Crescens,  Bishop  of  Cirta,  37 1,  n. ;  420,  n. 

Crimen  Majestatis,  61  and  n. 

Curubis  (Cyprian  deported  to),  467  and  n. 

Custodia,  use  of  the  word,  499,  n. 


Cyprian,  his  name,  i,  n. ;  his  wealth,  4; 
at  the  African  bar,  2 — s;  his  person 
and  place,  5 ;  Cyprian  Catechumen,  7 ; 
Influence  of  Tertullian  and  Minucius 
Felix,  9;  his  first  exercise,  9;  Quod 
Idola  dii  non  sint;  the  Grace  of  God, 
13;  Cyprian  Deacon,  17;  his  charity, 
18;  Cyprian  Presbyter,  19,  sqq.;  Scrip- 
ture studies.  Testimonies,  22,  sqq. ; 
Cyprian  Bishop  of  Carthage,  25,  sqq. ; 
his  title  of  Papa,  29;  his  view  of  the 
Authority  and  the  Design  of  the  Episco- 
pate, 31,  sqq.;  his  work  as  a  Bishop,  41, 
sqq. ;  Virginal  life  in  Carthage,  5 1 ;  The 
Dress  of  Virgins,  55  ;  his  retirement 
(Persecution  of  Decius),  84,  sqq. ;  his 
scheme  for  restorative  discipline,  95, 
sqq.;  the  thirteen  Epistles  of  which 
Cyprian  sent  copies  to  the  Romans, 
102,  sqq. ;  his  Diocesan  disquietudes, 
and  his  confidence  in  the  Plebes,  106; 
his  five  representatives,  107;  Ecclesi- 
astical parties  at  Carthage,  the  Five 
Presbyters,  108,  sqq.;  return  of  Cyprian 
to  Carthage,  128;  First  Coimcil; 
Cyprian  at  Hadrumetum,  129,  132, 
133,  n. ;  Novatian 's  delegacies  to  Car- 
thage, 143,  159;  Cyprian  on  the  return 
of  the  Confessors  to  the  Church,  163, 
1 74 ;  Analysis  of  the  de  Lapsis,  174;  of 
the  de  Unitate  Eccksice,  180,  sqq.; 
Catena  of  Cyprianic  passages  on  the 
Unity  signified  in  the  Charge  to  Peter, 
197,  sqq.;  Persecution  of  Gallus,  222; 
Second  Council,  224;  softening  of  the 
Penance,  224;  Maximus  and  Fortunatus 
made  anti-popes  at  Carthage,  226,  sqq.; 
Third  Council,  231  ;  characteristic 
mistake  of  Cyprian,  232;  Fourth  Coun- 
cil ;  Intercourse  of  Churches  and  Dio- 
ceses, 233,  234;  Cyprian's  Charity 
during  the  Berber  Raid,  236,  sqq. ;  the 
Plague;  the  work  of  Cyprian,  240, 
sqq.;  on  Work  and  Alms  deeds,  246; 
ad  Demetriatiuni,  249,  sqq.;  de  Morta- 
litate,  256,  sqq. ;  Cyprian's  Epistle  to 
the  people  of  Thibaris,  258 ;  ad  Fortu- 
natum,  264,  sqq.  (also  474,  475);  on 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  267,  sqq.;  Cyprian 
on  the  mixed  cup,  289,  sqq. ;  his  views 
on  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  See,  307 ; 
the  Spanish  Appeal  to  Carthage,  311, 
sqq.;  the  Gaulish  Appeal,  314,  sqq.; 
the  Baptismal  Question,  331,  sqq.; 
Tradition  of  Africa,  335;  First  and 
Second  Council  on  Baptism,  349,  35 1 ; 
Attitude  of  Cyprian  towards  Stepha- 
nus,  351,  352;  Cyprian's  letter  to 
Pompey,  358.  sqq.;  Third  Council  on 
Baptism,  364,  sqq. ;  speech  of  C3rprian, 


INDEX. 


629 


369;  Arguments  of  Cyprian  on  Re- 
baptism,  401,  sqq. ,'  the  Catholic  and 
Ultramontane  estimate  of  Cyprian,  432, 
sqq.;  of  the  Good  of  Patience,  437; 
of  Jealousy  and  Envy,  448,  sqq.  ; 
Cyprian  sent  to  exile,  466;  Cyprian  at 
Curubis,  467;  Cyprian's  dream,  469; 
the  Numidian  Bishop  Confessors,  471, 
sqq. ;  C3T)rian  returns  to  Carthage,  494 ; 
his  horti'y  Cyprian  condemned  to 
death,  503 ;  martyrdom,  505,506;  where 
was  Cyprian  buried?  509;  where  was 
Cyprian  tried  and  executed  ?  512; 
Dress  of  Cyprian,  513 — 516;  Ideal  of 
Cyprian,  see  Chapter  xil.  Aftermath, 
620,  sqq.;  S-  Cyprian's  Day  in  Ka- 
lendars,  610,  sqq.;  Mai's  supposed 
fragment  of  Cyprian,  179 
Cyprian  and  Cornelius,  Companion  Saints 
in  Kalendar  and  Collect,  310  and  n. 
See  also  S.  Cyprian's  Day  in  Kalendars, 
610,  sqq. 


Dalmatica,  514 

Damasus,  the  Pope,  30;  on  Hippolytus, 
165,  n. ;  his  inscriptions,  95,  n.;  301 
and  n. ;  483,  n. ;  484,  n. ;  488,  489, 
490,  n. 

Dativus,  Bishop  of  Vada,  471,  n. 

Deacons,  Hie  (Fabianus)  regiones  divisit 
Diaconibus,  67  and  n. ;  68  and  n. ;  (the 
third  priesthood),  114;  case  of  a  con- 
tumelious Deacon,  234;  as  adminis- 
trators of  churches,  312,  n. 

Decius,  the  Emperor,  64;  the  persecu- 
tion, 64,  sqq.;  75,  sqq;  his  death,  127 
and  n. 

Demetriamis  (ad  D.),  249,  sqq.;  D.  per- 
haps one  of  the  Five  Primores,  250,  n. ; 
Tertullian's  ad  Scapulam  compared, 
251 ;  Style  of  the  'Demetrian,'  256 

Deprehendere,  in  its  legal  sense,  503,  n. 

Didache,  Teaching  of  the  XII.  Apostles, 
44,  n.;  294,  n. ;  410,  n. 

Dionysius  the  Great,  of  Alexandria,  29; 
79,  n. ;  65,  158;  on  Novatian  and 
Novatianism,  141,  142,  147,  164;  his 
'diaconal  letter'  'through  Hippolytus,' 
164,  167,  169,  171 ;  Baptismal  ques- 
tion, 341,  353,  354,  sqq.;  on  Stephen's 
liberality,  311;  on  Firmilian,  375; 
letters  to  Xystus,  355,  358;  his  exile  to 
Kephron,  456,  463 

Doctor  Audientium,  44,  n. 

Dollinger,  337,  n.;  340,  n. ;  342,  n. 

Donatulus,  Bishop  of  Capsa,  date  of  his 
ordination,  224,  n. 

Donatus,  fellow  neophyte  of  Cyprian,  4, 
13;  Ad  Donatum,  13,  sqq.;  445,  n. 


Donatus,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  predeces- 
sor of  Cyprian,  7,  25,  227 

Donatus,  one  of  the  Five  Presbyters, 
original  opponents  of  Cyprian,  i  n ,  n. 
See  also  Novatus 

Dress,  of  Virgins  (of  the),  51,  sqq.; 
57.  sqq. 

Duchesne,  Abbe  L.,  68,  n.;  on  Deacons 
as  administrators  of  churches,  312,  n. ; 
on  the  Vicariate  of  Aries,  315,  n.  ;  on 
the  autonomy  of  Carthage,  4th  century, 
527  ;  on  Principalis  Ecclesia,  537  ;  also 
483,  n. ;  484,  n.;  485,  n.;  490,  n. ; 
491,  n. ;  492,  n. 

Edicta  feralia,  222,  n. 

Egnatius,  the  Martyr,  70 

End  (nearness  of  the),  266  and  n. 

Ennodius,  30,  n.  3 

Epictetus,  Bishop  of  Assuras,  elected  after 
the  lapse  of  Fortunatianus,  232 

Episcopate.  Election  and  Consecration 
of  Bishops,  27,  35,  sqq.;  327;  the 
Order  is  of  Divine  creation  ;  Character 
derived  from  the  Apostles,  34;  Au- 
thority of  the  Episcopate,  31,  sqq.; 
106,  193,  195, 196;  Unityof  the  Episco- 
pate, i8i,  182;  Restoration  of  Lapsed 
Bishops,  166  (and  n.),  230 ;  Bishops 
and  the  rights  of  the  Laity,  313,  327  ; 
Government  of  churches  when  the  See 
is  vacant  or  the  Bishop  absent,  329 

Episcopus  Episcoporum,  30,  31,  197 

Etecusa  (Persecution  of  Decius),  71 ;  note 
on  her  name,  74 

Eucharist  (the  Holy),  45,  86  and  n. ;  90, 
92,  108,  225,  248,  259,  268,  284,  285, 
289 — 295,  410  and  n. 

Eucratius,  Bp.  of  Thense  (the  training  of 
actors),  45,  46 

Eusebius  (questions  of  dates),  14,  n.; 
128,  n.;  347,  463,  487,  n. 

Evangelium,  character  of,  strictness  at- 
tached to  this  word  (Novatianism), 
147  and  n. 

Evaristus,  a  Bishop,  the  promoter  of 
Novatianism,  136,  i6o 

Evil  (Deliver  us  from),  on  the  clause,  272 

Exomologesis,  98,  99 

Exorcism,  10  and  n. ;  253,  258,  409,  n. 

Extorres,  use  of  the  word,  102,  103,  107, 
n.;  114,  n. 

Fabian,  the  Pope,  his  death,  65 ;  F. 
'divided  the  Regions  to  the  Deacons,' 
67,  88,  90,  120,  227 

Fabius  of  Antioch,  his  leaning  towards 
the  schism ;  letter  of  Cornelius  to  him, 
167,  168.  (See  also  Council  of  An- 
tioch. ) 


630 


INDEX. 


Fechtrup,  B.,  19,  n.;  65,11.;  83,11.;  88,  n.; 
94,  n.;  Ill,  n. ;  115,11.;  116,  n.;  130, 
n,;  158,  n.;  163,11.;  166,  n.;  336,11.; 
342,  n.;  396,  n.;  416,  n. 

Felicissimus,  a  layman,  one  of  the  earliest 
Confessors  at  Carthage  in  the  Persecu- 
tion of  Decius,  77 

Felicissimus,  a  Deacon  who  joined  No- 
vatus...non  communicaturos  in  Monte 
secuni...the  Five  Presbyters  *his 
satellites,*  113  and  nn.;  was  already  a 
Deacon  when  he  joined  Novatus,  116. 
First  Council  of  Carthage:  Decision 
on  Felicissimus,  131,  133...  180;  his 
journey  to  Rome  as  a  legate  of  Fortu- 
natus,  228 

Felix,  Bishop  of  Bagai,  471,  n. 

Felix,  Bishop  of  (?)  Bamaccora,  413,  n. ; 
471,  n. 

Felix,  pseudo  bishop  of  Privatus  (of 
Lambaesis,  see  name),  appointment, 
227 

Felix  III.,  Pope... Penitential  discipline, 
167,  n. 

Fidus,  a  Bishop:  his  views  on  penitential 
discipline  and  infant  Baptism,  231, 
295,  296, 297 

Firmare  concilium,  363,  n. 

Firmilianus,  Bishop  of  Csesarea,  his 
letter  to  Cyprian,  372,  sqq. ;  Genuine- 
ness of  this  Letter,  377;  Greek  locJu- 
tions,  381;  Quotations  of  Scripture 
in  his  letter,  386;  Origen  and  Firmi- 
lian,  374 ;  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  on 
Firmilian,  375;  Basil  on  Firmilian, 
375>  388;  Firmilian's  influence  in  as- 
sembling Councils,  376  and  n.;  Latino 
Latini  on  the  Letter  of  Firmilian,  378 

Florentini  (his  Martyrology  quoted),  483, 
n.;  615 

Florida  (confessio),  floridiores...use  of 
the  words,  78,  n. 

Florus,  one  of  the  Lapsed ;  triennium  of 
penance,  223 

Fortunatianus,  Proconsul  at  Carthage, 
Persecution  of  Decius,  76,  n. 

ForUinatianits,  the  lapsed  Bishop  of  As- 
suras,  232 

Fortunatus  (ad  F.,  Exhortation  to  Con- 
fessorship),  264,  sqq.;  474,  475 

Fortunatus,  Bishop  of  Thuccabor,  402,  n. 

Fortunatus,  a  Bishop,  sent  to  Rome  with 
Caldonius  (see  name),  131,  133,  145 

Fortunatus,  a  sub-deacon,  sent  by  Cy- 
prian to  the  clergy  of  Rome,  no 
and  n. 

Fortunatus,  one  of  the  original  opponents 
of  Cyprian,  in,  n. ;  anti-pope  at  Car- 
thage, 227,  sqq. ;  the  Five  Bishops  who 
created  him  anti-pope,  227,  n. 


Fortunatus,  Venantius,  280,  sqq. 

Freppel,  Mgr.,  26,  n.;  55,  n.;  66,  n.; 
87,  n.;  91,  n.;  94,  97,  n.;  98,  201, 
202,  218,  227,  n.;  267,  n.;  307,  n.; 
321,  370,  n.;  475,  n. 

Furni,  a  town,  45,  n. ;  580 

Gains  of  Dida  and  his  deacon,  107,  113, 

n.;  328 
Galerius,  the  Proconsul,  502 
Gallienus,  the  Emperor,  300 ;  concessions 

made  long  ago  to  the  Christians,  304 

and  n. ;  458,  460,  477  and  n. 
Gallus  (Persecution  of),  222 
Gaulish  Appeal  to  Carthage  (the),  314, 

sqq. 
Gemellse,  a  town,  369,  592,  599 
Geminitis,  Bishop  of  Furni,  50 
Geminius   Victor,  of  Furni,  nominates  a 

presbyter  as  tutor,  45 — 47 
Geminius  Faustinus,  the  presbyter,  ap- 
pointed as  tutor,  45,  47 
Girba  (the  isle  of  Sleninx),  367,  598 
Gordius,  one  of   the    Five    Presbyters, 

original  opponents  of  Cyprian,  in,  n. 

See  also  Novatus 
Graecising-Latin  Inscriptions,  306  and  n. 
Gratia  Dei  (de),  13.     See  Donatus 
Gratian  (Decretum  of).  Quotations  of  De 

Unitate,  219 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  27,  n. ;  54,  n. ;  65,  n. ; 

90.  n. ;  242,  n. ;  284 
Gregory  Nazianzen,   3,  n. ;  5,  n. ;  6,  n. ; 

8,  n. ;    II,  n. ;   240,  n. ;  432,  433,  n. 
Gregory  Thaumaturgus,   27,   n. ;  29,  n. ; 

65,  n. ;  242,  n. 
Gregory  the  Great,  315,  515 
Gregory  of  Tours,  on  Trophimus  of  Aries, 

316  and  n. 
Gretser,   his  Bavarian   manuscript,   206, 

207  and  n. ;  209  and  n. 

Harnack,  Dr  A.,  67,  n. ;  389;  see  note 
'  Cyprian  before  the  Roman  Presby- 
ters,' 150.  See  Appendix,  Addi- 
tional note  on  Libelii,  541,  sqq.  and 
Appendix,  On  the  Nameless  Epistle  ad 
Novatianum  and  the  attribution  of  it 
to  Xystus,  557,  sqq. 

Hartel  (readings  of  his  edition  of  Cyprian), 
8,n.;  22,  n.;  23, n.;  34,  n.;  44, n.;  70,n.; 
80,  n. ;  85,  n. ;  87,  n. ;  88,  n. ;  107,  n. ; 
112,  n.;  116,  n. ;  130,  n.;  144,  n. ; 
I45,  n. ;  146,  n.;  185,  n. ;  204,  n. ;  205, 
n.;  206,  n.;  207,  n.;  208,  n. ;  209,  n. ; 
2to,  n. ;  211,  n.;  288,  n.;  313,  n.; 
363-  371.  "•;  393.  "•;  394.  n.;  469.  n- ! 
473'  n-;  481,  n. ;  531,  n. 

Hefele,     on     '  votum     decisivum '     and 


INDEX. 


631 


'votum  consultativum '  in  Councils, 
431,  n. 

Heraclas,  his  title  of  Pope,  ag 

Herculanus,  a  Bbhop,  one  of  C3T)rian's 
five  representatives  during  his  retire- 
ment, 107.  See  also  Caldonius,  Roga- 
tianus,  Victor,  Numidicus 

Heratnianus,  a  sub-deacon,  carries  with 
others  Cyprian's  letter  to  the  Numidian 
Bishop  Confessors,  473 

Hilary,  S.,  280  and  n. ;  286 

Hippo  Diarrhytus,  367,  578 

Hippolytus  of  Portus,  31,  n. ;  Difficulties 
in  identifying  Hippolytus  through 
whom  Dionysius  wrote  to  the  Romans 
with  Hippolytus  of  Portus,  169;  on 
Callistus,  336,  n. 

Hooker,  325,  n. ;  334—335 

Hort,  Dr,  8,  n. ;  44,  n.;  427,  n. 

Horti  (Cyprian's),  18,  494,  496 

Hosius,  Cardinal,  his  Codex  of  de  Uni- 
tate,  111,  216 

lader.  Bishop  of  Midili,  471,  n. 
Iconium  and  Synnada  (Councils  of),  340 

—342,  347.  348 
'Idols  are  not  Gods'  (That),  10,  sqq. 
Indulgence  granted  by  Lucianus  to  'all 

Lapsed'  in  the  name  of  'all  Confessors,' 

93.  109 
Infant  Baptism,  231,  295,  296 
Intercourse  of  Churches  or  Dioceses,  232, 

233.     See  Aftermath,  end 
Interpolations  {^de  Unitate),  200,  sqq. ;  547 
Irenseus,  on  the  Episcopate,  38,  n. ;  427, 

540 

yanuarius,  Bishop  of  Lambsesis,  227,  n. 
Jerome,    S.,    i,   n. ;    3,   6,  n. ;    10,   n. ; 

12,  n.;  21,  n. ;  53,  n.;  54,  n. ;  72.  n.; 

112,  n.;  141,  n.;  164,  n. ;  255  and  n.; 

351.   n.;  356,  n. ;  359,  374,  n. ;   391, 

404,  n.;  448,  n. ;  474,  n. 
Jewish  priesthood,  33 
yovmzis,  a  lapsed  Bishop,  227 
jhibaianus,  a  Bishop  of  Mauretania,   his 

Letter  to  Cyprian,  352;  Cyprian's  Letter 

to  J.,  352,  372,  373.  n- ;  398.  399 
Justin  Martyr,  37,  38,  n. 

Kephron  and  the  Lands  of  Kolluthion, 
463,  464 

Lacema  birrhus,  514 
Lacinise  manuales,  516 
Lactantius,  5,  n. ;  255,  266,  n. ;  462,  n. 
Laity.     See  Plebes 
Lambxsis,  a  town,  226,  n.;  586 
Lapsi,  79,  sqq. ;  the  Lapsed  and  the  Mar- 
tyrs,   89,  sqq.;    106,  sqq.;  156,  sqq.; 


164,  sqq.  ;  the  treatise  De  Lapsis,  174, 
sqq.;  230,  259,  298,  305.  See  also 
Spanish  Appeal,  311,  sqq. 

Latino  Latini,  withdraws  his  annotations 
from  Manutius'  edition  of  Cyprian,  209, 
210;  on  the  Letter  of  Firmilian,  378 

Laurentinus,  the  Martyr,  70 

Laurentius,  S.,  Martyr,  his  dialogue  with 
Xystus,  491  and  n. 

Laying  on  of  hands,  400.  Cyprian's  and 
Stephen's  explanation.  Three  inten- 
tions with  which  it  was  used  besides 
that  of  ordination,  420  and  n. 

Leo  I.,  Pope,  166,  n.;  315,  nn. 

Levitica  tribus,  36,  n. 

Lex  Regia,  62,  n. 

Libelli,  81,  82,  265;  additional  note,  541. 
See  also  Martyrs  (Letters  from) 

Liberalis,  a  Bishop,  accompanies  Cyprian 
to  Hadrumetum,  132 

Lightfoot,  Bp.,  on  Hippolytus  of  Portus, 
1 69  and  nn. ;  on  Dionysius'  Epistle  called 
diaconic,  171;  1 1 ,  n. ;  20,  n. ;  37,  n. ;  38, 
n.;  39,  n.;  40,  n. ;  57,  n.;  68, n.;  ir6,  n. ; 
164,  n. ;  165,  nn. ;  284,  n. ;  445,  n.  ; 
452,  n.;  476,  n.;  484,  n.;  485,  n.;  525, 

529 

Linea,  516 

Lipsius,  65,  n. ;  67,  n.;  120,  n. ;  126,  n. 
(on  the  date  of  the  election  of  Corne- 
lius, 127,  n.);  133,  n.;  138,  n.;  145,  n.; 
299,  n.;  304,  n.;  316,  n.;  373,  n. ;  485, 
n.;  488,  n. 

Litteus,  Bishop  of  Gemellse,  369  and  n. ; 
.47i..n. 

Liturgies  (mixed  cup  symbolism),  293,  n. 

Longitnis,  a.  member  of  the  first  Nova- 
tianist  delegacy  to  Carthage,  136 

Lucamis,  acolyte,  carries  with  others  the 
letter  of  Cyprian  to  the  Numidian 
Bishop-Confessors,  473 

Lucianus,  a  Carthaginian  friend  of  Cele- 
rinus  (see  name),  Persecution  of  De- 
cius,  70,  93.  See  letters  from  Martyrs. 
Grant  of  a  general  indulgence  to  'all 
Lapsed'  in  the  name  of  'all  Confessors,' 
93.  109 

Ltutus,  the  Pope,  successor  of  Cornelius, 
his  exile  and  recall,  304,  305;  a  'pre- 
cept' attributed  to  him;  his  treatment 
of  the  Lapsed,  305;  his  death,  306 


Mabaret,  Abbe  du,  his  letter  ap.  'Me- 
moiresde  Trevoux'...the  interpolations 
{de  Utiitati)  are  restored  in  Baluze's 
edition,  213,  sqq. ;  Appendix,  546 

Macariiis,  Roman  Confessor  (Persecution 
of  Decius),  69.  See  Confessors  at 
Rome 


632 


INDEX. 


Machaus,  a  member  of  the  first  Nova- 

tianist  delegacy  to  Carthage,  136 
Macrianus,  his  influence  on  Valerian,  457, 

sqq. 
Mactharis,  a  town,  369,  004 
Magalia,  Mapalia,  Mappalia,  510,  n. 
Magister  Sacrorum,  6r 
Maptus  (Letter  of  Cyprian  to),  349 
Majestas.     See  Crimen  Majestatis 
Manualis,  -e,  516.     See  Laciniae 
Manutius'   edition   of   Cyprian's  works, 
209 — 212.     Special    note,    Appendix, 

544 

MappalicHS,  the  Martyr,  77,  92 

Maran,  Dom  Prudent,  see  Baluze  ;  213, 
214,  n.;  215,  n. 

Marcianus,  Novatianist  Bishop  of  Aries, 
317,  sqq.     See  Gaulish  Appeal 

Marcion,  Marcionites,  347,  398 

Martialisy  a  lapsed  Bishop,  37,  n. ;  233. 
See  also  Spanish  Appeal,  311,  sqq. 

Martyrs  (Acts  of  the).  See  Notarii  and 
Eucharist 

Martyrs  (Letters  from),  see  the  Lapsed 
and  the  Martyrs ;  89,  92,  sqq.;  172,  173, 
n. 

Massa  Candida,  517 

Maximus,  Roman  Presbyter  and  Con- 
fessor (Persecution  of  Decius),  69; 
joins  the  schism  of  Novatian,  140, 
141 ;  is  reconciled  to  Cornelius  and 
becomes  his  supporter,  160 — 162;  Lo- 
culus,  69,  162 

Maximus,  Novatianist  Roman  Presbyter 
sent  by  Novatian  to  Carthage  to  an- 
nounce the  election  of  Novatian  as 
Antipope,  136 ;  made  Antipope  at 
Carthage,  226 

Maximus,  acolyte,  carries  with  others 
Cyprian's  Letter  to  the  Numidian 
Bishop-Confessors,  473 

Metator  (of  Antichrist),  sense  of  the  word, 

70 
Mettius,  a  sub-deacon  sent  to  Rome  with 

Nicephorus  the  acolyte,  145 
Minucius  Felix,  9,  sqq. 
Mixed  Cup  (the),  289,  sqq. 
Mommsen,  61,  n. ;  67,  n.;  162,  n. ;  231, 

n. ;  237,  n.;  300,  n.;  303,  n.;  472,  n. ; 

485,  n. ;  488,  n.;  491,  n. 
Monnulus,  Bishop  of  Girba,  367  and  n. 
Mons,  in  Monte,  i.e.  Bozra,  112  and  n. ; 

113,  n. 
Moses  of  Chorene  on  Firmilian,  375  and 

Moyses,  Roman  Presbyter  and  Confessor 
(Persecution  of  Decius),  69,  70;  refuses 
to  act  with  Novatian,  120,  sqq.;  his 
death,  119,  120 

Munerarii,  use  of  the  word,  248  and  n. 


Natalis,  Bishop  of  Oea,  360 

Neapolis,  a  towm,  467 

Nemesianus,  Bishop  of  Thubunae,  371,  n.; 
387;  412;  421,  n.;  471,  n. 

Nicephorus,  an  acolyte,  sent  to  Rome  vrith 
Mettius  the  sub-deacon,  145 

Nicostratus,  Deacon,  Roman  Confessor 
(Persecution  of  Decius),  69.  See  Con- 
fessors at  Rome.  N.  delegate  of  No- 
vatian to  Carthage;  his  character; 
permanently  alienated  from  the  Church, 
169'  '60 

Ninus,  one  of  the  Lapsed,  triennium  of 
penance,  223 

Notarii,  67,  n. ;  90,  n.  See  also  Acts  of 
the  Martyrs 

Novaiianus,  88 ;  his  character  and  talents, 
120,  sqq.;  his  works,  123;  the  schism, 
134,  sqq.;  Novatian's  delegacies  to 
Carthage,  136,  143.  159;  the  Roman 
Confessors  join  Novatianus,  140;  Maxi- 
mus the  head  of  the  first  legation  made 
Antipope  at  Carthage,  226 

Novatianus,  on  the  Nameless  Epistle  ad 
Novatianum,  and  the  attribution  of  it 
to   Xystus.     Special   note,   Appendix, 

557 

Novatus,  Bishop  of  Thamugadi,  337 

Novatus,  the  presbyter,  his  life  and  in- 
trigues, no.  III,  sqq.;  in  Monte  or 
in  morte,  112,  n. ;  Novatus  leader  of 
the  Five  Presbyters,  112  and  n. ;  did 
N.  confer  orders  upon  Felicissimus, 
115  ;  his  connection  with  Novatianism, 
136,  sqq.;  his  journey  to  Rome,  137, 
138,  n. 

Numeria,  see  Etecusa 

Numidian  Bishop  -  Confessors.  Persecu- 
tion of  Valerian,  471,  sqq. ;  their  names, 
471,  n. 

Niimidicus,  a  Carthaginian  Presbyter 
(Persecution  of  Decius),  77;  one  of 
Cyprian's  five  representatives  during 
his  retirement,  107.  See  also  Caldo- 
nius,  Herculanus,  Rogatianus,  Victor 


Offering    sacrifice    pro    dormitione,    45, 

323' n- 
Otferre    nomen,   use    of    the    word,    92 

and  n. 
Optatus,   the   reader,    made   Teacher   of 

Catechumens,  44 
Optatus  of  Milev,  18,  n.;  42,  n.;  68,  n. ; 

147,  n.;  157  and  n.;  231,  n.;   313,  n.; 

394,  n. ;    409,  n. ;    413,  n.;    416,  n.; 

427,  n.;  459,  n.;  471,  n.;  529,  n. 
Ordo,  the  clergy,  19 

Origen,  36,  n.;  41,  n.;  65;  O.  and  Fir- 
milian, 374;  O.  on  Baptism  into  Christ, 


INDEX. 


633 


407;  on  consultation  of  the  laity  by 

Bishops,  428  and  n. 
Orosius,  504,  n. 
Ostensiones,  222,  n.     See  also  Visions  of 

Cyprian 

Pallium,  the  philosopher's  pall,  5  and  n. 

Pam^le,  Jacques  de,  his  edition  of  Cyp- 
rian's works,  206,  216,  n.  3 

Papa,  Title  of,  29 

Paternus,  the  Proconsul.  See  Treatment 
of  Cyprian,  464,  sqq. 

Paul  of  Samosata,  376  and  n. 

/'a«/a  Sarcinatrix,  117 

Paulinianists,  333,  n. ;  520 

Paulus,  the  Confessor,  at  his  request 
Lucianus  begins  the  system  of  Indulg- 
ence to  the  Lapsed,  93,  109 

Pearson,  4,  n. ;  18,  n.;  29  and  n.;  71,  n.; 
77,  n.;  85,  n.;  90,  n.;  105;  163,  n.; 
224,  n.;  235,  n.;  250,  n.;  258,  n.; 
259,  n.;  289,  n. ;  291,  n.;  299,  nn. ; 
341.  n-;  373' n.;  479,  n. 

Pelagius  II.,  Pope,  217;  his  letters  to 
the  Bishops  of  Istria,  220,  221.  See 
Appendix,  549 — 551.  See  also  Inter- 
polations {de  Unitate) 

Penitential  discipline,  166  and  n.;  176, 
229,  230,  sqq. 

Perferre  coronam,  sense  of  the  words, 
223,  n. 

Persecutions,  Roman  theory,  60.  See 
Decius,  Gallus,  Valerian 

Peter  (the  Charge  to  the  Apostle),  catena 
of  Cyprianic  passages  on  the  unity 
signified  in  the  Charge  to  Peter,  197 

Peter  and  Paul  (the  Apostles),  removed 
to  the  Catacombs,  484,  485,  486 

Peter  of  Alexandria,  S.,  81,  nn. ;  82, 
95.  n. 

Peters,  Dr,  5,  n. ;  24,  n. ;  146,  n.;  319,  n.; 
321,  n.;  343,  n.;  348;  350,  n.;  351,  n.; 
353.  n-;  370,  n.;  373,  n.;  398,  n.  ; 
409,  n.;  416,  n.;  434,  n. ;  435,  nn.; 
436;  440,  n. ;  459,  n. ;  475,  n.  ; 
476,  n. 

Philip,  the  Emperor,  his  toleration  of  the 
Christians,  64  and  n. 

Plague  (the),  240,  sqq. 

Platonia  (see  also  Damasus),  483  and  n 

Plebes,  the  Commons  (the  Laity),  19 
32,  n.;  36,  106,  173,  n.;  188,  430, 
43  r  ;  Right  of  the  Laity  of  with 
drawing  from  the  Communion  of  sacri 
legions  or  sinful  Bishops,  194,  n. ;  313 
314,  327;  the  Laity  silent  in  the  Bap 
tismal  Councils,  426,  sqq. 

Polianus,  Bishop  of  Milev,  471,  n. 

Polycarpus,     Bishop     of    Hadrumetum, 
371.  n. 
B. 


Pompeius,  an  African  Bishop,  present  at 

the  Consecration  of  Cornelius,  135  (also 

133.  n.) 
Pompeius,  Bishop  of  Sabrata  (Letter  of 

Cyprian  to),  358;  special  note  on  this 

Letter,  361 
Pomponius,  Bishop  of  Dionysiana,  371,  n. 
Pontianus,  the  Pope,  169,  170 
Pontiff  (the  title  of),  33,  197 
Prseceptum,  465,  n. ;  492,  n. 
Prserogativa    (martyrum),   sense    of   the 

word,  91,  n. 
Prsescriptio,  use  of  the  word,  313 
Prsesens,    Praesentes,  use   of  the  words, 

32,  n. ;  88,  96,  n. ;  328,  329,  430,  n. 
Praeses  (of  Numidia),  472,  n. 
Prayers,  thrice  daily,  269 
Presbyterian    theories    with    regard    to 

Novatus,  115  and  n. ;  Presbyterianism, 

528 
Presbyters,    36,    193,  n.;    Presbyters  as 

members  of  the  Administration,  323, 

sqq.;  381 
Presbyters  (the  Five),  a  faction  hostile  to 

Cyprian's  election  and  authority,  25, 

26,  109  and  n. ;  Novatus  their  leader ; 

their  identification,  r  10,  n. 
Priesthood,  of  the  Laity,  20,  37, 38,  404,  n. 
Primitivus,  a  presbyter,  sent  to  Cornelius, 

Primores  quinque.  Commissioners  at  Car- 
thage, Persecution  of  Decius,  76  and  n.; 

"3 

Princeps,  sense  of  the  word,  537,   538, 

404,  n. 
Principalis,  Principales,  sense  and  use  of 

the  words,  495,  538,  539 
Principalis   Ecclesia,    192,   234 ;    special 

note,  537 
Principalitas,  sense  and  use  of  the  word, 

539.  540  and  n. 
Principes,  use  of  the  word,  497 
Privatus,  Bp.  of  Lambsesis,  condemned  of 

heresy,  226,  227 
Probation  (idea  of),  254,  258,  sqq. 
Prophets,  410,  n.  (the  Cappadocian  case 

of  a  professed  prophetess) 
Prudentius,  2,  n. ;  7,  n. ;  165,  n.;  169,  n.; 

404,  n.;  491,  n. 
Puppiaftus  (Letter  of  Cyprian  to),  28,  n.; 

37 

Quadriennium,  use  of  the  word,  41,  n. 

Quintus,  Mauretanian  Bishop,  350;  Letter 
of  Cyprian  to  Q.,  350.  Special  note : 
that  Quietus  of  Buruch  {Send.  Epp. 
27)  is  Quintus,  Recipient  of  Ep.  71, 

363 
Qutrinus,  a  lay  friend  of  Cypnan ;  the 
Testimonia  compiled  and  classified  for 

41 


634 


INDEX. 


him,  as,  sqq.;  473;  his  liberality  to  the 
Namidian  Bishop-Confessors,  473 

Rebaptism.  See  Baptismal  Question 
Rebaptismate  (de),  the  Nameless  Author, 
390 ;  antiquity  of  the  Treatise,  genuine 
reading  of  S.  John  vii.  39,  392  and  n, ; 
arguments,  393,  sqq.;  did  the  Author 
know  Cyprian's  later  writings  on  Bap- 
tism ?  396 ;  had  Cyprian  read  the 
Author  ?  397 ;  possibly  the  Treatise 
which  Jubaianus  submitted  to  Cyprian, 

Receptum  eum...contmmt...,  use  of  the 

words,  498,  n. 
Repostus  of  Tubumuc,  apostate  Bishop, 

80 
Repraesentare,  324,  n. 
Resentment  (on),  249 
Respondere  Natalibus,  245 
Restoration    of    Clerics,    166    and   nn. ; 

230 
Rettberg,  F.W.,  15,  n, ;  23,  n. ;  54,  n. ; 

65,  n.;   Ill,  n.;  161,  n. ;  225,  n.;  255, 

n. ;  289,  n.;  349' n;  35'.  "•;  357.  n.; 

373.  n- 

Ritschl,  O.,  t8,  n. ;  40,  n.;  85,  n.;  94,  n.; 
125,  n.;  130,  n.;  135,  n.;  143,  n.;  144,  n. 
See  notes:  'Cyprian  before  his  own 
presbyters,'  148;  '  Felicissimus  as  a 
more  faithful  representative  of  the 
Church,'  153;  'Evanescence  of  No- 
vatus  under  Ritschl's  analysis,'  154 — 
161,  n.;  i66,  n. ;  189,  n. ;  i9i,n. ;  196, 
n.;  235, n.;  289, n.;  31 1,  n.;  330;  373,  n.; 
on  Ep.  74  to  Pompeius,  361  ;  on  Ep. 
72  to  Stephanus,  362  ;  on  Ep.  75  (Fir- 
milian's),  382,  sqq. 

Ritual.  See  Mixed  Cup,  Water,  Wine, 
Unction 

Rivington,  Rev.  L.,  220,  539,  540 

Rogatianus,  Bishop  of  Nova,  case  of  a 
contumelious    deacon   (Cypr.   Ep.   3), 

234.  235 

Rogatianus,  presbyter  at  Carthage,  trustee 
of  Cyprian's  charities  during  his  ab- 
sence, 77,  85 ;  one  of  Cyprian's  repre- 
sentatives during  his  retirement,  107. 
See  also  Caldonius,  Herculanus,  Numi- 
dicus,  Victor 

Rogatianus,  a  deacon,  who  carried  the 
Letter  of  Firmilian,  372 

Rome  (the  Church  of),  under  Fabian,  67 ; 
interference  of  the  C.  of  R.  (Persecution 
of  Decius),  87  ;  Cornelius  elected,  127; 
Novatianism,  134,  sqq. ;  the  C.  of  R. 
under  Lucius,  304,  305  ;  under  Stepha- 
nus, 307,  sqq. ;  the  Spanish  Appeal  to 
Carthage,  311,  sqq. ;  the  Gaulish  Appeal 
to  Carthage,  314,  sqq.;  tradition  on  re- 


baptism  of  Schismatics,  336 ;  the  C.  of 

R.  under  Xystus,  475,  sqq. 
Rome  (claims  of  the  Modem  Church  of 

R.),  2o8,sqq.  See  'Principalis  Ecclesia,' 

Freppel,  Peters,  Rivington 
Rossi,  G.  B.  de,  5,  n.;  30,  n. ;  69,  n. ; 

72,  n.;  95,  n.;  125,  n.;  162,  n.;  183, 

n.;  300,  n.;  301,  n. ;  303,  n. ;  483,  nn.; 

484,  n.;   487,  nn.;   488,  n. ;  489,  n. ; 

490,  nn.;  491,  n. 
Rufinus,  Deacon,  Roman  Confessor  (Per- 
secution of  Decius),  69.    See  Confessors 

at  Rome 

Sabrata,  a  town,  358,  597 

Sacerdos,  Sacerdotium,  use  of  the  words, 

33,  n.;  36,  166,  n.    • 
Sacrificati   (Persecution  of  Decius),   80, 

166,  n.     See  also  223 
Sacrilegium,  502,  n. 
Salonina,    Cornelia,   wife   of  Gallienus, 

probably  a  Christian,  300,  458,  n. 
Salzburg  Itinerary,  482,  490,  n. 
Sanctificare,  use  of  the  word,  404,  n. 
Sarcinatrix,  117 
Saturus,  appointed  to  read  the  lesson  at 

Easter,  41,  n. ;  44,  n. ;  45 
Scruples  (a  case  recorded   by  Dionysius 

of  Alexandria),  355 
Secretarium,  464 

Secundinus,  Bishop  of  Carpos,  421,  n. 
Sedatus,  Bishop  of  Thuburbo,  4O4,  n. 
Seniores  Plebis,  in  later  African  Councils, 

427.  n. 
SentettticE   Episcoporum,  authenticity    of 

the  document,  371,  372 
Sexti  (ad),  500,  512,  513 
Shepherd,  Rev.  E.  J.,  47 — 51,  224,  280, 

297.364.  371.379 
Sicily.     First    mention    of   a    Christian 

Church  in  that  island,  95  and  n. 
Sidgwick,    H.,    on   Christian    Humility, 

441,  n. 
Sidonius,  Roman  Confessor  (Persecution 

of  Decius),   69.       See   Confessors   at 

Rome 
Signs  (the  mines  of),  473  and  n. 
Sin  (original),  273,  297  and  n. 
Slavery,  slaves,  14,  81,  252,  n.;  260 
Soldiers  and  officers  named  in  Cyprian's 

trial,  516 
Soliassus,  budinarius,  117 
Sorrows  (Interpretation  of),  256,  &c. 
Spanish  Appeal  to  Carthage,   311,  sqq. 

See  also  Basilides  and  Martialis 
Spectaculum,  use  of  the  word,  504,  n. 
Speculator,  505,  n. ;  506,  n. 
Spisina  (Espesina),  74  and  n. 
Sportula,    '...sportulantium    fratrum...,' 

325.  n. 


INDEX. 


635 


Stantes  (The),  at  Carthage  (Persecution 
of  Decius),  75,  sqq. 

Stephen  V.,  the  Pope,  on  Trophimus  of 
Aries,  315  and  n. 

Stephanus,  the  Pope,  307.  His  charac- 
ter and  policy,  309,  sqq. ;  Spanish  Ap- 
peal to  Carthage,  311;  Gaulish  Ap- 
peal, 314;  the  Baptismal  Question, 
331,  sqq.;  Tradition  of  the  Roman 
Church  on  Rebaptism  of  Schismatics, 
336;  First  and  Second  Council  of 
Cyprian  on  Baptism,  349,  351;  some 
African  Bishops  in  sjrmpathy  with 
Stephanus,  351  ",  a  deputation  of'' 
Bishops  from  Cyprian  waits  on  Ste- 
phanus, his  attitude,  352;  he  threatens 
to  withdraw  from  the  Communion  of 
the  Bishops  of  Asia  Minor,  353;  note 
on  ws  oil  Koivuv-qffuv,  354 ;  are  Letters 
missing  from  the  correspondence  with 
Stephanus?  360;  special  note  on  the 
Epistle  to  Pompey,  362 ;  Cyprian's  Third 
Council  on  Baptism,  364,  sqq. ;  370,  n. ; 
argimients  of  Stephanus  on  Baptism, 
413,  sqq.;  note  on  Stephen's  'Nihil 
innovetur  nisi,'  421 

Stephanus,  an  African  Bishop,  present 
at  the  Consecration  of  Cornelius,  his 
return  to  Carthage,  135  (also  133,  n.) 

Strator,  use  of  the  word,  497,  n. 

Subintroductse,  47,  54,  n. 

Successus,  Bishop  of  Abbir  Germaniciana 
(Letter  of  Cyprian  to),  493 

Suffragium,  use  of  the  word,  25,  n. ;  28,  n. 

Superius,  a  Bishop  (See  unknown),  224 

Superstitions,  269 

Synnada  (site  of),  340,  n. 


Taylor,  Jeremy,  on  Stephen  the  Pope, 
310;  on  Stephen  and  Cyprian,  335 

Te  Deum  (clauses  of),  264 

Tertium  genus,  6r.   See  also  Introduction 

TertuUian,  'the  master,'  9;  on  the  priest- 
hood of  the  laity,  20,  38 ;  on  '  Episcopus 
Episcoporum,'  30,  31,  197;  on  Virginal 
life,  52,  sqq.;  de  Fuga  in  Persecutione, 
85;  on  the  Prayer,  269;  Table  shew- 
ing the  verbal  debts  to  TertuUian  in 
Cyprian's  Treatise  de  Dominica  Ora- 
tione,  i'j6,  277,  278;  date  of  the  de 
Baptismo,  338,  348.  TertuUian's  de 
Patientia,  443,  sqq.;  References:  5,n.; 
13,  n.;  20  nn.;  21,  n. ;  33,  n.;  38,  n.; 
39,  n.;  41,  n.;  43,  n.;  45,  n.;  51,  n. ; 
52,  nn.;  53,  nn.;  54,  n.;  56,  n. ;  57.n.; 
58,  nn.;  59,  nn. ;  61,  n.;  64,  n. ;  85,  n.; 
89,91;  197,  n. ;  250,  n.;  251  and  n. ; 
254,  nn. ;  265,  n. ;  266,  n. ;  267,  n. ;  269, 
nn.;27o,  nn. ;  271,  nn.;  272,  nn.;  283, 


nn. ;  293,  n. ;  339,  n. ;  343,  n. ;  364, 

n.;  392,  n.;  402,  nn.;   403.  n.;  404, 

n. ;   408,  n.;   409,  n.;    414,  n.;   439, 

nn.;  441,  n.;  443,  nn. ;  444,  nn. ;  445, 

n.;  446,  nn.;  447,  nn.;  474,  n. ;  501, 

n.;  509,  n. 
Tertullus,  a  presbyter  of  Carthage,  advo- 
cate of  the  concealment  of  Cyprian, 

86 
Thabraca  (the  island  rock  of),  367,  581 
Thamugadi,  a  town,  337,  368,  589 
Thelepte,  a  town,  369,  600 
Thense,  a  town,  45  and  n. ;  603 
Theophilus  of  Antioch  (Introduction  of 

the  word  'Trinity'),  269,  n. 
Therapius,  Bishop  of  Bulla,  232  and  n. 
Theveste  (road  to),  368,  588,  593 
Thibaris  (the  Epistle  to  the  people  of), 

258 
Thibaris,  a  town,  258,  583 
Thirteen  Epistles  (the),  of  which  Cyprian 

sent  copies  to  the  Romans,  special  note, 

102,  103,  104,  105 
Thomas  Aquinas,  Conditional  Baptism, 

522,  n. 
Thuburbo,  a  town,  369,  579 
Thurificati   (Persecution  of  Decius),   80, 

166,  n. 
Timesitheus,  on  the  name,  3,  n. 
Tinguere,  i.e.  Baptizare,  387 
Tractatus,  Tractare,  sense  of  the  words, 

32,  n.;  165,  n.;  508,  n. 
Traditor,  Traditores  (disqualification  of, 

by  the  Donatists),  415  and  n. 
Traversaria,  sense  of  the  word,  472,  n. 
Tria  Fata  (temple  of  the),  71,  n. 
Triennium,  use  of  the  word,  223,  n. 
Trinity,  Tptds  (earliest  use  of  the  word), 

269,  n. 
Trinity,  '...sacrament  of  the  Trinity...,' 

269  and  n. 
Tripolis,  a  town,  367,  596,  597 
Trqfimus,  a  lapsed    Bishop,  restored  to 

the  Church  as  a  layman,  166.    See  also 

Penitential  Discipline 
Trophimus  of  Aries,  314,  sqq. 
Tubumuc,  a  town,  80  and  n. 
Tutores  (clerics),  45,  46,  47 


Unam  Sanctam  (Bull),  322,  n. 

Unction  (baptism,  confirmation),  403,  n. 

Unity  of  the  Catholic  Church,  Treatise  of, 

180,  sqq.;  Codices  of  de  Unitate,  204, 

sqq.     See  also  Appendix,  547,  sqq. 
Urbanus,  Roman  Confessor  (Persecution 

of   Decius),    69.     See   Confessors    at 

Rome 
Ursinus,  supposed  author  of  de  Rebaptis- 

mate,  391 


6^6 


INDEX. 


Valens,  ^mulus,  princeps,  opportunity 
afforded  for  the  election  of  Cornelius, 
116,  n. 

Valerian,  the  Persecution  of;  the  Edict 
and  its  occasion,  456,  sqq.,  459;  his 
departure  to  the  East,  460;  the  levee 
of  Byzantium,  477,  sqq.;  the  Rescript 
(its  date),  479,  and  n. ;  480 ;  special  note 
on  Points  in  the  Chronology  of  Vale- 
rian's reign,  Appendix,  552 

Vatican  decrees,  322,  n. 

Veil  (to  take  the),  original  meaning  of 
the  words,  53  and  n. 

Victor,  a  Bishop,  one  of  Cyprian's  five 
representatives  during  his  retirement, 
107.  See  also  Caldonius,  Herculanus, 
Numidicus,  Rogatianus 

Victor,  Bishop  of  Gorduba,  402,  n. 

Victor,  Bishop  of  Octavu,  471,  n. 

Victor,  a  presbyter  readmitted  to  Com- 
munion by  Therapius,  Bishop  of  Bulla, 
224,  n.;  231 

Viduatus,  the  Order  of  Widows;  their 
seat  of  honour  in  the  church,  their 
functions,  53  and  n. 

Vigil  of  the  Martyr,  499 

Vincent  of  Lerins,  311,  n. ;  335,  422 

Vincentius,  Bishop  of  Thibaris,  371,  n.; 
414,  n. 

Virginal  life  in  Carthage,  51,  sqq. 

Virgines  (custodi  virgines),  a  word  of 
Cyprian  before  his  death,  499  and  n. 

Visconti,  Carlo;  his  letter  concerning  the 
edition  of  Cyprian  (1563),  211,  212. 
See  also  Appendix,  544 


Visions  of  Cyprian,  60,  85,  n. 
Ostensiones 


See  also 


Water  (instead  of  Wine)  in  the  Eucharist, 
290  and  nn.;  water  alone  cannot  be 
offered  and  reason  why,  292  ;  water  in 
Baptism,  403,  404  and  n.  ;  profaned 
and  polluted  water,  351  and  n.;  404, 
n. ;  412  and  n.  Water  used  instead  of 
oil  for  consignation  of  the  baptized, 
404  n. 

Westcott,  Bishop,  9  n.;  57,  n. ;  427,  n. 

William  of  Malmesbury,  483,  n. 

Wine  alone  cannot  be  offered,  the  reason 
why,  292 

Wordsworth,  Bp.  Christopher,  on  the 
Diaconal  Epistle  of  Hippolytus  of 
Portus,  171 

Wordsworth,  Bp.  John,  on  Latin  MSS.  of 
the  Gospel,  272,  n. ;  392,  n. 

Work  and  Alms  Deeds  (treatise  on),  246 

Wyclif,  415;  Wyclifite  proposition  con- 
demned, 415,  n. 

Xystus,  the  Pope,  his  Election,  475;  his 
immunity,  477;  Memorials  of  Xystus 
and  his  Martyrdom,  487,  sqq.;  on  the 
Nameless  Epistle  ad  Novatianiim  and 
the  attribution  of  it  to  Xystus,  557 

Zephyrinus,  Bishop  of  Rome  (date),  348 
Zosimus,   Pope,   on  the   Rights    of  the 
Metropolitan  of  Aries,  315  and  n. 


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